Sigh. MSNBC has pulled Matthews and Olbermann off anchor duties for the debate and election night, though they remain as analysts and their shows remain on the air. The soporific David Grecory will take over those duties (and, I guess will host MTP after the election.)
It's hard not to assume that this was in reaction to serious pushback from republicans that MSNBC was becoming too liberal. As such, it's pretty frustrating, especially because MSNBC already airs three hours of hard-right programming every morning: balanced, right?
I don't think it's that simple. Olbermann, Matthews, Scarborough and Shuster all bickered quite a bit on-air at the DNC, which didn't make the network look good. Brokaw and Williams, both of whom are "serious" journalists deeply wedded to the myth of neutrality also were objecting to the progressive-friendly tone that Olbermann and Matthews took. So there's more than simply the GOP working the refs.
I think that MSNBC, wedded to the major news group at NBC, does not have the flexibility that FOX does to adopt an openly ideological perspective without embarassing their corproate parent. Also, given that MSNBC does cater to the conservative as well as the liberal markets, it shows that whereas FOX wears its conservatism as an ideology, for MSNBC, progressivism is a business strategy at best.
Still, I'd like to see more openly liberal voices on the teevee. Fortunately, tonight Rachel Maddow gets her own show, so there's good to go with the bad.
2 comments:
Well come on, it's not like they actually removed him from TV, they just made him not anchor the program. And he was actually shown giving Obama a hand job in the limo on the way to his surprising Biden after his speech. You've got to expect he'd be punished.
Well, that was kind my point -- that there was a lot more than just being "too liberal." You piss off Tom Brokaw, there are gonna be consequences; and telling Scarborough to "get a shovel," though hysterical, is gonna draw some fire.
I have heard that this is kind of a personality flaw for KO -- he is pretty arrogant and tends to view himself as untouchable, and this has caused career setbacks for him in the past. As his ratings have surged, he's gotten a lot more pompous. It may not be a bad thing for him to get slapped down a bit.
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