Things are not aways what they appear to be.  This is a precautionary idiom to prevent us from over thinking ambiguous matters and assuming the worst.

But sometimes things are just what they appear to be. We are conditioned to take it in stride, brush it off, accept the narratives.   

There has been a quiet, but evolving, assault on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) since 2016. It metastasized to state legislatures. Bills were submitted and policies were crafted to limit DEI initiatives.

DEI programs are now prohibited by Executive Order from the President. It is bad for the country, it divides us. 

We have allowed the narrative on DEI policies, programs, and initiatives to be framed as racial preference. It was never about that. It was always about equity and inclusion; it is about the starting line, the level playing field for all qualified applicants.

The assaults have targeted colleges, universities, and the labor force. With executive order prohibiting any nod to DEI, the full throttle push has moved into the media, and network programming, for on camera personalities and support staff.

CNN and MSNBC cable news networks, recently shuffled program schedules and axed some primetime shows.  The programs canceled were primarily hosted by people of color (POC). 

Joy Reid, the voice behind ReidOut, and perhaps the most notable and outspoken, was canceled. Ayman Mohyeldin, Jonathan Capehart, Katie Phang, and Alex Wagner all were felled by the purging axe.

Leadership changes and declining ratings justify the changes. It’s plausible.

Changes at the top often signal a shift in network priorities. Rebecca Kutler is the new president of MSNBC. Some of the canceled programs had ratings challenges, however, some lower-performing shows with White hosts were retained.

The decline in viewership, i.e., ratings, is typical post-election disengagement. The progressive social and political left-leaning programs experienced a 46% decline in viewers compared to the first 10 months of 2024.

Ratings began to rebound after the inauguration. There was an 86% increase in primetime viewership.

Things are not always what they appear to be. Although the shakeup walks like a duck, let’s try to interpret what appears to be from multiple perspectives.

MSNBC leadership may have overreacted to temporary ratings declines. Their impulsive decision to cancel POC hosted programs failed to understand the cyclical nature of political news audiences.

Perhaps the network prioritized the refresh. It introduced a fresh lineup for the renewed audience engagement. Network leadership assessed that the underperforming shows were misaligned with their evolving brand. Restructuring was a calculated move to strengthen primetime programming.

But we cannot ignore that all the canceled programs were POC hosted. Is the network deliberately reducing its diversity footprint? News media is protected by the First Amendment.

We have entered a regressive milieu wherein the duck arrogantly walks. It’s acceptable to boast of being racist with peremptory disregard.

There is another social idiom that comes to mind and may be applicable to the audacity of our times. It was in the lyrics of a popular R&B song of the late 1960s. It was affirming as we mused about our times, and space, and the circumstances of our lives experienced within the social construct of America.

And we mused about it, whether on the dance floors of our favorite escapes, or in the pews of our places of worship. We wanted to believe that the rejection, the oppression, the devaluation of our contributions to the greatness of America, were waning.

Things are never as bad as they seem, it’s just thinking about it that makes it so mean, the song rhythmically chimed.

But we need to think about this!

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MSNBC has parted ways with Joy Reid, marking the departure of another prominent Black woman from the network. Reid joins Rashida Jones, the first Black woman to head a major cable news network, along with Melissa Harris-Perry and Tiffany Cross. All four women brought critical, unapologetic perspectives on race, politics, and power—voices that many believe are being systematically eliminated.

Bobby Henry, chairman of the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA), called Reid’s removal unacceptable and urged immediate action.

“As Chairman of the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA), I stand in unwavering solidarity with Joy Reid and the impactful legacy of The ReidOut,” Henry said. “Joy’s voice has been a beacon of truth, justice, and empowerment for our community, and now is the time for us to show up for her. I urge you to join us—together, we will lift our voices, strategize, and continue to support those who champion our stories. Our collective strength is our greatest asset—let’s stand united for Joy and for the future of Black journalism. The Black Press of America and Black-owned media is needed now just as we were almost 200 years ago.”

Reid’s departure has drawn immediate criticism from viewers, journalists, and activists. Kevin Simmons, a supporter of The ReidOut, wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, “The racists are rejoicing” after MSNBC announced the show’s cancellation. “The ReidOut had a great run. Joy will be okay. Crazy this announcement comes after she just won two NAACP awards last night.”

Justice Correspondent Elie Mystal called Reid irreplaceable.

“I owe the television part of my career to Joy Reid, as do so many other Black voices y’all never would have heard of if not for her,” Mystal wrote. “And that’s why she’s gone. They can treat Black folks as interchangeable, but everybody Black knows that Joy was indispensable.”

Many have pointed out that while MSNBC cuts ties with Reid, the network keeps shows like Morning Joe, whose hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski reportedly visited Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago after his 2016 victory. The decision to retain programming aligned with political power while eliminating Black voices critical of that power is being viewed as deliberate.

