'He Sounded More Like a Publicist': Media Ethics Expert Pans MSNBC Host Scarborough's Defense of Biden
MSNBC host Joe Scarborough "sounded more like a publicist than a journalist" when he promised viewers in March that President Joe Biden was intellectually sharper than ever before, a top media ethics expert told the Washington Free Beacon.
"Every president has media preferences. But the relationship between the Morning Joe show and the Biden administration has long blurred the lines between journalistic analysis and public relations, given Biden's well-known love of the show, the access he gives it, and how effusively Joe Scarborough talks about Biden," said Dr. Dan Axelrod, a media studies professor at St. Thomas University and a member of the Society of Professional Journalists' media ethics committee.
"When Scarborough publicly declared, 'F you if you can't handle the truth, this version of Biden intellectually, and analytically is the best Biden ever, not a close second,' he sounded more like a publicist than a journalist," Axelrod added.
Scarborough on March 6 gave an impassioned defense of Biden's fitness to serve. "Start your tape right now, because I'm about to tell you the truth. And F you if you can't handle the truth," he said. "This version of Biden, intellectually, analytically, is the best Biden ever, not a close second. … If it weren't the truth, I wouldn't say it."
After Biden's debate meltdown, Scarborough initially dialed back his positivity about the president's mental fitness. He suggested the day after the debate that Biden should consider dropping out of the race, saying that now is "the last chance for Democrats to decide whether this man we've known and loved for a very long time is up to the task of running for president of the United States."
Just days later, Biden called into the show for a friendly interview that allowed him to speak out against his critics without having to appear on camera, where his condition could be more closely scrutinized. At one point during the interview, Biden volunteered that he was reading from notes, though White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on Monday denied that the president was reading from "a script."
After the interview, Scarborough began telling Democrats to focus on uniting against former president Donald Trump.
"Even as an opinion journalist, Scarborough should follow the Society of Professional Journalists' Code of Ethics and its guidelines for journalists to 'seek truth and report it,' 'act independently,' 'deny favored treatment,' and 'be accountable and transparent' in reporting," Axelrod said. "Following those guidelines means being transparent about analysis, including offering strong evidence for assertions about President Biden and his competency, being accountable means reassessing story facts as they appear to change, and acting independently means putting the public's interests first and not showing favoritism toward sources."
Scarborough and his cohost and wife, Mika Brzezinski, have direct family ties to the Biden administration. Brzezinski's brother, Mark Brzezinski, is Biden's ambassador to Poland. During Monday's interview on Morning Joe, it was Biden—not either of the hosts—who reminded viewers of the Brzezinski family connection. "I solidified NATO. Ask your brother about it, in Poland," he told Mika Brzezinski.
Journalistic ethical codes generally require members of the media to be vigilant about disclosing potential conflicts of interest. Both Scarborough and Brzezinski describe themselves as journalists.
MSNBC did not return a request for comment. Early indications are that Morning Joe will only face more scrutiny as the drama surrounding Biden's mental fitness continues.
"The bleating sheep on MSNBC's 'Morning Joe,' reminiscent of a chorus of quadrupeds in George Orwell's 'Animal Farm,' were vehemently wrong in denouncing ('so tilted,' 'shocking,' 'a classic hit piece,' etc.) the Wall Street Journal's meticulously reported June 4 catalogue of the abundant evidence of Biden's decline," Washington Post columnist George Will wrote Monday.
"That the sheep are still on the air, dispensing undiminished certitudes, is evidence of two things," Will went on. "That—outside of a few bastions of meritocracy and accountability, such as professional sports—there is no penalty for failure in contemporary America. And that many prominent people have the scary strength that comes from being incapable of embarrassment."
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