Until last Wednesday I never even heard of Rebecca Kutler, and I still know virtually nothing about MSNBC’s president except this much: I wouldn’t rely on her for cover in an intense military battle.
In a recent blog I called out the clueless comments of MSNBC’s then political analyst Matthew Dowd when news first broke that conservative activist Charlie Kirk was shot. Dowd recklessly speculated that perhaps Kirk was shot by his supporters in a burst of celebratory fire and then implied he deserved the violence, given what Dowd said was divisive rhetoric and “constantly sort of pushing this sort of hate speech, or sort of aimed at certain groups.”
Dowd’s comments spread like wildfire across the conservative media universe. By day’s end, he was out of a job.
It wasn’t clear from initial media reports whether Dowd was fired or voluntarily resigned but he subsequently confirmed in his Substack column that he was indeed pink slipped. That confirmation tells us a lot about Rebecca Kutler.
At 4:01 p.m. last Wednesday MSNBC’s PR account issued a statement on Kutler’s behalf saying Dowd’s comments were “inappropriate, insensitive and unacceptable” and “we apologize for his statements, as has he.” In my mind, it’s unseemly for a newsroom leader to have their messages relayed through corporate PR, but admittedly it’s become common practice. I just can’t imagine legendary editors like Abe Rosenthal of the New York Times or Ben Bradlee of the Washington Post relying on flacks to speak for them.
Kutler’s statement made no mention that Dowd had been fired, which would have bolstered her claim that MSNBC found his comments “unacceptable.” Yet a few hours later, Deadline reported that Dowd was no longer with the network. Either Kutler is woefully inept at PR for not disclosing that Dowd was out, or she only fired him after realizing anger over his comments extended beyond Trump supporters.
Cowardly Firing
Regardless, Kutler’s firing of Dowd was an act of cowardice. His role as a political color commentator was to serve as a foil for MSNBC anchors and make them seem smarter than mere teleprompter readers. Anchor Katy Tur baited Dowd by calling Kirk “divisive” and “polarizing,” and on cue Dowd piled on. Somehow Tur escaped culpability.
Dowd deserved to be fired, but not for his remarks, which were consistent with the narratives MSNBC hired him to promote. He should have been fired for being a lousy analyst. I’m no political expert but had Tur asked me for an immediate reaction to Kirk being shot, I would have said MSNBC viewers should be praying for his recovery because he was a beloved hero in conservative circles — and that if he died it would prove to be a George Floyd–level watershed moment. Dowd clearly didn’t appreciate Kirk’s influence.
Among the pressures possibly weighing on Kutler were her corporate bosses, who undermined her with a memo they sent to MSNBC staffers calling Kirk’s death a “tragic loss” and declaring, “His words and actions underscore the urgency to maintain a respectful exchange of ideas — a principle we must champion.”
The memo was signed by Comcast CEO Brian Roberts, Comcast president Mike Cavanagh, and Mark Lazarus, the prospective CEO of Versant, the spin-off company housing MSNBC. Roberts turned a blind eye to MSNBC’s incendiary rhetoric for years, and I suspect he was trying to curry favor with President Trump. As I’ve previously noted, Comcast had close ties to Joe Biden and MSNBC long championed his candidacy and presidency. Biden’s former White House spokeswoman, Jen Psaki, now shills for other Democrats behind an MSNBC anchor desk, pretending to be a journalist rather than a political hack.
Kutler, a longtime CNN executive who only permanently landed the top MSNBC job earlier this year, is hardly unique in her cowardice.
Gray Lady Cowardice
New York Times publisher A.G. Sulzberger initially defended opinion editor James Bennet’s decision to publish Senator Tom Cotton’s op-ed calling for the military to quell what the media framed as “mostly peaceful” George Floyd protests.
“I believe in the principle of openness to a range of opinions, even those we may disagree with, and this piece was published in that spirit,” Sulzberger said. Unable to quell internal protests, he reversed himself and then said the Cotton op-ed didn’t meet the Times’ “standards” and “represented a significant breakdown in our editing processes, not the first we’ve experienced in recent years.”
