Super Tuesday: MSNBC’s ‘Characterization’ Labels Leaving Viewers’ Heads Scratching

All eyes are on Super Tuesday and the primetime coverage as 14 states hold their presidential primaries. While President Donald Trump runs unopposed on the Republican side, the Democratic race is a tightly-contested race between Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders.

With the coverage being live, there will always be some conversation throughout that sparks some controversy. It turns out that it wasn’t any slip-up or on-air gaffe that caused MSNBC to trend, but instead its decision to include a new feature in its coverage.

The network introduced a new term, “change in characterization” when calling races. In short, it was used to differentiate between the various levels of how they are calling races, such as “too close to call” or “too early to call.” It came across as quite confusing to viewers, however, as much of the talk on social media pertained to the new term and its unclear definition.

“MSNBC and their ‘characterizations’ is a bit much. Winners, losers, too close. That’s all we need,” another user tweeted.

One user was very confused as the broadcast made a big deal out of their “change in characterization” notices, “Too early to call is too early to call. Why do we need an interruption or announcement for a ‘change in our characterization’? ‘And so and so is leading’. I mean, we can see the numbers. Come on!”

Along with its new terminology, the network also saw itself trend on social media for a totally different recent. Reporter Steve Kornacki found himself breaking down the Texas Democratic primary election when he began circling different things.

When his scribbling was all done, however, it created quite a lewd design.

Kornacki clearly didn’t mean to draw what he did, but it sure made its way across Twitter in no time.

For Kornacki, this mishap comes a day after he was completely caught off-guard by Chris Matthews’ decision to step away from Hardball and announce his retirement.