Melissa Harris-Perry Walks Off Her Show Citing Lack of Network Support

Fans of Melissa Harris-Perry have lamented the frequent preemption of her eponymous weekend news show. It seemed that something was going on behind the scenes. Today the New York Times uncovered the depth of the discord between the Wake Forest professor and MSNBC.
The New York Times reports that MHP sent an email to her colleagues stating that she had been "effectively and utterly silenced."  She says the network took over the slot to air election coverage. "Our show was taken — without comment or discussion or notice — in the midst of an election season," she wrote.

The full letter can be read on Medium.

Harris-Perry will not appear on the show this week because of her dissatisfaction with MSNBC's handling of the show and of her, personally.

I have stayed in the same hotels where MSNBC has been broadcasting in Iowa, in New Hampshire, and in South Carolina, yet I have been shut out from coverage. I have a PhD in political science and have taught American voting and elections at some of the nation’s top universities for nearly two decades, yet I have been deemed less worthy to weigh in than relative novices and certified liars.

 “I am not a token, mammy, or little brown bobble head," she continued.

An NBC News spokesman said in a statement, “In this exciting and unpredictable presidential primary season, many of our daytime programs have been temporarily upended by breaking political coverage, including M.H.P. This reaction is really surprising, confusing and disappointing.”

Melissa Harris-Perry is important for the ways it intentionally amplified the voices of those who are poorly represented on the news shows in particular, and media generally.

Source: Mediaite

Photo: Shahar Azran/WireImage