Bennet was forced to resign.
Former Times editor Dean Baquet likewise initially defended veteran science reporter Donald McNeil, who used the N-word in a discussion about whether a student should use the term. Baquet said McNeil’s intent wasn’t “hateful or malicious” and he deserved another chance. After Nikole Hannah-Jones, author of a discredited essay prefacing the Times’ 1619 Project, threatened to launch an investigation, McNeil was forced to resign.
Notably, Hannah-Jones herself tweeted the N-word multiple times, and when asked by a reporter from the conservative Washington Free Beacon about the seeming contradiction, she posted the reporter’s telephone number.
Cowardice at The Atlantic
At The Atlantic, a far-left publication bankrolled by Kamala Harris’s close friend Laurene Powell Jobs, editor Jeffrey Goldberg in 2018 lured conservative writer Kevin Williamson with assurances he’d be protected from reader backlash. “The campaign to have me fired will begin 11 seconds after you announce that you’ve hired me,” Williamson recalled telling Goldberg in a Wall Street Journal commentary. “It won’t be that bad,” Goldberg allegedly replied. “The Atlantic isn’t the New York Times. It isn’t high church for liberals.”
Williamson’s first Atlantic piece ran April 2, 2018. He was fired three days later.
Democracy Dies in Dumbness
Then there’s Sally Buzbee, the former Washington Post editor under whom the publication hemorrhaged readers and veered hard left and lost its influence. The Post initially suspended controversial reporter Felicia Sonmez for tweeting criticisms of Kobe Bryant after his death. After backlash, the Post reinstated her, only to later fire her when she publicly turned her ire on colleagues on Twitter and the paper itself became a late-night punchline.
Among the most egregious examples of cowardice was Betsy Reed, who when she worked at The Intercept was instrumental in spiking a commentary by the publication’s co-founder Glenn Greenwald questioning the media’s knee-jerk dismissal of the New York Post’s Hunter Biden laptop exposé before the 2020 election. Major outlets have since confirmed the laptop’s authenticity.
Reed, unwilling to risk angering her leftist peers, not only blocked the piece but publicly trashed Greenwald as a tantrum-thrower. Greenwald resigned from The Intercept, which immediately struggled for funding. Reed moved on to oversee The Guardian’s U.S. operations, and is soliciting donations to help the left-wing nonprofit “combat disinformation.”
Editors With Backbones
Not all editors are cowards. When William Lewis was publisher of The Wall Street Journal, he refused to retract a headline that so angered China the communist country expelled three Journal reporters. Dozens of WSJ staffers complained the headline was “derogatory” and demanded a correction and an apology. Lewis wasn’t moved or cowered. Now publisher of the Washington Post, he’s valiantly trying to clean up Buzbee’s mess. Buzbee now oversees the U.S. and Canadian operations of Reuters.
Even the New York Post has shown flashes of spine, albeit not for admirable causes. Editor Keith Poole reportedly refused to run a hard-hitting exposé on Trump DEA nominee Terry Cole by veteran reporter Josh Kosman. But to his credit, Poole didn’t malign Kosman’s work with the usual dodge that it “failed to meet our journalism standards.” He simply said, “Nope. Not running this.”
Having cowards in charge of newsrooms helps explain why political and corporate whistleblowers receive so little support. Former FDA vaccine experts Marion Gruber and Phil Krause, who resigned rather than rubber-stamp Biden’s vaccine booster mandate, should have been hailed as national heroes. So should former JPMorgan Chase executives Ann Borowiec and Catherine Keating, who protested the bank’s Jeffrey Epstein ties. Boeing whistleblowers never received the media support they deserved. Little wonder suicide is an occupational hazard for whistleblowers.
I’ve said it many times: the media deserves much of the blame for America’s sorry state of politics and leadership. Perhaps Home Depot, which after 9/11 supplied vital equipment for the collapsed World Trade Center, could donate brooms to clear out the debris clogging America’s newsrooms.