who? wait, dont answer. if hes going to MSNBC no one will need to know who he is…

It was either that or being maitre’d at Burger King . Wrong choice .

That’s a nice pick-up for MSNBC/NBC. Bashir is a very good journalist.

FOX NETWORK: TRUTH TAKES A HOLIDAY!

Looks like Ratigan’s gonna be lookin’ for new work!

I guess MSNBC is going to make a stab at celebrity news.

Happy trails to you,…..

And he was never heard from again.

this will free him up to do another harold and kumar movie! cant wait!

Basihr’s program to follow The Shirley Sherrod Show at 3:00 pm. Eastern .

Being an anchor at MSNBC is truly being an anchor. As in, sinking to the bottom….

It might be a good move for him.

He may find some new MSNBC ladies to harass.

I think he has worn out his welcome over at ABC!

Bashir is best known for making landmark documentaries including “Living With Michael Jackson,”

Really, is there ANYTHING else he’s known for?

Good to see he can ride out that triumph for at least seven years.

He jumped from one sinking ship to another. Big deal!

To anyone-who’s-listening,

The recent news of Martin Bashir’s impending elopement to the shores of
MSNBC represents a profound departure of this channel from not only decent
reporting, but
also acceptable journalistic standards.

Mr Bashir’s exploitative and grossly dishonest editing and de facto
hijacking of a vulnerable individual in his program ‘Living With Michael
Jackson’ was a new low even for an increasingly base industry. Not content
with inflicting stupefyingly dull sex-tapes, biased commentary and outright
falsehoods into the public slipstream, Bashir’s new appointment as anchor
essentially rewards unethical journalism.

I had thought MNSBC was better than this. I know my tastes and viewing needs
certainly are. By displaying such rank disrespect for the intelligence and
deeper perception of your viewers, MNSBC has declared plainly its intent and
hollow rectitude.

You are not listening, to either ordinary citizens, or yourselves. The
apparent indignation and lethargy for outrageously skewed narrative which
greeted the engineered Tiger Woods, Jason Pfieffer, and Shirley Sherrod
Gibson ‘stories,’ should be raising red flags in your newsrooms. You are
having to work harder and harder to milk revenue from ‘news’ of this nature.
When will you understand that millions of people are no longer interested in
this type of newsmaking?

I am not denying that there isn’t market for ‘light’ stories and harmless
gossip – but Bashir represents something entirely different. This so-called
journalist willingly profited from the unwitting remarks made by Mr Jackson
during filming, and it was obvious to anyone who isn’t a complete savant,
that he was clearly impaired at the time. Ignoring all the pre-conditions he
and Jackson had established prior to filming – such as including footage of
his children, and honest, ‘realtime’ editing, Bashir’s program was an
undeniable’ hit-piece’ -designed to inflict maximum damage for maximum
professional gain.

And it worked. But at what cost? LWMJ set in motion a grand catastrophe for
Jackson, and even grander one for his three children. LWMJ, was the catalyst
for a clearly biased and emotionally invested district attorney to go after
an old adversary. And Bashir knew this.

It is the reason, as you know, why he invoked California’s Shield Law when
called to testify in the 2005 trial. If a journalist cannot defend his or
her actions in a court of law, which is supposed to represent truth,
legality and due process – then why is it appropriate in your viewers’
living rooms?

I am asking you, as one human being to another, why are educated men and
women, who studied and worked hard for a place in an industry which was
originally intended to inform, inspire and shape opinion along ethical
values and a mandate to tell the truth – letting your own industry debase
itself daily? Who among you will have enough professional strength and
personal self-respect to challenge and question what Bashir will actually
bring to MSBN’s collective table?

We are all affected by the erosion of humane and decent values in such a
powerful industry as yours – and we all diminished when that erosion is
dismissed as irrelevent.

I will include MSNBC in my family’s viewing schedule when the Bashir’s
presence no longer pollutes it.

Sincerely

Deborah Ffrench.

To anyone-who’s-listening,

The recent news of Martin Bashir’s impending elopement to the shores of
MSNBC represents a profound departure of this channel from not only decent
reporting, but also acceptable journalistic standards.

