Olbermann, Matthews bumped from anchor positions

Discussion in 'Off-Topic' started by Real, Sep 7, 2008.

  1. Real

    Real Dumb and Dumbest

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    September 8, 2008
    MSNBC Takes Incendiary Hosts From Anchor Seat
    By BRIAN STELTER

    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.

    After months of accusations of political bias and simmering animosity between MSNBC and its parent network NBC, the channel decided over the weekend that the NBC News correspondent and MSNBC host David Gregory would anchor news coverage of the coming debates and election night. Mr. Olbermann and Mr. Matthews will remain as analysts during the coverage.

    The change — which comes in the home stretch of the long election cycle — is a direct result of tensions associated with the channel’s perceived shift to the political left.

    “The most disappointing shift is to see the partisan attitude move from prime time into what’s supposed to be straight news programming,” said Davidson Goldin, formerly the editorial director of MSNBC and a co-founder of the reputation management firm DolceGoldin.

    Executives at the channel’s parent company, NBC Universal, had high hopes for MSNBC’s coverage of the political conventions. Instead, the coverage frequently descended into on-air squabbles between the anchors, embarrassing some workers at NBC’s news division, and quite possibly alienating viewers. Although MSNBC nearly doubled its total audience compared with the 2004 conventions, its competitive position did not improve, as it remained in last place among the broadcast and cable news networks. In prime time, the channel averaged 2.2 million viewers during the Democratic convention and 1.7 million viewers during the Republican convention.

    The success of the Fox News Channel in the past decade along with the growth of political blogs have convinced many media companies that provocative commentary attracts viewers and lures Web browsers more than straight news delivered dispassionately.

    “In a rapidly changing media environment, this is the great philosophical debate,” Phil Griffin, the president of MSNBC, said in a telephone interview Saturday. Fighting the ratings game, he added, “the bottom line is that we’re experiencing incredible success.”

    But as the past two weeks have shown, that success has a downside. When the vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin lamented media bias during her speech, attendees of the Republican convention loudly chanted “NBC.”

    In interviews, 10 current and former staff members said that long-simmering tensions between MSNBC and NBC reached a boiling point during the conventions. “MSNBC is behaving like a heroin addict,” one senior staff member observed. “They’re living from fix to fix and swearing they’ll go into rehab the next week.”

    The employee, like others, spoke on condition of anonymity because the network does not permit it people to speak to the media without authorization. (The New York Times and NBC News have a content-sharing arrangement exclusively for political coverage.)

    Mr. Olbermann, a 49-year-old former sportscaster, has become the face of the more aggressive MSNBC, and the lightning rod for much of the criticism. His program “Countdown,” now a liberal institution, was created by Mr. Olbermann in 2003 but it found its voice in his gnawing dissent regarding the Bush administration, often in the form of “special comment” segments.

    As Mr. Olbermann raised his voice, his ratings rose as well, and he now reaches more than one million viewers a night, a higher television rating than any other show in the troubled 12-year history of the network. As a result, his identity largely defines MSNBC. “They have banked the entirety of the network on Keith Olbermann,” one employee said.

    In January, Mr. Olbermann and Mr. Matthews, the host of “Hardball,” began co-anchoring primary night coverage, drawing an audience that enjoyed the pair’s “SportsCenter”-style show. While some critics argued that the assignment was akin to having the Fox News commentator Bill O’Reilly anchor on election night — something that has never happened — MSNBC insisted that Mr. Olbermann knew the difference between news and commentary.

    But in the past two weeks, that line has been blurred. On the final night of the Republican convention, after MSNBC televised the party’s video “tribute to the victims of 9/11,” including graphic footage of the World Trade Center attacks, Mr. Olbermann abruptly took off his journalistic hat.

    “I’m sorry, it’s necessary to say this,” he began. After saying that the video had exploited the memories of the dead, he directly apologized to viewers who were offended. Then, sounding like a network executive, he said it was “probably not appropriate to be shown.”

    In an interview on Sunday, Mr. Olbermann said that moment — and the perception that he is “not utterly neutral” — restarted months-old conversations about his role on political nights.

    “I found it ironic and instructive that I could have easily said exactly what I did say, exactly when I did say it, if I had been wearing a different hat, and nobody would have taken any issue,” he said.

    “Countdown” will still be shown before the three fall debates and a second edition will be shown sometime afterwards, following the program anchored by Mr. Gregory.

    The change casts new doubt on what some staff members believe is an effective programming strategy: prime-time talk of a liberal sort. A like-minded talk show will now follow “Countdown” at 9 p.m.: “The Rachel Maddow Show,” hosted by the liberal radio host, begins Monday.

