New TV News 10 Most Powerful: NBC chief tops Ailes; KO still #6

[DeepModem Mom]

....1. STEVE CAPUS
Title: NBC News president
Tenure: 2½ years
Rank last year: 2

Why he was chosen: The NBC News ship, which last year seemed to have sprung a few worrisome leaks, is once again sailing upright and steady as she used to go. “NBC Nightly News With Brian Williams” is edging out ABC’s “World News With Charles Gibson” with more regularity. The “Today” show is once again making it look easy to be No. 1, no longer letting ABC’s “Good Morning America” see it sweat as it did during close weeks last year when “Today” would find ways to eliminate some of its more vulnerable segments from the Nielsen ratings’ scrutiny. During the first quarter of this year, “Today” led by 1.2 million viewers. MSNBC.com is the leading television news organization Web site. Perhaps most tantalizing is the success NBC News has had in this long, dramatic and lucrative political season by making MSNBC “The Place for Politics.” The cable channel may finally have found its voice -— brash and brass ballsy at day’s end -— and a formula that makes it a valuable platform for (and not just a way of amortizing expenses of) NBC News.

Invaluable asset: His fellow MSNBC alumnus, Phil Griffin, the NBC News senior VP in charge of both “Today” and MSNBC. Mr. Griffin has been given a lot of (tight) rope with MSNBC, whose prime-time lineup tied CNN in the key news demo of 25- to 54-year-olds in March. Even when someone at MSNBC has to apologize, the incident gets a lot of ink and the names are spelled correctly. It’s not the only recent strategy that reads like a page out of a Fox News playbook -— even if the political points of view are poles apart.

Nitpicking: ....Sunday’s New York Times Magazine profile of Chris Matthews reveals a lot of sharp elbows, but makes clear that the man who once was a fresh face now is his own worst enemy.

2. ROGER AILES
Titles: Chairman and CEO of Fox News, Fox Business Network, Fox Television Station Group.
Tenure: Launched Fox News Channel in 1996
Rank last year: 1....

***

6. KEITH OLBERMANN
Title: Host of “Countdown With Keith Olbermann”
Tenure: Five years
Rank last year: 6

Why he was chosen: Two decades into his career, he’s become an overnight success as talk TV’s first break-out liberal voice. With about 1 million viewers per night, he is MSNBC’s Goliath and so he can gleefully play David to Bill O’Reilly’s Goliath.

Invaluable asset: After blithely burning oh, so many career bridges, Mr. Olbermann seems inclined not to screw up this opportunity, which is arguably his best ever, especially since it comes with fun assignments and exposure on NBC Sports’ Sunday Night Football bench.

Nitpicking: He remains an acquired taste....

More, and the remainder of the list posted here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=109x32792

[RevCheesehead]

1. "an acquired taste"??

Berry? :rofl:

[Berry Cool]

2. I acquired MY taste for him LONG ago.

And if others don't like him, well...more for us!!!! :bounce:

Read the comments on that article. It's crazy. Half of them are dupes, and 99% of them are anti-Keith. He got more comments--negative ones--than anyone else on the list.

Obviously, the Olbermann Watch boys were on patrol.

Boy, they must be scared of him! :-)