Ed Schultz Admits 'Error'; Sharpton's Turn

Something huge will happen at 6:00 PM on MSNBC today.

As a regular viewer of the yet-to-be-named Al Sharpton show, I’ve come to expect momentous TV moments during this time of day. Whether it’s Sharpton’s patented rambling nonsensical statements that are supposed to be questions for his painfully uncomfortable guests, or his famous ad-libs that give us instant classics like “Resist we much”, Sharpton has provided endless hours of excruciating entertainment.

But tonight, expectations are even higher.

On yesterday’s show Al Sharpton followed the lead of his on-air colleague Ed Schultz and accused presidential candidate Rick Perry of racism when he proclaimed that a “black cloud” was hanging over America. As any regular reader of Big Journalism knows by now, the accusation is completely false and contrived. Producers at The Ed Show deceptively edited the Texas governor’s words and cut him off in mid-sentence. His actual statement was that there was a “black cloud hanging over America, this debt that is so monstrous.”

We revealed this deception yesterday before Sharpton took to the air, but it didn’t stop him from calling the “black cloud” statement “ugly” and “divisive” and something that had to be dealt with “early” and “firmly”. Unfortunately for Sharpton, Schultz came on MSNBC three hours later and admitted the whole “black cloud” attack was fabricated.

Before we get back to Sharpton, let’s deal with Schultz’ statement, because the explanation and “apology” is incomplete.

Schultz called this an error, it was not. It was a deliberate act. Someone knew what they were doing when they edited this video. They knew the truth about what Gov. Perry said and they went ahead with the edit. We deserve to know who made the edit, who approved it, and what NBC News is doing about it.

Schultz said he regretted including the clip in a segment about Perry’s “overheated rhetoric”, but that is not what the clip was used for. It was used to accuse Gov. Perry of racism. Schultz’ own words were “That black cloud Gov. Perry is talking about is President Barack Obama.” Schultz deceived his audience and accused the governor of a horrific racist statement. Schultz apologized for using an out of context and edited clip, he did not apologize for the accusation he made. He should.

All of this puts Sharpton (and MSNBC) in an untenable position.

As I stated earlier, something huge is going to happen on Sharpton’s show today. If the network and the producers have any journalistic integrity, Sharpton will go on the air and admit that his implication of racism against Gov. Perry was false. He has to considering his colleague has admitted that the basis of Sharpton’s charge, the “black cloud” statement, had nothing to do with Obama and was really about the national debt. Sharpton used “black cloud” to support his racism implication. If “black cloud” was not about Obama, Sharpton’s racism implication falls apart.

If Sharpton admits he was wrong about this racism implication it will be the first time in his life that he would do so. Sharpton has made a career of pronouncing people, institutions and corporations “racist.” Even when he was found guilty of defamation by a court of law, he refused to admit he was wrong.

This is why if Sharpton admits error today it will make history. It will be an enormous achievement for citizen journalism and the Breitbart sites. We will have been able to achieve something that traditional journalists have either been unable, or unwilling to achieve.

If Sharpton does not admit error and stands by his implication of racism against a leading presidential candidate, despite the fact that another MSNBC host has admitted that the basis of Sharpton’s charge was a complete deception, then NBC News is in a horrible position. Will the network of Huntley, Brinkley and Brokaw really hire a man who has just used their network to falsely accuse a presidential candidate of racial bias? Will they really hire a man who refuses to apologize and retract the charge even as their other host on the same network has done so?

They can’t. NBC News can’t possibly hire Sharpton if he doesn’t take back his statements. If they do they will proclaim to the world that they are more interested in their extreme political agenda or they are more afraid of Al Sharpton’s reaction and the ensuing charges of racism that are sure to follow.

Either way, something huge will happen at 6:00 PM on MSNBC today.