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[Edit: In retrospect, I should have titled this post Morning Ho'.]
In a refreshing move of candor, MSNBC's weekday talk show, Morning Joe (hosted by conservative pundit and former Republican Congressman Joe Scarborough), has officially dropped the pretense that it is a news program. Instead, the show is explicitly marketing itself as exactly what it is - a vehicle to generate advertising dollars for General Electrics-owned MSNBC. Of course, all commercial news programs exist simply to provide filler content in between their lucrative advertisements, but Morning Joe is the first to announce it to the world by emblazoning the Starbucks coffee logo all over their program. The show is now Morning Joe Brewed by Starbucks. In addition to the coffee-makers logo being placed within the Morning Joe logo, Starbucks will be mentioned throughout the broadcast according to Broadcasting & Cable, an industry periodical.
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
Today was the official unveiling of the "partnership." I was unaware of this development and simply turned on the show this morning to watch a five to ten minute segment whereby the hosts were basically high-fiving and back slapping one another in praise of their "innovative" advertising plan. Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz was also "interviewed" about the new merger, among other things. The "other things," not surprisingly, were great big softballs lobbed to Mr. Schultz, providing him an opportunity to talk about the heath and potential growth of the multi-billion dollar company.
According to the New York Times, an anonymous source "with knowledge of the deal" says that Starbucks has paid over $10 million dollars to MSNBC for the sponsorship deal. I have a sneaking suspicion that MSNBC will not be covering issues like Starbucks' poor environmental practices, their potentially illegal union busting practices (see video below), or even the company's current poor economic performance (like a 77% decrease in profits last quarter.) However, those are stories typically covered by journalists and news outlets, standards by which we shouldn't judge Joe Scarborough or his employer. After all, MSNBC is simply one profit-seeking division of the world's twelfth largest corporation. General Electric, the parent company of MSNBC, posted revenues of $183 billion last year fueled in large part by their energy divisions and military contracts. I suppose we can look forward to the Coca-Cola Countdown with Keith Olbermann, Home Depot Hardball with Chris Matthews, and the Rachel Maddow Target News Hour.
