MSNBC was designed to serve as the progressive counterpart to Fox News. But in recent years, the network has veered to the right, featuring Republican hosts like Nicolle Wallace, former press secretary for the Bush administration.
Beyond that, even the networks liberal voices have been criticized for promoting an overly centrist agenda. They've also been criticized for circumventing traditional fact-checking and allowing falsehoods to spread unchallenged.
The network has also been accused of bias against Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders' campaign, reports the Daily Beast.
On Sunday, former federal prosecutor Mimi Rocah issued a bizarrely personal criticism of Sanders.
"Bernie Sanders makes my skin crawl,” Rocah said, in a panel segment about the lineup for the upcoming Democratic debate in Detroit, where Sanders will share a stage with Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA).
“I can’t even identify for you what exactly it is. But I see him as sort of a not pro-woman candidate,” she continued. "So, having the two of them there—like, I don’t understand young women who support him. And I’m hoping having him next to her will help highlight that.”
Rocah's claim that Sanders was not a "pro-woman" candidate -- a position she did not back with policy facts -- drew withering criticisms from Sanders' team, as the Daily Beast notes.
“It takes a certain kind of woman to ignore that education, healthcare, and the economy are women’s issues too. #privilegedmuch? This is not what intersectional feminism looks like. It’s corporate feminism at its finest. Full stop,” Briahna Joy Gray, Sanders' national press secretary, said on Twitter.
Belén Sisa, Sanders’ Latino press secretary, tweeted that Rocah had no right to tell young women who they should support.
“Here we go again.. It is so belittling to constantly tell young women that they HAVE TO vote for someone JUST BECAUSE THEY'RE A WOMAN. Mam, we have brains, we're voting on policy and a candidates vision + work, not their sex. This is #WhiteFeminism at its finest,” she added.
Shockingly, a recent poll revealed that Fox News viewers are more likely to consider backing Sanders than voters who watch MSNBC. "According to the survey, 22 percent of Fox News viewers who identified as possible Democratic primary voters said they would back Sanders, as opposed to 13 percent of MSNBC viewers," the Daily Beast noted.
While Sanders himself appears on the network, critics claim that pro-Sanders voices or campaign people are being shut out. Critics noted that when Rocah made her comments, MSNBC commentator Zerlina Maxwell seemed to agree -- prompting criticism that no one pushed back against Rocah's comments.
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