MSNBC’s move comes as Trump continues targeting the press. He has filed a lawsuit against 60 Minutes, claiming the program manipulated an interview with Vice President Kamala Harris. Trump also ordered federal agencies to cancel subscriptions to major outlets, including The New York Times, Politico, and Reuters, cutting public employees off from independent news sources. He has praised Fox News as his administration’s “official” media outlet, further tightening control over the information pipeline.

Trump has declared that only the president can decide what is lawful—a statement more in line with authoritarianism than constitutional democracy.

Henry, the NNPA chairman, said the Black community must remain vigilant.

“Our collective strength is our greatest asset,” he said. “Let’s stand united for Joy and for the future of Black journalism.”

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Kevin Roberts, president of the Heritage Foundation, issued an eerie warning on Tuesday. He asserted that the United States is amid a “second American Revolution,” which he claimed would remain bloodless only if the left refrains from resistance. The statement has intensified concerns over the potential for political violence and the future of America under a second Donald Trump regime.

“We are in the process of the second American Revolution, which will remain bloodless if the left allows it to be,” Roberts said in an interview. He criticized the left’s influence on American institutions, stating, “The reason that they are apoplectic right now—the reason that so many anchors on MSNBC, for example, are losing their minds daily is because our side is winning.”

Roberts’ comments are of little surprise considering the Heritage Foundation’s plan for a Trump return that includes Project 2025, a detailed agenda that threatens reproductive freedoms nationwide, banning abortion with or without Congressional approval, slashing Social Security, conducting mass deportations, building migrant detention camps, weaponizing the Department of Justice to retaliate against Trump’s political opponents, and providing substantial benefits to the ultra-wealthy at the expense of working families. The Heritage Foundation is the primary organizer of this initiative.

A second term for Trump could dramatically reshape the political landscape, especially following a recent Supreme Court decision that grants the president significant immunity from prosecution of the most heinous crimes. The high court’s decision would allow Trump to exercise power more freely than during his first term, raising alarms among critics about his authoritarian tendencies.

Trump’s return to office would also occur against a global shift towards right-wing politics, with similar trends in countries like France, Germany, Italy, and the Netherlands. The international alignment could bolster Trump’s controversial stances on immigration, Russia, and democratic governance.

The fragmented media landscape further complicates efforts to hold Trump accountable. Traditional media outlets have seen their audiences diminish, and initiatives to combat misinformation on social media have weakened, potentially allowing Trump to evade scrutiny more effectively. The 34-times convicted felon, whom separate juries found responsible for sexually assaulting a woman and a judge found liable for nearly $500 million in massive fraud, has also called for a dictatorship-like state-run media.

Trump recently intensified his threats against political opponents, promoting posts on his social media platform, Truth Social, that called for the prosecution of several high-profile politicians, including President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, Senators Mitch McConnell and Chuck Schumer, and former Vice President Mike Pence. One post accused former Republican Rep. Liz Cheney of “treason” and advocated for “televised military tribunals,” a type of military court typically reserved for enemy combatants and war criminals.

In response, Biden-Harris 2024 spokesperson James Singer condemned Trump’s rhetoric, stating, “248 years ago, America declared independence from a tyrannical king, and now Donald Trump and his allies want to make him one at our expense. On January 6, they proudly stormed our Capitol to overturn an election Donald Trump lost fair and square—something not even the Confederacy was able to accomplish.”

Singer continued, “Americans do not want Donald Trump, a liar, fraud, and convicted criminal who has said he wants to be a dictator on ‘day one,’ ‘terminate’ our Constitution, rip away our rights, and is only out for himself as President of the United States. Joe Biden rejects Donald Trump’s revenge, resentment, and retribution.”

He added, “Like the rest of America, Joe Biden embraces freedom and democracy, our shared values of honesty, decency, dignity, and equality. Respect for one another, giving everyone a fair shot, and giving hate no safe harbor is what unites us in the future we will build together.”

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More than 230 African American-owned newspapers and media companies are represented by the National Newspaper Publishers Association.

By Stacy M. Brown

NNPA Newswire 

In a news story that likely will leave some head-scratching along with palpable outrage, Kansas City police dismissed a Black News report of missing women.

Then one showed up.

“The story shows why it’s absolutely essential to have radical Black media outlets that are unapologetic and unafraid to report on issues that white news outlets don’t want to talk about or that they will water down or whitewash,” Ryan Sorrell, the 27-year-old founder of the Kansas City Defender, told the independent Capital B News.

The Black Press has been the primary voice of the Black community for 196 years. It informs those who are frequently forgotten or ignored by the mainstream media.

The Black Press of America has always spoken truth to power.

Despite the horrors of slavery, the disgust and inhumanity of Jim Crow and the Civil Rights Era, and the global Black Lives Matter Movement, the Black Press has marched on.

