Sharpton's TV Gig Does Not Bring Diversity

By: Eric Deggans | Posted: August 16, 2011 at 12:52 AM

The Rev. Al Sharpton (Getty Images)

Eric Deggans, in his St. Petersburg Times media column, revisits the kerfuffle over news that MSNBC might give civil rights activist Al Sharpton a full-time 6 p.m. anchor job.

For a black pundit, there may be no quicker route to fame and acclaim in conservative media than to criticize liberal black people. I found that out firsthand last week, after appearing on CNN's Reliable Sources show to outline concerns I had about the news that MSNBC might give a full-time anchor job at 6 p.m. to a nonjournalist: civil rights activist Al Sharpton.

My main point was that Sharpton's hire highlights a problem several cable channels have had with hiring people who are not journalists, only to see their past lives create problems in the present.

The best example nowadays may be CNN's own hire of disgraced former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer, who always was hamstrung when it came to covering the peccadilloes of other politicians because he had lost a pretty big job due to his own soliciting of prostitutes.

Read Eric Deggans' entire post at the St. Petersburg Times.

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