Politically hip? "Morning Joe" not living up to the hype (Ouch !)

[SoCalDem]

http://www.depauliaonline.com/opinions/politically-hip-morning-joe-not-living-up-to-the-hype-1.2880811#.UAVorZGG5ad

Politically hip? "Morning Joe" not living up to the hype

By Timothy Lydon

Published: Monday, July 16, 2012


In the latest issue of The New York Times Magazine there is a full page spread for the MSNBC talk show "Morning Joe." The ad features co-hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski walking down a Manhattan street in the fall. They are dressed in black, in contrast with the pink glow on the concrete from Radio City Music Hall. In the image below, Willie Geist, the show’s pop culture authority is on set checking his smart phone. The images are coupled with laudatory pronouncements: "...unlike anything else on morning television," writes The New York Times; "An important wake-up call for political and media leaders," says the Associated Press; "Appallingly Entertaining" reads the capstone endorsement from The New Yorker.

This glossy advertisement is an appropriate representation of the show: a well-honed, appealing image, butultimately facile . Viewers get only as much analysis as can fit between commercial breaks, but hardly enough to awaken any sort of political consciousness.

Brzezinski has celebrity fever (as evident by her puckered lips in the magazine spread), Scarborough plays his classic rock, Geist has his irony - winking at all 20-somethings out there watching - and all the guests on the show know it’s going to be a good time in the morning, void of anything substantial like corporate malfeasance, executive pay, financial deregulation, and inequalities in education and healthcare for children of color.

snip

And how can the “Morning Joe” newscasters criticize the financial institutions responsible for the 2008 recession when these very same institutions pay for commercials on MSNBC’s sister channel CNBC?

snip

[CartesianGuy]

2. Joe and Mika, take $tarbuck$ Buck$$$, even if it pre$ents, an Ethical Violation.

From the originating piece, in 'The Depaulia,' Timothy Lydon writes:

"The primary sponsor of 'Morning Joe' appears to be Starbucks; its symbol is as prominent as the broadcasters themselves. The company has even produced a 'Morning Joe' blend.
But what will happen if say, the show has to report some type of ethical violation by Starbucks?
Imagine broadcasters on more traditional news sources like the BBC showing off their Lipton tea mugs while they read the headlines for the day."

It does seem, glaringly crass, to have 'Product Placement,'
and a company logo, hovering around, on an 'alleged' 'news' show.

Which, Journalism School, would that be, that would teach, or promote,
this type of "Product Placement" format?
This "Appallingly" "Corporate-Sponsored," model?
Hawking that Franchise and Chain Merchandise!!

Mika Brzezinski, and Joe Scarborough, are di$ingenuous, in too many ways,
to be tru$ted, or li$tened to.
'Morning Joke' - Hype the Coffee - indeed it i$$$!!!

[Cynthia Dole]

3. The Journalism School of Product Placement.

Could that be the University of Starschmucks?
That Joe and Mika take courses from online?