And the community has continued to depend on the Black Press without being let down.

Reports that mainstream outlets have quickly dropped only further underscores the importance of the Black Press of America.

The latest news is that CNN, which once held itself as the leader in cable news, is looking for a comedian to fill its crucial 9 p.m. to 11 p.m. time slot.

Media folks are talking about Bill Maher, Arsenio Hall, and Trevor Noah as possible replacements for the spot that Anderson Cooper and Don Lemon once occupied.

“The ‘news entertainment’ personality could fill the prime time hours of 9 p.m. to 11 p.m. with a nontraditional version of the news,” Semafor, the global news platform, reported.

The outlet cited five people familiar with the planning.

Reportedly, CNN executives have looked at other comedic news-focused talk shows for inspiration.

Executives have also discussed turning the 9 p.m. to 12 a.m. hours into a series of shows modeled like a variety program, with “shows within shows” for different journalists, one network official told Semafor.

The discussions are aimed at turning away from the competition with MSNBC for liberal news junkies and toward pulling viewers from HGTV, ESPN, and Netflix, Semafor reported further.

The potential move at CNN comes even as critical news about people of color is only found in the Black Press, like the story the Kansas City Defender broke.

Excelsior Springs authorities arrested Timothy Haslett Jr., 39, after a Black woman claimed she escaped from a basement and sought help from his neighbors, alleging Haslett raped, whipped, and detained her against her will for weeks.

The woman reportedly escaped while Haslett was dropping his son off at school. The Defender reported that police searched his home and discovered a “dungeonlike cell” in his basement, painted black and equipped with several “devices” to restrain the woman.

Authorities charged Haslett with first-degree rape, first-degree kidnapping, and second-degree assault.

The Defender reported that Haslett was known to post racist content on Facebook. He also had problems with Black soldiers when he was in the military.

More than 230 African American-owned newspapers and media companies are represented by the National Newspaper Publishers Association.

These newspapers and media companies, which comprise the Black Press of America, provide news and information to people all over the world.

Meanwhile, the Semafor report noted that CNN “is also reckoning with its need to have talent on hand to cover major breaking news events, such as the House Speaker’s race, which ran late into the evening and boosted CNN’s ratings.”

Further, the report noted that other outlets have already started looking at comedy to replace news.

“Fox has found success with Gutfeld!, a conservative alternative to late-night TV shows dominated by liberal hosts that tries very hard to be funny and regularly beats its traditional late-night competitors,” Semafor reported.

“NBCU executives have considered moving Seth Meyers’ show to MSNBC.”

Semafor also offered that such an experiment could also deliver a programming disaster for the mainstream news outlet.

Quoting the Washington Post’s Erik Wemple, Semafor observed, “Consider a scenario in which said entertainer was on air at the moment that an overseas war broke out, or an earthquake struck, or some states person died. Watching the network scramble to switch back into hard-news mode — well, that would surely be entertaining.”

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Helena Battipaglia

helena.battipaglia@cincinnati-oh.gov

While in Washington D.C. with the U.S. Conference of Mayors, Mayor Aftab on Jan. 20 took the opportunity to highlight Cincinnati’s most recent successes: Homicides being down by 18 percent in the City, the historic Brent Spence Bridge federal grant, and the Bengals winning streak and response during Damar Hamlin’s recovery.

Full video on MSNBC’s Morning Joe here: https://www.msnbc.com/morning-joe/watch/cincinnatti-mayor-says-democrats-are-getting-stuff-done-while-gop-in-chaos-160281157591

“If not for the American Recovery Act (ARP), Cincinnati would have failed. And that’s specifically true for public safety,” Pureval said. A year into my administration, homicides are down by 18%, and it’s because we have the funding necessary to pay our public safety professionals…In the next couple of weeks, Cincinnati will be announcing two very important, sensible gun reforms to try and continue to tamp down on violence. But we would not have been able to do that without President Biden’s leadership on ARP.”

At the U.S. Conference of Mayors, the mayor has been discussing several issues impacting cities across the country including immigration, affordable housing and critical infrastructure. The Biden Administration’s historic investment in Infrastructure is the reason Cincinnati and Kentucky will receive long-awaited funds for the Brent Spence Bridge Corridor Project, which the mayor outlined during his Morning Joe appearance.

“Cincinnati got the largest federal grant in our country’s history, $1.6 billion. And we did it by partnering in a bipartisan way, putting all the partisan crap aside and just getting stuff done for our citizens,” Pureval said.  “And what is most impactful is on the day that President Biden was in Cincinnati to announce the $1.6 billion, Leader McConnell was there, Senator Sherrod Brown was there talking about the importance of bipartisanship.”

And of course, Pureval touched on the Bengals vs. Bills matchup happening on Jan. 22. He also remarked on Cincinnati’s overwhelming support of Bills’ safety Damar Hamlin during his recovery at UC Medical Center, after is heart stopped following a play in the first quarter while playing the Bengals in Cincinnati two weeks ago.

