Joy Reid Continues Nonstop Coverage of Ukraine After Accusing Her Peers of Elevating It Over ‘Browner’ Countries

Last Monday, MSNBC’s Joy Reid ended her show with a monologue about American news media priorities when covering international conflicts. She juxtaposed the media’s extensive coverage of Russia’s war on Ukraine with the scant coverage of strife in largely non-White parts of the world.

Reid specifically homed in on the ongoing civil war and humanitarian crisis in Yemen. She noted that “we haven’t witnessed the same type of solidarity for the Yemenis as we do for the Ukrainians. We don’t see historic sanctions or global campaigns, corporations like Airbnb and Netflix taking a stand.”

She added, “The coverage of Ukraine has revealed a pretty radical disparity in how human Ukrainians look and feel to Western media compared to their browner and blacker counterparts.”

Her comments, though valid to an extent, landed oddly given that until that time, The ReidOut had extensively covered Ukraine at the expense of other conflicts. Moreover, a search of transcripts indicated that prior to Monday, Reid hadn’t mentioned the war in Yemen since at least September of last year, and maybe longer. Like many primetime cable news hosts, Reid has shied away from covering international conflicts unless the U.S. is directly involved, Ukraine notwithstanding.

Last week I made the obvious point that as a cable news host, Reid would seem to be in a position to cover the sorts of conflicts she says deserve more coverage. Yet, she has declined to do so. That’s why I noted that unless The ReidOut starts covering the kinds of crises she’s talking about, her critique will continue to ring hollow.

Since that monologue, The ReidOut has aired five new episodes. A review of transcripts indicates that not only did the show not cover Yemen or some other war-torn “browner” country as Reid put it, the show has featured beginning-to-end coverage of the war in Ukraine and matters directly related to it – and little, if nothing else.

Meanwhile, a search of transcripts shows Yemen received at least some passing mention (in a non-Reid context) over the past week on MSNBC’s PoliticsNation, Ayman, Morning Joe, The Rachel Maddow Show, The 11th Hour, and All In.

On CNN, Yemen was mentioned on Inside Politics, New Day, and CNN Newsroom Live.

Over at Fox News, it was referred to on The Five, America’s Newsroom, Fox and Friends, and Fox and Friends First.

The point here is not to tell Reid or any other cable news host or network what to cover. That is up to them. But if you’re a host who said, as Reid did last Monday, “We aren’t afraid to call out our industry” for ignoring certain stories, then you should be prepared to set an example by covering them.

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