Jive turkey at ‘Morning Joe’
RUSSIAN PRESIDENT Vladimir Putin signed into law Saturday new measures designating international media outlets as foreign agents.
The move was seen as retaliation for a similar measure taken by the Justice Department against Russia’s state-funded RT television.
The U.S. government took action after intelligence services identified that RT, formerly known as Russia Today, was spreading false information during the 2016 presidential election.
Putin’s government has repeatedly denied meddling in the election and portrayed the restrictions on Russian broadcasters in the U.S. as an attack on free speech.
The Justice Department pressured RT two weeks ago into registering as a foreign agent — or face the prospect of prosecution and closure.
“Choosing between a criminal case and registration, we have chosen the latter,” the outlet’s editorin-chief Margarita Simonyan said in a statement at the time.
“Congratulations to American freedom of speech and all those who still believe in it.”
Even before the bill was signed into law, Russia’s Justice Ministry last week published a list of nine U.S.-backed news outlets that it said could be affected by the changes.
The U.S. government-funded Voice of America and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty were among those on the list. THE “MORNING JOE” hosts were talking turkey the day after Thanksgiving — but viewers only heard bull.
“Day after Thanksgiving. Woo! I’m stuffed!” host Mika Brzezinski said to open the show.
“A great Thanksgiving,” Joe Scarborough replied before they both offered a few awkward chuckles.
The MSNBC show — which runs live five days a week — seemed normal at first, but several fans noticed it wasn’t unfolding in real time.
The network did not indicate that show was taped a day ahead of the holiday, though the “Live” graphic typically on the screen had been removed, the Washington Post reported.
An MSNBC exec confirmed to the Post that “Morning Joe” wasn’t live, but said, “There was no intention to trick viewers.”