The Washington Post’s Erik Wemple documents some pretty bad optics regarding certain MSNBC POV hosts and their positions on taxation when compared to their own tax problems.
Harris-Perry has said that her tax debt stems from 2013, but still: She and these other tax-payment-challenged TV personalities work for the network of activist, problem-solving government. Just watch one of MSNBC’s famous “Lean In” commercials or scan a day’s worth of coverage. In the collective ethic of MSNBC, there can be no excuse for tax delinquency.
Yeah, that’s not good. However, then Wemple tries to get MSNBC on the record…
And there’s even less of an excuse for MSNBC’s non-response to all this news. National Review fetched no response from the network. When the Erik Wemple Blog knocked today, the network again clammed up. A spokeswoman offered to go off-record with an explanation of things. We responded that we weren’t interested in spin that we couldn’t publish. Is it that hard for MSNBC to take a simple stand in favor of our common civic obligations?
I disagree vehemently that it’s MSNBC’s position or responsibility to have a public comment on this issue. These aren’t corporate officers we’re talking about here…people who have to answer to shareholders. These are staff…publicly facing staff but staff nontheless. This is a gotcha question wrapped up in a poison pill. It’s a lose-lose scenario. Any competent PR office is going to avoid this issue like the plague.
The network is not responsible for its staffers paying their taxes beyond their legal obligations concerning realm of standard witholding. The only question that matters is whether not paying your taxes amounts to a firing offense for the network. I think the obvious answer here is it’s not going to be. Nor should it be.
That does’t mean that comment shouldn’t be sought. But it should be sought from the parties accused, not the company that employs them. Granted, given this situation you have to go through the company to get the parties accused to comment but who seriously believes any of them would comment in the first place? I don’t.
Yes, they’re hypocrites. But that hypocrisy stops with them. It doesn’t extend to their employer, particularly when their employer hasn’t staked out any prior public position on the merits or lack thereof of the tax system. Had MSNBC done so, then it would be appropriate to seek comment from the network for these incidents. But that didn’t happen…
Filed under: MSNBC
