Chris Matthew and Keith Olberman used MSNBC as a megaphone for their cheerleading and criticism instead of the shut-the-fuck-up-and-let-the-speakers-speak during the conventions, so...
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.David Gregory, the NBC newsman and White House correspondent who also hosts a program on MSNBC, will take over during such events as this fall's presidential and vice presidential debates and election night.
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."
Matthews, who has criticized politicians in both parties, drew less criticism for his convention role but became a divisive figure during the primaries when he described how he was inspired by Obama's speeches and made disparaging remarks about Hillary Clinton, for which he later apologized.
In May, MSNBC President Phil Griffin said in an interview that during live events Olbermann and Matthews "put on different hats. I think the audience gets it. . . . I see zero problem."
In MSNBC's opinion, the only thing they did wrong was get caught.
No, it's not quite like getting caught giving money to totalitarian regimes for access (CNN) or letting your "veteran" anchor push bogus papers on the president without retracting or apologizing for it (CBS), but it's still a major oops. Griffin would be on the chopping block at any respectable news agency, but MSNBC isn't such an entity, so he'll be around for the long haul.
Comments (2)
You're right and you're wrong.
Olbermann and Matthews were like Punch and Judy, really something of a debacle at the democratic convention. I missed their coverage of the RNC going straight to the RNC podcast and C-Span.
That said, David Gregory, who I had the displeasure of listening to today, is your typical pushover for the right wing. Like most of the MSM when the spinmeisters and liars spout their gibberish, Gregory just rolls over and exposes his belly. In all fairness, he might do that for the left wing kooks too but left wing kooks are usually called kooks by the MSM and right wing kooks are usually called pundits or strategists.
Being unbiased does not mean that if there are two sides of an issue, both deserve equal weight. On some issues they do but if the person on the left says the sky is blue and the person on the right says the sky is plaid, they don't deserve equal time. Unfortunately, if the plaid pusher doesn't get equal time, he complains about the liberal media conspiracy.
Olbermann totally crosses the line, I'm not saying he doesn't. But a fair amount of time he actually deals with things that really ought to be mainstream. Republicans are such crybabies though, he gets blasted more than the real lunatic fringe who just spew rank lies and can't even keep their own stories straight.
Bottom line though, all the network coverage I heard or saw blew ass, C-Span is the way to go.
Posted by Caleb | September 8, 2008 5:27 PM
Posted on September 8, 2008 17:27
"praising the acceptance speech of Barack Obama"
&
"inspired by Obama's speeches"
Must have good speech writers....
Ray
Posted by Ray | September 9, 2008 9:00 PM
Posted on September 9, 2008 21:00