Why Ashleigh Banfield was fired from MSNBC

I just read a post lumping her in with the other mindless blonde zots...and I wanted to make sure everyone (that cares) read the text of the speech that got her fired. There is a lot of substance and a lot of directions this speech took, but I am only going to snip one thought out it.
http://www.mediarelations.k-state.edu/WEB/News/NewsReleases/banfieldtext42403.html

>>>snip
There is another whole phenomenon that's come about from this war. Many talk about it as the Fox effect, the Fox news effect. I know everyone of you has watched it. It's not a dirty little secret. A lot of people describe Fox as having streamers and banners coming out of the television as you're watching it cover a war. But the Fox effect is very concerning to me.

I'm a journalist and I like to be able to tell the story as I see it, and I hate it when someone tells me I'm one-sided. It's the worst I can hear. Fox has taken so many viewers away from CNN and MSNBC because of their agenda and because of their targeting the market of cable news viewership, that I'm afraid there's not a really big place in cable for news. Cable is for entertainment, as it's turning out, but not news.

I'm hoping that I will have a future in news in cable, but not the way some cable news operators wrap themselves in the American flag and patriotism and go after a certain target demographic, which is very lucrative. You can already see the effects, you can already see the big hires on other networks, right wing hires to chase after this effect, and you can already see that flag waving in the corners of those cable news stations where they have exciting American music to go along with their war coverage.

Well, all of this has to do with what you've seen on Fox and its successes. So I do urge you to be very discerning as you continue to watch the development of cable news, and it is changing like lightning. Be very discerning because it behooves you like it never did before to watch with a grain of salt and to choose responsibly, and to demand what you should know.

So I was already used to her. What didn't you like about her?

on 9/11 but I could forgive her that one, the rest of the time I found her arrogant and supercilious

I'm not familiar enough with the line up to know who she is, but if this is any indication, her committment to telling the bald truth is sure to make all sorts of enemies for her.

Anyone who can tell the straight stuff like this can rank right up there with Keith Olbermann. What a breath of fresh air!

Two months after the war started. She is now a "reporter" on Court TV.:(

whole thing. People of intellect and absolutely righteous character are rare enough that hearing about one in a public venue is pleasant surprise.

I wonder if it would have changed the public discourse sooner?

She was one of the good ones, IMO.

she was on the street , no make-up just reporting .

>>
We hired somebody on MSNBC recently named Michael Savage. Some of you may know his name already from his radio program. He was so taken aback by my dare to speak with Al -Aqsa Martyrs Brigade about why they do what they do, why they're prepared to sacrifice themselves for what they call a freedom fight and we call terrorism. He was so taken aback that he chose to label me as a slut on the air. And that's not all, as a porn star. And that's not all, as an accomplice to the murder of Jewish children. So these are the ramifications for simply being the messenger in the Arab world.

x( I always liked Ashley , perhaps it was her glasses
that I really respected . I choose to wear glasses too,
I just hate contacts .

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2007/04/truths-consequences-by-digby-since.html

It's almost Letter-From-A-Birmingham-Jail-like in its prescience.

I had never read that but totally dig what he said.

:blush:

EDIT: I get the feeling she gets that a lot. :)

... she did a good job as a reporter.

http://www.ashleighbanfield.com/pages/1/index.htm

"People who expect to be ignorant and free expect what never was and never will be."

Thomas Jefferson

(And she can sing too.)

Thanks for posting.

This woman was a local anchor in Dallas and before Canada. She was a presenter never a reporter. ALL of her reports at MSNBC were written by a field producer NOT her. So let's get off this "she was a great reporter" crap.

I have to wonder if you have a problem with WOMEN doing MAN'S work?
That's not you is it Russert? I can see the jealousy if it is...

was written by someone else.

I worked with her at a Dallas TV station. No, not a reporter, but worked in news.

No doubt when starting out in the business of TV new you are not given a free hand to report as you please or is not scripted. Obviously our local newscaster have a script. An editorial is a different matter. When OKC had the bombing of the Murrah bldg., one of our local female news people got fired for reporting that there may have been a larger conspiracy than McVey and Nichols.

At times Ashleigh could be taken as over dramatic. But when she was on the scene at least she made you wonder if she was sincere or not, she was hyper. We also know those reporters that are following the "company" rules.

From her speech at Manhattan, KS: 1993- -

(Her concerns about the lack of news coming out of Iraq similar to what is has happened in Afghanistan where the bureau has closed its' office.)

"And I am very concerned that the same thing is about to happen with Iraq, because we're going to have another Gary Condit, and we're going to have another Chandra Levy and we're going to have another Jon Benet, and we're going to have another Elizabeth Smart, and here we are in Laci Peterson, and these stories will dominate. They're easy to cover, they're cheap, they're fast, you don't have to send somebody overseas, you don't have to put them up in a hotel that's expensive overseas, and you don't have to set up satellite time overseas. Very cheap to cover domestic news. Domestic news is music news to directors' ears."

Ashleigh was a prophet! We are now into the missing people news, hourly. I have CNN on usually, but, barely listen as it is mostly the Hollyweird stuff, well, that is MSNBC's gig. But it's all the same.

... so no one will know for sure how newly-joined they are!

The truth, for any who care, is here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashleigh_Banfield

She was a reporter, contrary to what this CONCERNED under-the-bridge dweller might say.

There is NO fact checking on that side. The profile sounds like a press release to me.

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:eyes::puke:

before she took over the anchor desk.

Go back to your bridge, dear.

just call em like I see em!

:D

I love this part:

"That said, what didn't you see? You didn't see where those bullets landed. You didn't see what happened when the mortar landed. A puff of smoke is not what a mortar looks like when it explodes, believe me. There are horrors that were completely left out of this war. So was this journalism or was this coverage-? There is a grand difference between journalism and coverage, and getting access does not mean you're getting the story, it just means you're getting one more arm or leg of the story. And that's what we got, and it was a glorious, wonderful picture that had a lot of people watching and a lot of advertisers excited about cable news. But it wasn't journalism, because I'm not so sure that we in America are hesitant to do this again, to fight another war, because it looked like a glorious and courageous and so successful terrific endeavor, and we got rid oaf horrible leader: We got rid of a dictator, we got rid of a monster, but we didn't see what it took to do that.

I can't tell you how bad the civilian casualties were. I saw a couple of pictures. I saw French television pictures, I saw a few things here and there, but to truly understand what war is all about you've got to be on both sides."

Telling the truth can be a dangerous thing.

Name some stories she enterprised, researched and reported on her own.

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Doesn't surprise me at all.

They have a slot in the am with Imus gone?

Give us a break from Tucker and Scarborough in the mornings.

Please identify who you're talking about.

The comment does nothing positive for women in the news biz, I hope you realize.

There is Monica Crowley, Paula Zahn, Katie Couric, Rita Cosby, Nancy Grace, Anderson Cooper, Chris Matthews, etc etc ad infinitum.

It doesn't help to characterize them in such a way that sounds sexist (even if that's not what you intended -- and when's the last time you ever heard a male criticized for being blond and dumb?????)

Yeah, she's smart enough to bring back on regular cable network news. She has a good sense for how things are working. She got rooked by the jackasses who fired her.