“We have the best ER residency program in the country, and you saw why that night. And then the city coming together, praying for him, showing up at the hospital, giving to his foundation. It was really inspiring. I’m so lucky to be able to lead a city like that. But look, on Sunday, we’re no longer Bills fans. We are in it to win it. We’re back. We’re going to make another run to the Super Bowl. The Bills, you know, they break those folding tables. We break passing records. It’s how we roll,” he said.

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By MARK KENNEDY Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — Former White House press secretary Jen Psaki has officially landed at MSNBC, where she is expected to make appearances on the network’s cable and streaming programs as well as host a new original show.

The program, set to debut in the first quarter of 2023, will “bring together her unique perspective from behind the podium and her deep experience in the highest levels of government and presidential politics,” the network said in a statement Tuesday.

Psaki will also appear on NBC and during MSNBC’s primetime special election programming throughout the midterms and 2024 presidential election.

Psaki most recently served as White House spokesperson for the first 16 months of the Biden administration. She previously served as White House communications director under former President Barack Obama and as the spokeswoman for the Department of State.

“Her extensive experience in government and on the campaign trail and perspective as a White House and Washington insider is the type of analysis that sets MSNBC apart,” MSNBC President Rashida Jones said in a statement. “She’s a familiar face and trusted authority to MSNBC viewers, and we look forward to her insight during this consequential election season.”

At MSNBC, on-air personalities are mostly sympathetic to Biden and the Democrats. During Psaki’s White House tenure, Democrats saw her as a champion of their causes, while conservatives found her combative and standoffish.

MSNBC has also hired Symone Sanders, former chief spokeswoman for Vice President Kamala Harris. NBC News has taken pains to draw distinctions between its journalists and MSNBC, which has beefed up its opinion programming.

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^{Rashida Jones. Photo provided by NNPA Newswire}

By Stacy M. Brown, NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent
@StacyBrownMedia

In a year plagued by a pandemic that has disproportionately affected African Americans, and one rife with racial strife, MSNBC has named Rashida Jones the first Black person and Black woman president of the network.

Jones, who easily becomes the most prominent woman in cable news, is scheduled to step into the top role on Feb. 1, Black History Month, replacing Phil Griffin, who had been at the cable news channel for more than 25 years.

“Rashida knows and understands MSNBC, in part because it’s where she started when she first joined NBCU seven years ago,” the company reportedly wrote in an email to NBC News employees. 

“She knows that it is the people who work here that make it great, and she understands its culture. She also appreciates the impact and potential of the brand.”

Currently serving as senior vice president for NBC News and MSNBC, Jones oversees MSNBC’s daytime and weekend programming. 

In the past year, the company noted that Jones has helped guide MSNBC’s coverage of the Covid-19 pandemic, the unrest and social justice protests that broke out over Black Americans’ treatment, and the 2020 election. She also helped with two influential series at the network, “Justice for All” and “Climate in Crisis.”

Her promotion is seen as part of a mandate by NBC News to ultimately roll out a staff comprised of 50 percent of women and 50 percent of color.

According to a news release, Jones was part of the team that helped NBC News White House correspondent Kristen Welker prepare for her role as moderator in the final presidential debate of 2020.

Jones did not release a statement, but many of her journalism peers saluted her on social media.

“Congratulations to a wonderful person and Broadcast titan,” April Ryan wrote. “Rashida Jones is everything! We will be watching with pride as she becomes President of MSNBC.”

Yamiche Alcindor wrote: “Congratulations.”

Georgia Dawkins, a producer at the Fox Magazine Show, “Central Ave,” offered a fond memory about Jones.

“I got my first job in Atlanta because #RashidaJones spoke my name. Three years later, I finally got the chance to say thank you. Congratulations, Queen,” Dawkins tweeted.

A graduate of Hampton University, where she earned induction into the Scripps Howard Journalism Hall of Fame, Jones previously served as news director for an NBC affiliate in Columbia, South Carolina, where she rebuilt and rebranded the news team to focus on in-depth investigative reporting. According to Jones’ biography, the station was number one in the market. 

Jones also served as director of live programming at The Weather Channel, leading coverage and programming for some of the network’s most historic weather events, including Hurricane Katrina, mass tornado outbreaks and paralyzing snowstorms.

She serves as co-chair of Hampton University’s Scripps Howard School of Journalism and Communications Advisory Board, a board member of the Carole Kneeland Project for Responsible Journalism, and a non-resident senior fellow with the University of Pennsylvania’s Fox Leadership Program. 

“Her promotion is bigger than our industry,” wrote NABJ President Dorothy Tucker. “It’s the kind of story Black and Brown children everywhere need to see, so they can know what’s possible.”

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