Mr Bashir’s exploitative and grossly dishonest editing and de facto
hijacking of a vulnerable individual in his program ‘Living With Michael
Jackson’ was a new low even for an increasingly base industry. Not content
with inflicting stupefyingly dull sex-tapes, biased commentary and outright
falsehoods into the public slipstream, Bashir’s new appointment as anchor
essentially rewards unethical journalism.

I had thought MNSBC was better than this. I know my tastes and viewing needs
certainly are. By displaying such rank disrespect for the intelligence and
deeper perception of your viewers, MNSBC has declared plainly its intent and
hollow rectitude.

You are not listening, to either ordinary citizens, or yourselves. The
apparent indignation and lethargy for outrageously skewed narrative which
greeted the engineered Tiger Woods, Jason Pfieffer, and Shirley Sherrod
Gibson ‘stories,’ should be raising red flags in your newsrooms. You are
having to work harder and harder to milk revenue from ‘news’ of this nature.
When will you understand that millions of people are no longer interested in
this type of newsmaking?

I am not denying that there isn’t market for ‘light’ stories and harmless
gossip – but Bashir represents something entirely different. This so-called
journalist willingly profited from the unwitting remarks made by Mr Jackson
during filming, and it was obvious to anyone who isn’t a complete savant,
that he was clearly impaired at the time. Ignoring all the pre-conditions he
and Jackson had established prior to filming – such as including footage of
his children, and honest, ‘realtime’ editing, Bashir’s program was an
undeniable’ hit-piece’ -designed to inflict maximum damage for maximum
professional gain.

And it worked. But at what cost? LWMJ set in motion a grand catastrophe for
Jackson, and even grander one for his three children. LWMJ, was the catalyst
for a clearly biased and emotionally invested district attorney to go after
an old adversary. And Bashir knew this.

It is the reason, as you know, why he invoked California’s Shield Law when
called to testify in the 2005 trial. If a journalist cannot defend his or
her actions in a court of law, which is supposed to represent truth,
legality and due process – then why is it appropriate in your viewers’
living rooms?

I am asking you, as one human being to another, why are educated men and
women, who studied and worked hard for a place in an industry which was
originally intended to inform, inspire and shape opinion along ethical
values and a mandate to tell the truth – letting your own industry debase
itself daily? Who among you will have enough professional strength and
personal self-respect to challenge and question what Bashir will actually
bring to MSBN’s collective table?

We are all affected by the erosion of humane and decent values in such a
powerful industry as yours – and we all diminished when that erosion is
dismissed as irrelevent.

I will include MSNBC in my family’s viewing schedule when the Bashir’s
presence no longer pollutes it.

This had a typo in it. Reloaded.

Bashir is an insensitive and tacky journalist. I have no respect for someone who portays Michael Jackson in a negative light. I will not watch this moron again or this tv station for that matter.

MSNBC’s standards are scraping the slimy bottom. 28 million viewers watched “Living With Michael Jackson” because they were fascinated by Michael Jackson (a robot could have interviewed him and gotten as huge an audience). Jackson agreed to be interviewed under the misguided idea that he might actually be treated fairly by a journalist. He was wrong. LWMJ is not a feather in Mr. Bashir’s cap, MSNBC. No, I’d say probably most of the 28 million viewers of that program saw quite clearly that Bashir was unethical, manipulative, and sly in the extreme. His ambition certainly trumped any consideration of journalistic integrity, and I doubt that has changed, MSNBC. Why would you want him working for you? I’d say ABC pulled a fast one, dumping him elsewhere. View his comments page and you will see that he not exactly popular with viewers.

Phil Griffin’s remarks might be a hoot if they didn’t display a profound ignorance of what should be valued by journalists. It is possible that Bashir is “smart” (as a snake is smart) but he is hardly original. Look up “Judas” and you’ll see what I mean.

Dag-gone-it! ….the plan was to get rid of him, not move him! Yo dude, until you come forward and admit in public that you did Michael Jackson dirty, and stabbed him in the back, you are SO shunned.

