MSNBC’s Joy Reid faces backlash for criticizing media coverage of Ukraine

MSNBC host Joy Reid has faced backlash for on-air comments this week criticizing media coverage of the conflict in Ukraine, a topic she says is elevated above wars involving “brown and black” people in the world.

During a Monday broadcast of The ReidOut, the progressive talking head argued that Americans only care about the war, which entered its 15th day on Thursday, because Ukrainians are “white and largely Christian.”

“If this happened elsewhere, would we see the same outpouring of compassion?” Reid, 53, asked her viewers, as she herself reported on the crisis.

“We need not wonder if the international response would be the same if Russia unleashed its horror on a country that was not white and largely Christian, because Russia has already done that,” he said. Reid, referring to the deployment of Russian troops. in Syria in 2015 in the middle civil war still ongoing in the country.

“We should also care equally about refugees and those facing occupation and war in the Middle East, Asia and Africa,” Reid continued, after acknowledging that the invasion of the nation of Eastern Europe by Russia was an urgent matter.

“But we haven’t seen the same kind of solidarity for Yemenis as for Ukrainians,” the African-American anchor added. “We don’t see historic sanctions or global campaigns, companies like Airbnb and Netflix taking a stand.”

Reid said, “The coverage of Ukraine revealed quite a drastic disparity in how human Ukrainians look and feel towards Western media compared to their browner, blacker counterparts.”

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As she spoke, Reid played a montage of clips showing reporters from various outlets expressing their shock at events in war-torn Ukraine, drawing attention to the coverage the conflict has garnered on news stations. western since it started 15 days ago.

“It’s a teachable moment for us in the media,” Reid said closing his monologue, before congratulating himself for airing the sighting.

“We’re not afraid to call our own industry. There’s a lot of soul-searching we need to do in the Western media to find out why some wars and some lives seem more important than others.

Reid’s comments may come as a surprise to some of his viewers, as his show largely mirrored his contestants when covering Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, while ignoring the war in Yemen and other international conflicts.

A search of transcripts in a TV script database called TV Eyes shows that prior to Monday, Reid had not mentioned the war in Yemen since at least September 2021, Mediated reported.

Conservative commentators this week were quick to castigate Reid’s remarks.

“All she likes to do is go out there and stir up racial hatred,” journalist Megyn Kelly said of Reid’s comments, during a TV interview with Sky News Australia Wednesday.

“His argument, of course, is stupid and baseless.”

Kelly, 51, continued, “I was on Fox News when the Syrian crisis happened,” addressing Reid’s comparison between Western coverage of the two conflicts.

“We took this story all the way to America — night, after night, after night,” Kelly said. “She was just too, apparently, dumb to pay attention.”

Of Reid’s racist segment, the former Fox News firebrand said, “The fact that NBC and MSNBC are allowing this is an absolute disgrace.”

Current Fox commentators were quick to criticize Reid and Comcast-owned NBC for the cheeky bulletin, with ‘Fox & Friends First’ hosts Carley Shimkus and Todd Piro and contributor Joe Concha questioning the motives of Reid and NBC behind the tirade.

“How dangerous and counterproductive are notions like that right now?” Piro, 43, asked Concha during a Wednesday morning broadcast of the news program, after watching excerpts of Reid’s comments.

“And yet, Todd,” the former Hill Concha reporter told NBC brass allows this kind of divisive, so-called “content” on its airwaves every night.

Concha, 52, then listed other instances where Reid used her platform to express her own beliefs.

‘By the way, this is the same person who called Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas ‘Uncle Tom’ on the air,’ Concha said, referring to a case in November 2020 when Reid called Thomas of ”Uncle Clarence,” after claiming the African-American jurist was in the pocket of then-President Trump in the hotly contested 2020 election.

Concha continued, “The same person who said Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is encouraging Covid child deaths in his state.

“The same person who said white supremacists elected Glenn Youngkin and Winsome Sears, who I last checked, is black, in Virginia — a state Joe Biden won by double digits,” Concha continued. , referring to the Republican’s winning gubernatorial bids. governor and lieutenant governor of the southeastern state earlier this year.

“I can go on, but we have limited time here,” Concha said, after listing Reid’s previous on-air infractions.

“It’s no surprise that women, children and innocent people across Ukraine are being systematically targeted and murdered by an insidious Vladimir Putin and his forces, Joy Reid talking about racism in the media – which I guess includes NBC News, because they’ve been covering the war quite extensively, like everyone else,” the reporter continued.

“I guess that makes them racist.”

Concha then asked aloud how Reid’s network owner, Comcast, allows such content on their airwaves, citing the fact that Reid’s show “is a distant third in a three-horse race in cable news. ‘, noting that she ‘gets about one-third the viewership of Jesse Waters on this network.’

“But nothing is going to happen to him, because it would take a few ounces of courage to sell someone who has, or tell someone who has no interest in informing people, that, maybe, cut that.” says Concha.

“It’s irresponsible and reckless – but it won’t happen, and she will continue to be promoted and fail in the process.”

“It’s also just plain wrong,” Shimkus, 35, said in response to Concha’s comments.

“This is the story of 44 million innocent people attacked by one man, one person, with nuclear weapons, living in a sovereign nation.

“It has nothing to do with race,” the anchor said. ‘Comments that divide [are] unhelpful.’

African-American civil rights lawyer and frequent Fox contributor Leo Terrell also weighed in on the controversy on Tuesday, in the form of a tweet, ahead of an appearance on Hannity Tonight where he discussed the lack of spin-off Reid was facing. was confronted for her comments.

‘Why is #MSNBC allowing #JoyReid airtime. Does the race card protect her??’ Terrell, 67, wrote.

Viewers on social media also weighed in on Reid’s provocative comments.

“Ukraine is invaded by Russia, and you explain how another population is the injured party. Pleasant. If you don’t see why it’s different, I’d say other journalists are more qualified than you. If you can’t see Russia reclaiming Soviet-era territory by force,’ one social media user said of the host.

Another added: ‘I stopped watching your show because you find racism in every story, which is more like your self-expression than reporting on what’s going on.’ Ukraine is tenacious people who bravely fight for democracy.

Meanwhile, as the war in Ukraine escalates and spreads to multiple cities, casualties in the conflict mount.

The UN has recorded at least 752 civilian casualties across the country since the start of the invasion, with 227 killed and 525 injured, including dozens of children.

Those figures, which were calculated on Monday, likely rose as the conflict escalated in more towns and villages across the war-torn country.

On Wednesday, US officials estimated that between 5,000 and 6,000 Russian troops had been killed so far in the conflict.