Over the course of the last few days, there has been numerous articles written about the internal strife at MSNBC. The first article that I am aware of was from Politico, who described the problem as follows:
Amid a spate of awkward on-air conflicts among MNSBC anchors at this week’s Democratic convention, some staff members say there are sharp internal disputes at the cable network over whether its opinion and personality-driven political coverage has crossed the line.
“The situation at our channel is about to blow up,” a high-ranking MSNBC journalist told Politico on Wednesday.
Two other MSNBC sources said some of the testy on-air exchanges between Keith Olbermann — whose quick-witted and often caustic commentary has fueled ratings growth — and other network personalities were a public glimpse of much more intense behind-the-scenes turmoil.
The conflicts included Keith Olbermann telling Joe Scarborough to "get a shovel" as Scarborough referred to Obama as "arrogant." Then the next day, Scarborough accused David Shuster of having an obvious political bias:
On “Morning Joe” the following day, a clearly agitated Scarborough went off on Shuster during a discussion of Iraq, which quickly devolved over several cringe-worthy minutes into personal attacks, such as Scarborough telling the world how his colleague missed the show three times by oversleeping. "Are you Rip Van Shuster?” Scarborough asked. “Have you been sleeping for the past couple of months?”
But Scarborough, a former Republican congressman from Florida, became enraged when Shuster made a reference to “your party.” Asked by Scarborough what his party was, Shuster said he was an “independent.”
"I feel so comforted by the fact that you're an independent,” Scarborough said, in a mocking tone. “I bet everybody at MSNBC has independent on their voting cards. Oh, we're down the middle now.” (Shuster left the set, but returned later to hug it out, "Entourage"-style.)
That night, Scarborough told NPR that he “get[s] frustrated by people who have an obvious partisan bias that don't proclaim that bias.”
Meanwhile, despite Scarborough's obvious leanings he declared that he is no longer a Republican and is hated in most Republican circles, which of course would explain his three week Jeremiah Wright orgy and, as Schuster argued, his refusal to challenge any McCain official on their refusal to stop attacking Obama's patriotism on the basis of wanting a timetable to leave Iraq, which nearly everyone except McCain seems to agree with now.
The article then argues that Fox is more objective than MSNBC, backing it up with statements from Ed Rendell and Howard Wolfson:
Democratic Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell — who’d remarked during the primaries that Fox News was the “most objective” network — told a panel of Sunday show anchors, including NBC’s Tom Brokaw, that “MSNBC was the official network of the Obama campaign."
“I think these antics have seriously damaged NBC's brand,” wrote Wolfson in an e-mail to Politico.
On Wednesday, Wolfson criticized MSNBC on the air, too.
"I'm not gonna take any lectures on how to be a good Democrat from two people who spent the last two years relentlessly attacking Bill and Hillary Clinton every day," Wolfson said Wednesday on Fox News.
The article then makes the claim that Keith Olbermann is "a difficult college", a theme which two other articles that show up the next day attempt to back up. The first is by Jossip entitled "MSNBC Blows up in Denver" making the following claims:
Meanwhile, in the past few hours we've spoke to a number of 30 Rock staffers in Denver, New York, and Washington — some of whom thought it more productive to speak to us than attend to the on-going live DNC coverage — and the common wisdom is:
- Nobody can believe how much Keith Olbermann is getting away with, even if he does draw ratings; 2) As an Olbermann protege, Rachel Maddow is attracting negative feelings from staffers, since she stays mum on many of these catfights, but "there's still time" to represent; 3) MSNBC head Phil Griffin is alienating staffers by publicly defending Olbermann while privately bashing him, and it's left many wondering when that will leak (oops); 4) MSNBC publicist Jeremy Gaines appears increasing stressed out and can be seen "shaking" with a phone attached to his ear dealing with reporters; 5) You don't want to run into Chris Matthews anytime soon, especially en route to the bathroom, because he has zero pleasant things to say right now; 6) Joe Scarborough is definitely stressed, but he's managed to calm down a bit today and can be seen laughing and gabbing; 7) None of this is helping ratings, with MSNBC scoring the lowest numbers against Fox News and CNN in convention coverage.
