The executives at 30 Rock seem, at least for now, more infatuated with expertise earned outside the newsroom than in one, with Melber being only the most prominent example. As a tenacious lawyer turned rookie journalist, is Melber emboldened by his passions or blinded by them? Does it matter to anyone that he’s not a journalist in the traditional mold? Are conventional journalists a fading commodity on cable news? His agenda journalism raises questions about the future of cable news, and the stars like Melber who are producing it. But he is also a crusading lawyer as determined to win arguments as to surface facts, and he’s got a growing audience that is patient enough to listen. ![]() If Melber was just another pretty face, that would be one thing. What it doesn’t explain is how that has translated into ratings that are high and getting higher. Which explains how he has claimed the mantle of the anchor with the most policy-drenched show on cable television. “If I spent so much time practicing law, it would seem that I would try to bring something in. “It doesn’t seem to me that my ideal role is trying to mimic something that is already out there,” says Melber. ![]() But he’d rather do that than join the noise that surrounds him. His passion is criminal-justice reform, and he airs stories on the subject with tiresome regularity. He approaches journalism as though he were working the courtroom, probing witnesses, circumventing circumventers, and pushing for resolution. Since then, Melber has disrupted cable news’ regular rhythm of political speculation, rants, and breathless coverage with conversations about public policy and his own view of right and wrong. He came to television less than two years ago from Cahill Gordon & Reindel where he was the right-hand man to Floyd Abrams, one of the country’s top First-Amendment lawyers. When the senators abandoned their committee hearings to declare their devotion to God, Melber saw it as an act of pure symbolism. The news that day was full of speculation about the Malaysia Airlines flight shot down over Ukraine, and how NASA was using celebratory tweets to commemorate the anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing-just the kind of white noise that Melber disdains. “I want to be illuminating,” he says over and over. “It would be on 50 websites, but it would achieve zero informational value of any kind.” In fact, anything about the 2016 presidential run is off limits for him. In the screening session, Melber was so keen to talk about criminal-justice issues-safety-net provisions, the practice of solitary confinement, procedural inputs, background checks, the stigma around criminals-that when a producer hinted that he ask Paul whether he’d consider a black running mate if he runs for president, Melber shot her down. “You tell me if this is a little wonky” was the meeting’s mantra. ![]() Viewers trying to keep up at home might have paused to Google phrases like “pathway for expungement” or the finer details of Pell grants-one reason Melber was asked to run every question by his producers in a pre-show meeting was to make sure they weren’t more than daytime television could handle. Do you think accidentally racist or explicitly so?” “Senator Booker,” he continued, “how we define the problem affects the approach we take. Why do you do that, and what do you say to people who say that law struck the right balance?” “Senator Paul,” he began, “this bill would roll back part of the bipartisan ‘96 welfare law that President Clinton signed that was taking away food stamps and welfare benefits from some people who had committed offenses. ![]() Melber had scored two of cable news’ prized guests, and he was reveling in the topic at hand-the senators’ just-released bill on juvenile-justice reform.Īware that he had just 12 minutes and 34 seconds for the interview, Melber fired away with precision wonkiness. On a Wednesday afternoon in late July, during his regular show on MSNBC, Ari Melber gestured across the table at US senators Rand Paul and Cory Booker. Melber is a lawyer, Huntsman worked on political campaigns, and Touré was a music writer. New kids Ari Melber, seen here with co-hosts Krystal Ball and Touré, is part of a new wave of young cable-news hosts who come from backgrounds other than news.
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