MSNBC Takes Incendiary Hosts From Anchor Seat
New York Times
MSNBC tried a bold experiment this year by putting two politically incendiary hosts, Keith Olbermann and Chris Matthews, in the anchor chair to lead the cable news channel’s coverage of the election.
That experiment appears to be over…
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/08/business/media/08msnbc.html?bl&ex=1221105600&en=acda2111e537322e&ei=5087%0A
5 Comments
although I agree with Olbermann much of the time
I do think that it was embarrassing for the MSNBC anchors to be fighting with each other on the air during the conventions.
The bad news is that David Gregory, who will lead NBC’s coverage of the debates, is much less sympathetic to our side than Olbermann.
desmoinesdem Fri 12 Sep 10:07 AM
I like Olbermann, but...
Olberman really shouldn’t be in on the election coverage.
I like Olbermann as much as the next guy, but I understand where the decision comes from. We wouldn’t think it was fair or right to let Sean Hannity or Bill O’Reilly head up election coverage on Fox…it’s equally not fair or right to let Olbermann head up the coverage on MSNBC. The same goes for Matthews.
Let the reporters handle the election coverage, not the pundits.
american007 Fri 12 Sep 12:54 PM
Olbermann
The reason that MSNBC took him off the anchor position is because their ratings dropped, or at least didn’t increase–since I don’t think they were doing all that well to begin with.
I won’t watch MSNBC’s political comentary any more than I’ll watch Fox’s. It’s no surprise to me that Olbermann doesn’t like Palin/McCain any more than it is that Rush Limbaugh does.
Honestly, I don’t see much difference between Olbermann and Limbaugh. Both are angry men who present only one side of an issue and focus on blaming the left/right for all problems rather than trying to come up with reasonable, workable solutions.
lorih Fri 12 Sep 1:50 PM
Here's the bottom line
This was the right decision. Olbermann has a blatently biased opinion news program on the station, and it wasn’t ethical journalism to have him doing straight up reporting while concurrently continuing his show.
I’ve seen a lot of left learners condemn this as MSNBC caving into the right, but you can’t have your cake and eat it too – Fox News can be rightly criticized for some of its overly pro-Republican biases, but clearly MSNBC has filled the left-leaning news niche in a similar fashion.
Although I would argue, certainly, that MSNBC is more credible than Fox.
garonsen Fri 12 Sep 3:24 PM
what counts
The reason I don’t like Rush is that he mimics journalism and, at times, presents himself as a journalist. Journalistic neutrality is pretty sacred to me because it’s the only way that broadcast or print media can build trust with its audience. It takes decades of scrupulous self-editing and policing to keep a neutral perspective and to compound the trust equity you’ve built with your audience.
All that hard work can instantly go up in smoke as soon as you let one of these pseudo-journalist take the reigns. You might get ratings, but no one will ever trust you again.
My political leanings are more in line with Mr. Olbermann, so I find him more entertaining than Rush, but it’s no more a journalist than Pro-wrestling is a sport.
johnnyschad Fri 12 Sep 3:43 PM