You are a piss poor columnist. I can’t believe MSNBC is taking you on. I’m sure they know what you did! I hope they make you memorize some kind of code of ethics for professional journalism, but then again, you’ll screw up some how and they’ll move you again. You sneaky snake in the grass! Thankfully Michael showed the world the “real side of you” for those who need more information on this a** go to www dot mjtruthnow dot com!! MJJ~forever

OK. Here’s the thing. I am an intelligent, professional person. I own a home, have a family and,
luckily, am still employed. I value my time and try to use it wisely. My preference is for fact
based, researched and sourced information from the media/press. Not surprisingly, I am
disappointed and offended that one of my preferred TV sources has decided to hire and
give airtime to Martin Bashir.

I am old enough to recall his sensationalistic and manipulative treatment of celebrities in the
past. I didn’t appreciate his brand of reporting at that time nor do I intend to engage or
participate today. MSNBC, you have just lost a valued viewer as I will no longer frequent your
channel. Your management is free to go in that direction, but I am not following. Frankly,
it’s insulting to assume that your viewers are not intelligent enough to know or remember
Bashir’s history.

Once he’s gone, I’ll be returning. But not before.

Lauren T.

On the one hand, our prayers have been answered. Mr. Bashir is leaving ABC. That is the good news. The not-so-good news is that MSNBC has inherited ABC’s albatross. Let’s not give up the good fight.

We shall follow this reporter of ill repute to his next station in life. We want justice for Mr. Jackson. Justice includes a full acknowledgment by Mr. Bashir that he sought out Michael Jackson in order to manipulate his way into the superstar’s life, with the intention to sensationalize his coverage of this trusting soul, for his own financial gain.

The Society of Professional Journalists needs to hold people such as Mr. Bashir accountable for their unethical actions. He needs to be sanctioned by his own profession, and certainly not rewarded for a highly edited filming that portrays an inaccurate story of a person’s life that he vowed to only report the truth about.

Please watch the Take Two version of the Living With Michael Jackson Documentary. It reveals the footage that Mr. Bashir intentionally omitted in order to sensationalize the superstar’s life. .

Oh, for the love of Pete, who cares about Michael Jackson and the documentary from God knows how long ago? He interviewed Jackson, asked him tough questions (which last time I checked was called journalism), got viewed by tens of millions of people, and people want to call him out for it? What did he do wrong? He was doing a freaking interview… that’s his JOB! If people wanted Bashir to go in there and do a softball interview like some no good clown, then go watch Fox News and see Chris Wallace drool in his interview with Rush Limbaugh a few months ago. Get over it people. Seriously… it’s been 7 years or something, and you want to call this guy’s journalism into question because he was pressuring a beloved figure on why he has little kids at his house? Anybody would want to know why he did that… it’s a completely legitimate inquiry. Move on. Jackson has been dead for more than a year now and he was honestly a pretty creepy person with all the loving children stuff. I don’t ever stomp on a man’s grave, but that’s just how it is. Point being, Bashir did what he had to do as a journalist, and if people don’t want journalists and instead lapdogs who bow down to someone like a servant, don’t watch news. Watch Nickelodeon or pro wrestling instead.

@ ProgLib

You are missing the point. This move is being heralded as somehow moving journalism forward, when in fact it is a signiifcant step back. Whether one liked or disliked Jackson is immaterial. The point is, Bashir massively overstepped the limits of ethical journalism to further his own ends.

In the 2005 trial of Jackson – a trial that by the way renowned journalist Mike Taibbi unreservedly described as
” bullshit ” – it was revealed that Bashir had made several legally binding promises to Jackson. Promising not only to desist from asking questions about Jackson’s children, Bashir actually urged Jackson to invite children to Neverland in order to facilitate the dramatic overdubs about ‘children in danger.’ Bashir had also promised he would introduce Jackson to Kofi Annan, as part of a desire Jackson had to help children around the world.

The secondary footage Jackson made clearly showed Bashir’s use of duplicitous editing. Bashir also misled Jackson by making promises he had no intention of keeping. By editing the footage to portray ill intent where there was none, Bashir sold false footage for millions and bagged himself a job at ABC. It is also widely known in media circles that Bashir’s team alerted the press that Jackson and his children would be visiitng the zoo, obviously to create a frenzy he could film and take advantage of.

