The anchors at NewsNation, a cable news channel that identifies as centrist, criticize MSNBC for allegedly catering to the far-left in its reporting on the violent Gaza conflict. Meanwhile, the network’s affiliated company is dealing with internal turmoil due to a host’s strong condemnation of Israel following the Hamas terrorist attacks.
Briahna Joy Gray, who serves as a co-host of The Hill’s digital morning show Rising, has faced criticism from employees at the Beltway political source due to her remarks, which some individuals perceive as being supportive of Hamas and aligned with fringe perspectives.
In recent televised discussions, she has engaged in highly intense and even vulgar debates with her libertarian co-host, Robby Soave, about Soave’s assertion that the “American Left,” specifically Black Lives Matter and Democratic Socialists of America, is providing support to Hamas.
In addition to engaging in vocal confrontations with her co-star, the former press secretary for Bernie Sanders has encountered internal scrutiny for what a source within the Hill newsroom described as her “finding ways to justify Hamas’ actions.”
During recent broadcasts, Gray expressed strong disapproval regarding the contradictory accounts surrounding the alleged decapitation of infants by Hamas militants. Gray posited that these stories may be a form of propagandistic falsehood aimed at dehumanizing Palestinians and providing a rationale for the perpetration of genocide. Furthermore, she appeared to minimize the significance of the deaths of Israeli youngsters, seeing them as an integral aspect of warfare.
“We also have to hold space for 140 Palestinian children who have been killed in this last weekend of conflict. And it is awful, even if we don’t have the same images of them and even if they were killed from bombs from the sky instead of in hand-to-hand combat,” she said.
An additional area of disagreement arises from the perception that she seemed to draw a parallel between the acts of terrorism and the Palestinian resistance against the Israeli tyranny in Gaza.
“Violence is not a violation of international law. Resistance is not a violation of international law,” she stated on Thursday, comparing the American Revolution with the Ukraine war.
Furthermore, her remarks pertaining to the enduring conflicts between Israel and Palestine garnered attention and caused surprise.
Yahoo News reported:
“So few of our conversations get to what it means to have a Jewish state, what it means to have a belief that you cannot be safe but for having a demographically rigged situation like that,” she stated in the episode on Thursday, adding that she understands the “the obviously historical conditions that make people feel that way.”
Several Hill reporters expressed concern over Gray’s “reckless” commentary, worrying that her status as co-host of their morning show would make their job talking to lawmakers in Washington harder.
“Where is our leadership? Clearly, no one from Nexstar is paying attention,” one source said. “There is no way they would be OK with this.”
Notably, the uproar comes just a year after The Hill ditched longtime Rising contributor Katie Halper for calling out Israel as an “apartheid state” over its treatment of Palestinians.
In fact, the program has been a source of controversy and friction at the outlet for some time, and has seen a fair share of its hosts leave abruptly.
Gray’s commentary has yet to be noticed by NewsNation, which is also owned by Nexstar. The channel has taken on a largely pro-Israel stance in its reporting of the conflict, similar to the rest of conservative and mainstream media, leading it to take swings at MSNBC for its “victim blaming” of Israel, specifically taking aim at Muslim-American hosts.
“That ridiculous commentary set the tone for much of MSNBC’s coverage throughout the weekend, where many hosts seemed determined to say, ‘Well, what about the Palestinians?’” NewsNation anchor Dan Abrams, for instance, raged last week.
Gray and a representative for Nexstar did not respond to a request for comment.
The turmoil hasn’t been limited to Nexstar newsrooms.
NBC News experienced a controversy recently when an employee from the engineering department utilized a Slack channel accessible to all staff members to advertise a Microsoft Teams event. The purpose of the event was to provide an opportunity for employees to mourn the lives lost in Hamas’ attack and engage in conversations about personal experiences and stories from those with connections to the affected area.
Yahoo News explained:
However, the discussion on the post became disorganized and tumultuous when a producer affiliated with MSNBC’s Ali Velshi raised concerns on the absence of Palestinian representation during the event. Subsequently, the engineering staff member proceeded to mention an HR representative and asserted that the discussion did not pertain to the topic of Palestinians and Jews/Israelis.
“Anyone entering this group needs to denounce terror and what happened on Saturday,” the engineering staffer wrote, noting that claims of “freedom fighting” and rationalizations “do not belong here.”
The producer rejected the insinuation, asking the staffer: “Why are you speaking for me? Your comments are extremely offensive.” They accused the engineering staffer of “equating the loss of Palestinian civilian life with terrorism and saying that I have no right to grieve, as you do.”
“You’re putting words in my mouth demanding that I denounce terror, as if I had anything to do with it,” they continued. “Not sure how you have managed to twist all this from asking, where can I, as someone with friends who are currently trapped in both Gaza and Israel, go to grieve?”
The back-and-forth was shut down by an NBCU comms rep’s reply, who promised a follow-up event for both sides to engage, but it was indicative of how the nuances of the Middle East conflict have drawn frontlines within some news organizations. (The Slack exchange was first reported by Semafor.)
Similarly, these events have also manifested in the realm of public discourse. Tate James, a video producer employed by NBC News Digital, publicly criticized chief international reporter Richard Engel for his reporting on a statement made by an Israeli military spokesperson. The spokesperson claimed that Hamas had potentially rigged the road leading from northern Gaza to the south, resulting in an explosion that claimed the lives of 70 Palestinians.
Read more at Yahoo.
The post Full On War Breaks Out In American Newsroom appeared first on The Republic Brief.
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