Why is Liberal MSNBC Commentator Joy Reid Interviewing Republican Voters in Staten Island?

Going “out in the field” to interview prospective voters is a media ritual. From diners to malls, reporters descend on communities prior to big elections to somehow assess “voter sentiment” from the ground. The utility of such reporting is debatable, but it does qualify as reporting. With the upcoming New York primary, it’s no surprise that networks are sending their crews out into their New York City backyards to observe voters in their natural habitat. It’s also perfectly sensible that for the Republican contest, the media would focus on the small, unusual Republican-leaning New York City Borough of Staten Island.

What is surprising, even inexplicable, is who MSNBC is sending out to talk to “the people.” On Monday morning, for example, liberal host Steve Kornacki was anchoring the network’s morning “hard news” block (another issue for another day) when he tossed to this report from former The Reid Report host and current MSNBC “National Correspondent” Joy Reid:

Reid is a smart and savvy politico with experience to spare, having started out in the unglamorous but respected print journalism field, and who was the managing editor of The Grio until 2014, and has long been one of the most liberal commentators on a left leaning network. As recently as August, she characterized Trump fans as “White Americans who feel left out of Obama’s America.”  Reid’s name has also been bandied about as a possible replacement for the departed Melissa Harris-Perry, the most flaming liberal on MSNBC’s bonfire.

Which is to say that Joy Reid is good at doing what she does, which is to be a flame-throwing liberal at a liberal network, but she’s the absolute wrong person to send out to interview Republican voters. It’s not just unfair to viewers, it’s insulting to the ordinary voters she’s interviewing to do so from behind a hidden mask of partisan disdain.

Those Republicans being interviewed had every reason to believe they were being interviewed by an objective reporter. It is obvious that a good portion of our news media has chosen a corner, but at least when it comes to interviewing members of the public they’re supposed to be serving, they deserve to know where the “reporter” stands, and in this case its on the other side.

This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.