This is not journalism, it’s cannabilism, and people should care about that. This decision by MSNBC sends a message to other journalists that cowardly, underhand, dishonest misrepresentation by the press is okay.

Bashir didn’t expose Watergate. He used a frail, father of three’s naivete and compromised state of mind to advance his own career. You may wish ProgLib to jibe about wrestling, but you should remember this:

We get the media we deserve, and the media we blindly accept. There are such a thing as integrity and professional self-respect – and Bashir possesses neither.

Martin Bashir’s shame is not that he asked the wrong questions, but that he manipulated Jackson’s answers constantly and deliberately throughout Living With Michael Jackson.

To understand why so many people who were not remotely interested in Jackson when he was alive, now have a major problem with the career benefits that Bashir and others who exploited Jackson continue to receive, a look back at why Bashir went after Jackson in the first place is necessary.

When watching the Footage You Weren’t Meant To See aka Take Two, one is struck by two things. Firstly, how far Bashir went to make a buck, and secondly how addled Jackson appears in the program. It is more than obvious that while saying what he thought Jackson wanted to hear, Bashir edited the footage to create an impression of malevolence at Neverland that didn’t exist.

Countless children Mr Jackson invited over to Neverland over twenty years have stated categorically that there was never any hint of inappropriateness from Jackson. So what made Gavin and Jordan different?

The agenda’s of their parents.

There was no corroborative evidence against Jackson in 1993, just the word of a frightened little boy given a suggestive drug by his violent father. Later in 2005, the reason for the trial, was revealed to be simply money.
Thomas Mesereau, Jackson’s lawyer at the time, said of Jordan Chandler, who refused to testify in that farce, that he had witnesses prepared to swear on oath that Jordan had told them he not been molested by Jackson.

And In 2009, the FBI, one of the premier information gathering agencies in the world, released files that showed they could find absolutely no evidence of criminality against Jackson in an investigation that lasted over 10 years. The perpetuation of blatant lies about who Michael Jackson was, is nothing more than deliberate ignorance in the face of the facts. But they have been peddled for so long now that the truth has been all but lost.

The fact that MSNBC condones Bashir’s past actions, a man who has been brought before the Press Complaints Commission in England before for abuse of journalistic principles, is a just another indication that our media is devolving at an ever increasing rate. Bashir, who can no longer work as an interviewer of celebrities now that his modus operandi has been exposed, is a shameful example of how far the calibre of today’s media merchants who claim to be investigative journalists, has fallen over the last two decades.

People need to wake up to the reality that they have been manipulated by successive tabloid publications and journalists who should know better, into believing a created molester fiction that proved more profitable to the media than the reality of Jackson’s innocence?

Not exactly a headline is it?

What this man did to Michael Jackson was horrible. How can a lying, dishonest, tabloid scum journalist come to this country, help destroy Michael jackson by editing film to leave out the truth, and not 1 but 2 of our networks hire this dirtbag?? I will not watch MSNBC again. I will help get the word out in every way i can. Bashir go back to where you came from, but not before admitting on your new “home”, MSNBC, that you set Michael up, and edited to make him look like he was doing something wrong when he wasn’t.

With so many people out of work these days, you’d think MSNBC wouldn’t have to scrape the bottom of the barrel to get someone to work for them. I once thought MSNBC had some integrity left, however I see that responsibility in journalism is not a deciding factor in their job requirements. I am ashamed to say I live in a country which allows such gross distortions to be published, and allows innocent lives to be ruined for the personal gain of others. Better watch out MSNBC, Bashir may decide to do a documentary on YOU, only to release a very distorted view on how you live your life. Stick with the fiction section of the dime store paperbacks Bashir, you’re in a position that is obviously way over the level of your intelligence.

If I have learned anything by living in this country, I have learned that money is the root of all evil, and I have learned that some people will step on anyone they can while climbing the ladder of success. Hmmm, I wonder whose rung Bashir will be someday in their climb up?