    Mr. Griffin, MSNBC’s president, denies that it has an ideology. “I think ideology means we think one way, and we don’t,” he said. Rather than label MSNBC’s prime time as left-leaning, he says it has passion and point of view.

    But MSNBC is the cable arm of NBC News, the dispassionate news division of NBC Universal. MSNBC, “Today” and “NBC Nightly News” share some staff members, workspace and content. And some critics are claiming they also share a political affiliation.

    The McCain campaign has filed letters of complaint to the news division about its coverage and openly tied MSNBC to it. Tension between the network and the campaign hit an apex the day Mr. McCain announced Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate. MSNBC had reported Friday morning that Ms. Palin’s plane was enroute to the announcement and she was likely the pick. But McCain campaign officials warned the network off, with one official going so far as to say that all of the candidates on the short list were on their way — which MSNBC then reported.

    “The fact that it was reported in real time was very embarrassing,” said a senior MSNBC official. “We were told, ‘No, it’s not Sarah Palin and you don’t know who it is.’ ”

    Tom Brokaw and Brian Williams, the past and present anchors of “NBC Nightly News,” have told friends and colleagues that they are finding it tougher and tougher to defend the cable arm of the news division, even while they anchored daytime hours of convention coverage on MSNBC and contributed commentary each evening.

    Mr. Williams did not respond to a request for comment and Mr. Brokaw declined to comment. At a panel discussion in Denver, Mr. Brokaw acknowledged that Mr. Olbermann and Mr. Matthews had “gone too far” at times, but emphasized they were “not the only voices” on MSNBC, according to The Washington Post.

    Al Hunt, the executive Washington bureau chief of Bloomberg News, said that the entire news division was being singled out by Republicans because of the work of partisans like Mr. Olbermann. “To go and tar the whole news network and Brokaw and Mitchell is grossly unfair,” he said, referring to the NBC correspondent Andrea Mitchell.

    Some tensions have spilled out on-screen. On the first night in Denver, as the fellow MSNBC host Joe Scarborough talked about the resurgence of the McCain campaign, Mr. Olbermann dismissed it by saying: “Jesus, Joe, why don’t you get a shovel?”

    The following night, Mr. Olbermann and his co-anchor for convention coverage, Mr. Matthews, had their own squabble after Mr. Olbermann observed that Mr. Matthews had talked too long.

    Some staff members said the tension led to the network’s decision to keep Mr. Olbermann in New York for the Republican convention, after he ran the desk in Denver during the Democratic convention. MSNBC said that he stayed in New York to anchor coverage of Hurricane Gustav. But some workers say there were other reasons — namely, that Mr. Olbermann was concerned about his safety in St. Paul, given the loud crowds at MSNBC’s set in Denver.

    NBC Universal executives are also known to be concerned about the perception that MSNBC’s partisan tilt in prime time is bleeding into the rest of the programming day. On a recent Friday afternoon, a graphic labeled “Breaking News” asked: “How many houses does Palin add to the Republican ticket?” Mr. Griffin called the graphic “an embarrassment.”

    According to three staff members, Jeff Zucker, chief executive of NBC Universal, and Steve Capus, president of NBC News, considered flying to the Republican convention in Minnesota last week to address the lingering tensions.

    Up to now, the company’s public support for MSNBC’s strategy has been enthusiastic. At an anniversary party for Mr. Olbermann in April, Mr. Zucker called “Countdown” “one of the signature brands of the entire company.”

    Just last year, Mr. Olbermann signed a four-year, $4-million-a-year contract with MSNBC. NBC is close to supplementing that contract with Mr. Olbermann, extending his deal through 2013 — and ensuring that he will be on MSNBC through the next election.

    http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/08/business/media/08msnbc.html?_r=1&hp=&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print

    Good riddance.
     
  2. cpawfan

    cpawfan Monsters do exist

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    My guess is that those stuck up housewifes that send letters about everything they don't like on TV finally got to GE.
     
  3. Denny Crane

    Denny Crane It's not even loaded! Staff Member Administrator

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    Doberman wants to run the network, the bosses finally said enough is enough.

    I noticed he was doing halftime of the Bears game with Dan Patrick. He can't do much damage there.

    I am a big fan of Matthews tho. He can be biased an partisan, but he's not a hate monger. He's the best interviewer left on any of the NBC networks, though he tends to recycle the same guests over and over.
     
  4. Thoth

    Thoth Sisyphus in training

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    I missed KO & DP together again on air? FARK!

    Keith is Keith and thank god for that. He is a breath of fresh air.

    I read that CM was jealous of KO and his being so popular and becoming the face of MSNBC.

