MSNBC is airing two specials on Martin Luther King Jr. Weekend which celebrate the life and legacy of the American Civil Rights icon.
The first is from MSNBC’s Headliners series, focusing on the life of Congressman John Lewis (D-GA). That program will air Sunday at 9 p.m., and will be followed by NBC News’ original documentary film Hope & Fury: MLK, The Movement and The Media, Sunday at 10 p.m.
Hope & Fury premiered last March on NBC in prime time. The documentary is narrated by NBC Nightly News anchor / Dateline anchor Lester Holt, and executive produced by NBC News chairman Andy Lack.
For Lack, Hope & Fury was a return to his producer roots. After starting out producing commercials, Lack joined CBS News in 1976. He produced for 60 Minutes from 1978 until 1985, while also producing CBS Reports. One of his specials was the 1992 Dan Rather-hosted The Real Malcolm X: An Intimate Portrait of the Man. Lack would join NBC News in 1993 as news division president.
NBC News hosted a preview of its documentary film Hope & Fury: MLK, The Movement and the Media last March at the Paley Center in New York, which we attended.
“I was incredibly proud to be part of this project, and glad we’re continuing to air it,” Holt told TVNewser. “The film’s themes and lessons about the media and civil rights movement have only grown more salient over the past year, and I would encourage anyone who hasn’t seen it yet to tune in Sunday evening.”
The documentary’s director Phil Bertelsen added: “The ways in which Dr. King and the movement were able to harness the emerging medium of TV news in the late 1950’s and early ‘60’s reminds us of how today’s activists are utilizing social media technology to further their efforts to achieve social justice. MLK Day is the perfect time to remind audiences not only of Dr. King’s monumental accomplishments but the courage and strategies he employed to achieve them.”