Morgan Freeman is not impressed with the media’s coverage of Baltimore, and he has some harsh words for TV journalists.
In an interview with The Daily Beast about his upcoming flick 5 Flights Up, the actor said most mainstream media is more commentary than news.
“F*** the media,” he said.
“Look at MSNBC, Fox News and CNN. Go between those three,” he said. “There’s a take, there’s a take and there’s a take. It’s just commentary. CNN wants to be pure news, but the others are just commentary. They’re just commenting on things.”
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He concedes that the coverage of Baltimore is a slight improvement over that of Ferguson, but it’s only the younger journalists who really get it.
“Now, they’re getting more of the whole picture. Ferguson? No. Baltimore seems to be coming up with a different scenario in the background,” he said. “People are saying, ‘You were not all there when we were just talking and trying to make a point, but if we set something on fire, all of a sudden you’re all here. Why is that? What’s the difference?’ And some young reporters are listening. That sort of observation is very useful.”
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“The other thing is that technology lets us see behind the scenes a little bit better,” he continued. “Police have a standard reaction to shooting somebody. I fear for my life and I fear for my safety. Now, at least you can see, ‘Hey, his hands were up in the air! What part of your safety were you afraid of? The guy was running away, what part of your safety was in danger?’ There was one situation I saw where a cop told a guy to get out of the car, said, ‘Show me your driver’s license,’ and the guy reached back into the car and the cop shot him!”
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Morgan tackled the issue of bigotry in a surprising forum: last night’s episode of the science show he hosts and produces, Through the Wormhole.
“If you think you see everyone as equal, you’re kidding yourself,” he says in the show opener. “We all have biases, and no matter how open-minded we think we are, stereotypes color our judgment of others and can lead us badly astray.”
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