Howard Kurtz [1] at the Washington Post:
MSNBC is removing Keith Olbermann and Chris Matthews as the anchors of live political events, bowing to growing criticism that they are too opinionated to be seen as neutral in the heat of the presidential campaign.
Gee, ya think?
And was this driven internally? NO… it was the viewers.
The move, confirmed by spokesmen for both networks, follows increasingly loud complaints about Olbermann’s anchor role at the Democratic and Republican conventions. Olbermann, who regularly assails President Bush and GOP nominee John McCain on his “Countdown” program, was effusive in praising the acceptance speech of Democratic nominee Barack Obama. He drew flak Thursday when the Republicans played a video that included a tribute to the victims of the Sept. 11 attacks, saying that if the networks had done that, “we would be rightly eviscerated at all quarters, perhaps by the Republican Party itself, for exploiting the memories of the dead, and perhaps even for trying to evoke that pain again. If you reacted to that videotape the way I did, I apologize.”
Keith Olbermann
The man should have been fired outright on the spot and severed from all connections to the network, though I can’t say I’m much surprised that he was not. Indeed, I’m amazed MS-NBC reacted at all. Is this a sign sanity is being recovered at NBC?
Olbermann is still gainfully employed by te network, so there’s some cause to doubt sanity has taken over. We’ll see.
There is a point here, though, to be made about the backlash againt the whole of the leftist Dinosaur media, of which Olberman is the poster child… there’s a backlash going on, that I doubt is over yet. When even The New York Times notes [2]:
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.
… you know there is intense pressure from Joe and Jane Lunchbox…
“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.
Well, the first clue should have been the foam below the nose. This explosion was totaly predictable, people. And totally avoidable.
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.
Actually, no. The pressure from the viewers on MS-NBC but not on Fox tells a different story: Left-leaning doesn’t sell. That’s the one equation the Dinosaur media hasn’t figured out yet.
Message to MS-NBC. Time to pull the plug on “Countdown”. Let’s get back to news, and out of the land of leftist promotion, shall we?
Michelle Malkin [3] has a great post on this, this morning, too.
Addendum: (Davld L)
Bath Tub Boy and Tingles have not been fired, but merely demoted. Keith Olbermann’s hissy fits have been good for the MSNBC’s cable rating, of which before they had none. However the antics of Bath Tub Boy have been tarishing the grown up network, NBC NBC/Universal wants Olbermann’s antics to boost their anemic cable ratings, but without damaging the parent network. Unlike Olbermann, Tom Brokaw has freinds outside of Alice in Wonderland the Daily Kos.
Look at this as an attempt not to drain Olbermann’s bathtub, but merely turn down the temperature. I mean it is not like Olbermann’s replacement, David Gregory, is actully noted for being sane. just lucid.
Addendum II: (Bit)
It’s true; I’ve gotten feedback, aside from David’s note, which suggests that the title of the post has overstated the case somewhat. But I’m not so sure. As both David and I have suggested, both of them are still gainfully empoyed by MS-NBC, The question to my mind is ‘For how long?’
Consider, please… With ever tightening budgets, it not out of line, I think, to suggest that someone with less than full trustworthyness and utility… in other words, someone who can’t do faithfully any job given them… likely doesn’t have long remaining in their employment. That both Olbermann and Matthews are seen as being exactly that… less than fully trustworthy by their employer, and unable to take on these important assignments without mucking them up, seems beyond question. One does not pull the plug like that, lightly. That tells me that their continued employment is shakey at best… particularly given a change in the MSNBC management, which also doesn’t seem far out of line, given what we are hearing of arguments between MSNBC and their parent companies…