It was with a sense of shock and disgust that the Watchdog watched a full fifteen-minute segment, uninterrupted by commercials, of an interview at 8:00 AM by MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” of Howard Schultz, CEO of Starbucks, the program’s chief sponsor.
Although probably meaning well, Shultz spoke inanities having recently demanded a reduction in deficit spending and today endorsing stimulus and a broader social network. Which would he have?
But whatever his view, the pandering to him by hosts Joe Scarborough , Mika Brzezinski and Willie Geist and every panel members was so obsequious as to be revolting. They gushed praise and admiration; not a critical word was to be heard.
Since when do we allow CEOs of sponsors fifteen minutes of morning prime time news and commentary to hawk their political ideas, their philanthropy and their wares?
A cynic might opine that this is a classic case of business “Doing well by doing good.”
There are ample other ways to make the same points about education. Starbuck’s initiative could be covered as a regular 30 second news item accompanied by appropriate disclaimers.
A question that cross our mind was whether Shultz has aspirations for running for office at some future date.
We hope there will be sufficient outcry from both left and right to trigger an investigation, if needed new rules, and if not needed, the appropriate penalties. Other spokesperson could be interviewed.
Below is an excerpt from an article appearing on MSNBC’s web site:
Starbucks CEO takes political crusade to public
Starbucks Corp chief executive Howard Schultz urged members of the public on Friday to join a novel campaign he launched last month seeking to break partisan gridlock in Washington and spur economic growth.
In an open letter circulated via email, the head of the world’s biggest coffee chain invited “concerned Americans” to take part in a national call-in conversation next Tuesday hosted by the nonpartisan group No Labels, dedicated to fostering cooperative and more effective government.
The group, based in Washington, hopes to draw “a couple hundred-thousand” citizens to join in the 90-minute “tele-townhall” with co-founders of the organization and Schultz, to be streamed live over the Internet, No Labels spokesman Dustin Carnevale said. …. (more)