If nothing else, this seems like an all out attack on KO, which makes me wonder where the real roots of these stories generate (Murdoch has to be involved in some way!)... Second, it seems like an attempt to undermine MSNBC's legitimacy. We need to back up KO, back up MSNBC, find out if there is any insidious sources behind these attacks, and if so, defend with all our energy. MSNBC has been a place of refuge for the left in a world dominated by the agenda of the Right (Fox News, Conservative Radio, Glenn Beck and Lou Dobbs on CNN, etc.). There seems to be almost no where to turn except MSNBC.
Also, I find these articles suggestion that MSNBC is the Liberal Fox News. There is a substantial difference: when KO or Maddow or even Chris Matthews examines issues from a left-leaning viewpoint, they use facts, statistics and direct quotes (not taked out of context). When Fox News goes on the attack against Dems, they use gossip, innuendo, the six-degrees of separation from terrorists, and distortion (For instance, the Muslim coverage on Barack or the intense attacks on Michelle Obama - imagine if those attacks were on Cindy McCain on MSNBC! There would have been such outrage that the station would have been shut down!
So, first, I want to list my suggestions to MSNBC on how to handle this situation and to build towards the future and then I will end this entry with some questions. Here are my suggestions:
- Admit the ideology shift and embrace it. There is no need to mimic Fox News and claim to be Fair and Balanced when your main analysts (especially after 9*8*08 will mostly be left-leaning, with the exception of Scarborough and many guests).
- I would suggest a new slogan such as: "An Antidote to Fox News" or "Truth in Democracy" or "Bringing Accountability to Politics", something that shows that they are different and trying to defend the news from Right-Wing encroachment.
- They need some serious left-wing New analysts (not commentators). One of the reasons Fox news has been successful is that their News staff buys into their philosophy. We do not want to veer as far as they have, so we need people like Chuck Todd, Andrea Mitchell, (Maybe Shuster), Brokaw, etc. However, we also need someone doing hard hitting news coverage that is not normally covered ala Amy Goodman! (Can anyone think of any better examples?)
- They need a financial show that supports a more left-wing perspective. I often watch "Bulls and Bears" on Fox, mostly to laugh at their ridiculous analysis - such as "Buy Oil, Oil, Oil" or "Cigarettes are the way to go" or my favorite - and I swear this was real - at least on two segments (later today I will look for video), they spent nearly 15 minutes discussing how the recession we currently are in is all Barack Obama's fault - Seriously! They argued that people were so afraid that the Dem would take office that the economy nose-dived... So watch for this historical revisionism after the election! On the whole segment there was only one dissenter and he quickly gave in and admitted it was all Obama's fault. Imagine having a more left-wing economic show that actually encouraged people to invest in wind, solar, healthy foods, etc.
- They need an antidote for Lou Dobbs and Glen Beck. A commentator that argues for illegal aliens as being people and that the real problem is the bosses that are exploiting them and show examples of this exploitation. Then, have an Obamanomics person to argue against CEO's outrageous pay and for windfall profit taxes, etc.
- So basically, my advice is to go with it and be an anecdote to the other news organizations. Even CNN has Dobbs and Glenn Beck with no obvious left-leaners, so we need MSNBC and we need to fight for them! Write them letter of appreciation, support their sponsors and do what I am doing - invest heavily in GE to show support (even though they have some questionable holdings, their alternative energy and support of MSNBC are well worth it!)
Finally, some questions:
- What do you think MSNBC should do? Embrace us or continue to pretend to have no leanings?
- If MSNBC should embrace us, then how?
- How do we defend KO?
- How can we support MSNBC through this turmoil?
- Since we do not have a Limbaugh, Hannity, OReilly, Savage, