MSNBC now has an executive position dedicated to reviewing transcripts before the programs air, due to recent problems with gaffes from hosts on the cable-news network.
There have been comments by Alec Baldwin, Martin Bashir, and Melissa Harris-Perry that have put the network and its hosts in the position of having to make public apologies. In some cases, the network has fired the hosts who were responsible.
According to a recent report from the
National Review, Rich Stockwell, who used to be executive producer of "The Ed Show" and "Countdown with Keith Olbermann," now oversees the job of reviewing scripts before they air.
In November, Baldwin
made anti-gay slurs on Twitter that lead MSNBC to dismiss him after just five episodes had aired.
In the same month,
Bashir resigned after calling former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin a "world-class idiot" during a tirade that included even worse comments, suggesting she should get the same treatment slaves received that were described in a slaveholder's diary.
And most recently, Harris-Perry
was forced to apologize after making derogatory comments about former presidential candidate Mitt Romney's black grandson.
The National Review notes that reviewing scripts has become necessary as "an attempt to impose order on the chaos reigning at the network."
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