Yanking KO and "Tweety": MSNBC Bombs in Blogosphere

[DeepModem Mom]

WP: MSNBC Bombs in Blogosphere
By Howard Kurtz
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, September 9, 2008

The decision by MSNBC to yank Keith Olbermann and Chris Matthews from anchor duty during live political events did not exactly send a thrill up the leg of liberal bloggers. A number of them denounced the cable channel yesterday for making a change that had long been sought by NBC News veterans, saying MSNBC was caving into pressure from John McCain's campaign and the right wing.

MSNBC President Phil Griffin denied that complaints from either Republicans or NBC journalists were a factor. He said he reached the decision after "talking to my guys, mainly Olbermann," after the Republican convention. Olbermann and Matthews will remain as analysts during such major political events as the presidential debates.

"We came to the conclusion it was better not to restrain them" by making them wear "two hats," Griffin said. "It's not like we haven't talked about this all along. What Keith can say on 'Countdown' and what Chris can say on 'Hardball' is a little different" than what they could tell viewers in the role of news anchors.

In the liberal blogosphere, Olbermann -- an occasional contributor to the Daily Kos site -- is viewed as a heroic truth-teller who has now been undermined by network suits whose company is owned by General Electric. Josh Marshall of Talking Points Memo called the move "pathetic," writing: "It seems pretty obvious that the network got cowed by complaints from the McCain campaign."

Salon's Glenn Greenwald called it "extraordinary for a media company to publicly embarrass, diminish and tarnish its own principal asset. It is plainly doing so for ideological, not ratings-based, reasons: namely, it fears doing anything to anger the White House, the McCain campaign and the right in this country."...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/09/AR2008090900956_pf.html

[AuntPatsy]

1. I agree, they fear the our own governments backlash..

[Doctor_J]

3. Umm,...no

They are part of the government.

[AuntPatsy]

11. Well, that's true...

[felinetta]

15. Why give Bill O'Reilly a reason to gloat?

I am so angry at MSNBC and I called them!

[Doctor_J]

2. They don't care. They're getting the only liberal Dem and the man who's excited by Obama

off the air. That's what's important and the blogosphere matters not at all to them.

[ben_meyers]

4. 1st they bomb in the ratings, now in the "blogs"

how long before they just pull the plug and let MSNBC die? You just know that's next.

[Sedona]

5. Scar called in sick again today......

hmmmmm

[tularetom]

6. I think it was less a cave to McPOW than to Tom Brokaw

Brokaw has long resented Olbermann's success because he thought of him as merely a "sports guy", who never put in his time as a reporter or came up through the ranks. I also think Tim Russert kept the situation in check, but once he checked out, Brokaw's jealousy came out into the open and he was able to suck his protege Brian Williams along with him.

Brokaw, I believe also thought of Chris Matthews as a buffoon not worthy of a serious position as a journalist.

I believe this whole mess was rooted in office politics and who was going to succeed Russert as the head honcho at NBC news.

And there are other interesting little sub plots. Dead Intern Joe Scarbrough has played hooky from his horrible show the last two days because he was so pissed over Gregory being picked to host the political shows.

This is an internal power struggle. The old guard won the first round with the help of some whiney ass republicons. But it isn't over yet. I don't think Keith Olbermann is going to roll over and play dead just because some senile old fart like Brokaw has his panties in a wad.

[Heather MC]

12. Poor Tim, if it's true he was keeping all this in Check, it's no wonder he dropped dead at work

you know if the focused on reporting the news and truth and not trying to push personal agenda's
they wouldn't have this problem. Oh an if Joe Scumbag was in jail for killing an intern

but ehh nobody's perfect

[glinda]

19. Tim

How convenient.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

13. Brokaw is deadly boring and uninformative

His idea of good journalism is to lounge in a chair at the Republican National Convention and schmooze with all the big names, wanting to be thought of in turn as a big name. He never plays hardball with his interviewees. He never asks the tough questions. He never gets an interviewee ticked off at him for probing a little too far or too well. He's a passionate advocate of the status quo and not rocking the boat.

[Prophet 451]

20. Dump Brokaw then

For the Meet The Press gig, supposedly MSNBC's newscast of record, switch Brokaw for Bill Moyers as part of repositioning MSNBC to cater to the roughly 40% of the populace (liberals) that isn't served by the news networks currently. Business-wise, it makes sense since Olbermann has been slaying in his ratings lately and I expect Rachel Maddow to do the same once she finds her feet.

[CitizenPatriot]

7. egos and media jockeys

who can say how much his what -- but EGOs are always a big issue in media.

and they are all we have control over (ratings and egos).

the reason egos matter is they will threaten to walk if their ego is damaged by things said about them if they are forced to be RW hacks , for example.

I don't know the inside scoop on this one, but write letters supporting KO anyway and letting them know what you think of this bs. until KO tells us HE DIDN'T want the job, I'm pissed.

I was planning on watching MSNBC, as I did for the conventions. Not anymore because my blood pressure can't take the lying.

[Tutankhamun]

8. Why not just have Karl Rove host the debates?

[EFerrari]

9. I wrote that if I wanted to watch society gossips, I'd turn on the Lifetime Channel

and that I would while Gregory was in that slot. lol

[Name removed]

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[Name removed]

14. Deleted message

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[AllieB]

16. Did you read the comments section under the article?

Lots of hate-spewing Rethugs.

[DeepModem Mom]

18. You know, I have a policy of not reading comments. So many others do, however...

and comment on the comments -- that maybe I should reassess! I'm sure wherever there's opportunity, the wingnuts are out in force with their "wisdom."

[riverdeep]

17. Howard Kurtz is whacked.

I watched him on the Lou Dobbs Independents Convention special yesterday (hint: Independent is code for moderate instead of batshit crazy Republican), and he was excoriating MSNBC, the decision of which I ultimately don't have an issue with because they DO need to be free to say what they will without reprisal. But he stunningly left out FOX 'news'. Of course, so did Lou Dobbs. There's plenty of video of 'straight news' types like Brit Hume and Chris Wallace going over any line of neutrality. But they don't get called on it.

THAT'S what pisses me off, FOX is allowed to pose as journalism, but MSNBC needs to watch every step.