    Olbermann isn't the only one that yells. Of course, KO knows the difference between news and commentary why do think he does better on Cable which is primarily analysis and commentary then he short reign as weekend anchor NBC?
     
  5. Denny Crane

    Denny Crane It's not even loaded! Staff Member Administrator

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    Doberman proved he doesn't know the difference between news and commentary. Actually he does, which makes him downright stupid.
     
  6. Real

    Real Dumb and Dumbest

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    KO doesn't know the difference between news and commentary, which is exactly why he was bumped from election coverage.
     
  7. 44Thrilla

    44Thrilla cuatro cuatro

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    He knows the difference, he just can't help himself.
     
  8. Denny Crane

    Denny Crane It's not even loaded! Staff Member Administrator

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    That's what I called stupid about him. He blew a good thing because he'd rather spew venom than provide interesting analysis or outright being a good newsman in this role.
     
  9. huevonkiller

    huevonkiller Change (Deftones)

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    KO is a bit too biased for me.
     
  10. Real

    Real Dumb and Dumbest

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    I enjoyed this analysis. I think it's pretty much spot on:

    Hey, Olber-man! It's Over-man!
    Posted by Carl Golden September 08, 2008 1:11PM

    MSNBC has finally figured out that, as a straight news political reporter, Keith Olberman makes a great play-by-play announcer of high school football games.

    What took so long?

    Better yet, who convinced the executive suits at NBC that Olberman could smoothly transition from a career talking about hamstring pulls and groin strains on Jockstrap Central (aka ESPN) to saying anything passably intelligent or insightful about foreign policy or the complexities of the Federal Reserve System?

    According to published reports, the hammer fell on Olberman and his obnoxious, screaming sidekick Chris Matthews over the weekend when it was decided that, while both would continue their commentary and opinion shows, neither would be involved in covering campaign news. That chore will be left to whatever grown-ups remain at MSNBC.

    Olberman's fate was sealed when NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams and his immediate predecessor, Tom Brokaw --- as close to an elder statesman in TV news as it's possible to get --- told management they were fed up and embarrassed by Olberman's on air antics while anchoring coverage of the party conventions.

    Olberman careened from one loony rant to another, insulting guests as well as the network's own reporters and commentators.

    The decision makers at the network should have seen this coming, however. They knew what they were getting when they signed Olberman, but they plowed ahead with it because they wanted someone who could mix it up with Fox News' Bill O'Reilly.

    Olberman delivered for them. He gave them what they wanted. He brawled publicly with O'Reilly, boosted MSNBC's ratings, and became the same ideological icon to the left as O'Reilly had become to the right.

    Their error --- and it was a doozy --- was in letting him out of his cage, thinking that he wouldn't bite anybody.

    He was pathologically incapable of fulfilling the role of news anchor. His career at ESPN never prepared him for an understanding of straight news and how to deliver it. His value to ESPN was in the snide commentary, the sarcasm, the wisecracks bordering on personal insults all directed toward highly paid men playing little boys' games.

    Bringing that style to bear on the people, personalities and issues upon which the American people base their choice of national leaders should have been a foreseen public relations disaster.

    Cracking on a quarterback who couldn't hit a wide receiver 15 yards downfield, or poking fun at the clean-up hitter who strikes out with the bases loaded, or the hockey goalie who couldn't stop a slapshot from his grandmother was Olberman's forte. He made his reputation dealing with situations that not only invited that kind of approach, but was highly prized by the network paying his salary.

    Attempting to transfer that quality to weightier matters like recessions, international trade, nuclear proliferation, military preparedness, foreign entanglements and armed conflicts was bound to fail.

    Olberman proved incapable of rising above his professional roots. So, he simply fell back on what had always worked for him --- opinionated and snide commentary, sarcasm and not-so-thinly-veiled insults.

    While there is little difference in style between Olberman and O'Reilly, the crucial distinction is that Fox had the sound judgment to keep O'Reilly in a commentary and opinion setting and not turn him loose as a straight news anchor as MSNBC did with Olberman. The news heads at Fox must be chortling to themselves at the spectacle of one of their rivals being brought low and being compared unfavorably with Fox.

    In removing Olberman from a news reporting role, MSNBC will do what it should have done from the outset and put a reporter rather than a polemicist behind the anchor desk.

    The decision to pull Olberman off campaign coverage was an embarrassing admission by MSNBC that all the scorn, contempt and accusations of political bias heaped upon the media by speaker after speaker at the Republican convention --- as over the top as most of it was --- actually had some basis in fact.

    If, as polls suggest, Americans hold the news media as an institution in low esteem, the mismanagement and blunder which led to Olberman's anchorman role did nothing to reverse that opinion.

    Link
     
  11. huevonkiller

    huevonkiller Change (Deftones)

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