Scarborough’s Advice for Liberal Journalists in Trump Era; ‘Do Your Jobs...Tell the Entire Story’

January 20th, 2017 9:18 AM

Say what you want about MSNBC's Morning Joe host Joe Scarborough, but he offered advice for liberal journalists in the Trump era on Friday seeing as how “[t]he media is still trying to figure out how to handle him” with cases like Martin Luther King III having an anti-Trump “speech shouted to him instead of a question.”

Scarborough’s advice was triggered by co-host Mika Brzezinski’s reminder that “[e]very time you laugh at Donald Trump, you've lost because he will find a way to win and if we haven't learned that lesson at this point, I would think maybe perhaps you need to go back to school.”

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Ruling that “the press is overreaching” and “repeating the same mistakes,” Scarborough raised his voice and mocked liberal media critics using a cranky old man voice: “If I see one more self-righteous list of things for reporters to do, every time I see one of these stupid articles saying reporters, here are the seven things you should do in the Trump administration.”

Speaking in boisterous tones around 6:15 a.m. Eastern, Scarborough stared straight into the camera:

SCARBOROUGH: I’ve got a suggestion for you.

BRZEZINSKI: Sshh! 

SCARBOROUGH: This is what you do, okay? Hold on. Get your paper out. 

BRZEZINSKI: A little short. 

SCARBOROUGH: Ready? Here is what you do. It's easy. Do your job. Report the facts. Give them to the American people. 

BRZEZINSKI: And many are. 

SCARBOROUGH: Give context. Tell the entire story. Not the story that you want to tell or your editors want to tell. Give the people the facts. They’re smart enough to figure it out themselves. That's not happening, Mike. 

BRZEZINSKI: That was good.

Passing along an embarrassing anecdote that “[t]here were people crying in this newsroom” following the election, Scarborough commiserated with co-host Willie Geist about the media’s pathetic behavior:

SCARBOROUGH: Willie and I, though, were talking about this with three weeks left in the campaign. It was almost like they were playing to history saying, we are the resistance and we want to tell our grandkids —

BRZEZINSKI: There is that, right. 

SCARBOROUGH: — that we stood in the way of Donald Trump instead of reporting about Donald Trump. 

“I would add to the tips you all gave is not to condescend to the Trump voters, not to mock voters when you write, not to mock voters in your headline, not to mock people around the nominees of Trump suggesting because they once prayed for rain that they shouldn't be secretary of agriculture among other things they tried to do to help. Don't mock everybody,” Geist added.

Here’s the relevant portions of the transcript from MSNBC’s Morning Joe on January 20:

MSNBC’s Morning Joe
January 20, 2017
6:13 a.m. Eastern

MIKA BRZEZINSKI: Every time you laugh at Donald Trump, you've lost because he will find a way to win and if we haven't learned that lesson at this point, I would think maybe perhaps you need to go back to school. 

JOE SCARBOROUGH: And actually, the media need to learn that lesson too. The media is still trying to figure out how to handle him. You look at the story, for instance, yesterday, on Rick Perry saying that he didn't even know that —

BRZEZINSKI: And my apologies for —

SCARBOROUGH: — didn't even know that nukes were under his purview when his statement the day he got it was, actually, focused on that and the tremendous responsibility there. But that’s happening more and more. We had Martin Luther king Jr. — or III having a speech shouted to him instead of a question. I mean, the press is overreaching. They’re repeating the same mistakes. They need to get back to the brass tacks of just reporting the facts. 

BRZEZINSKI: This would be the day to do it. 

MIKE BARNICLE: We have to do that. We also have to cover the country rather than cover the candidate himself or now the president. We didn't do a good job of covering — 

SCARBOROUGH: We also have to cover the country instead of covering yourself. If I see one more self-righteous list of things for reporters to do, every time I see one of these stupid articles saying reporters, here are the seven things you should do in the Trump administration. Here are the — and somebody — no, you know what? I’ve got a suggestion for you. 

BRZEZINSKI: It's very early! 

SCARBOROUGH: I’ve got a suggestion for you.

BRZEZINSKI: Sshh! 

SCARBOROUGH: This is what you do, okay? Hold on. Get your paper out. 

BRZEZINSKI: A little short. 

SCARBOROUGH: Ready? Here is what you do. It's easy. Do your job. Report the facts. Give them to the American people. 

BRZEZINSKI: And many are. 

SCARBOROUGH: Give context. Tell the entire story. Not the story that you want to tell or your editors want to tell. Give the people the facts. They’re smart enough to figure it out themselves. That's not happening, Mike. 

BRZEZINSKI: That was good.

(....)

SCARBOROUGH: There were people crying in this newsroom. I'm not going to say which newsroom it is. It was a very big newsroom. 

BRZEZINSKI: Look —

SCARBOROUGH: And said we did the best —

BARNICLE: You’re down to three papers! 

SCARBOROUGH: You're damn straight I am and that’s the problem. 

BRZEZINSKI: I think it's okay if you're doing your job but we are not robots. 

SCARBOROUGH: Willie and I, though, were talking about this with three weeks left in the campaign. It was almost like they were playing to history saying, we are the resistance and we want to tell our grandkids —

BRZEZINSKI: There is that, right. 

SCARBOROUGH: — that we stood in the way of Donald Trump instead of reporting about Donald Trump. 

WILLIE GEIST: Well, I also think a lot of reporters thought that was a safe position at that point because they thought Hillary Clinton was going to win and they would be on the right side of history the way they looked at it. I would add to the tips you all gave is not to condescend to the Trump voters, not to mock voters when you write, not to mock voters in your headline —

BRZEZINSKI: There are people really excited about this day.

GEIST: — not to mock people around the nominees of Trump suggesting because they once prayed for rain that they shouldn't be secretary of agriculture among other things they tried to do to help. Don't mock everybody.