Truth Wins Out, whose stated objective is to fight anti-gay religious extremism, has begun a petition to urge NBC to assign Rachel Maddow as a special human rights correspondent to cover the Sochi Olympics.
NBC's Olympic coverage has long featured myriad human interest pieces, about the athletes competing, and about all aspects of life in the home nation. There is more than enough time in prime time Olympic coverage for hard-hitting pieces exposing the reality of what LGBT people, political dissidents and other minorities face every day under the Putin regime.
Rachel Maddow is one of the most respected television journalists in the United States, with a reputation for being thorough, fair, informative and entertaining. Rachel has the expertise and the instincts to tell this full story to a viewing audience who are appalled by the treatment of their Russian brothers and sisters. Adding her to NBC's coverage won't fly in the face of the Olympic spirit, but rather enhance it, as there is nothing in the ethics or the history of the Olympic Games that can coexist peacefully with the war Russia is waging against her own citizens, and the rest of the world needs to know.
NBC is fortunate to have such an esteemed, beloved journalist in their family of networks. Bringing her into the Olympics coverage is, frankly, a no-brainer. Do the right thing, NBC, for the Olympics, and for the Russian people. The world is watching.
Amid the calls for a boycott of Russian vodka, various other Russian products, and even the Sochi Olympics itself, I rank this as one of the most positive and productive ideas that has been floated. Rachel Maddow is in a unique position to lend the gravitas needed to shine a spotlight on the human rights abuses occurring against our LBGT brothers and sisters in Russia right now. As Truth Wins Out duly noted, the world will indeed be watching. It is important that the world listen as well and Rachel Maddow would have plenty to say.
If you would like to sign the petition, you may do so here.
Via Joe. My. God.