Friday, May 29, 2009

Pressure grows on MSNBC to accept two-state solution.



US cable news channel MSNBC in under mounting pressure to accept the so-called "two-state solution" to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Thus far, the station has pursued a policy designed to dodge or ignore the matter. In line with that policy, hosts such as Keith Olbermann (of Countdown) or Rachel Maddow (of the Rachel Maddow Show) feature no stories whatsoever on the subject - Thursday's meeting between President Obama and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas was the latest example of the coverage blackout, designed to deflect attention away from the "two-state solution" and instead re-direct attention towards pre-approved topics such as GOP-bashing or Dick Cheney.

Countdown host Keith Olbermann appeared pensive on the subject when asked to comment, stating "I just can't talk about that." However, when pressed, he added "Yesterday, we had to accomodate the 'natural growth' of the Sonia Sotomayor story, and leave lots of space in case Eric Cantor said something silly, so that is maybe why that subject got bumped."

UPDATE: MSNBC has started to cover the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in more depth.

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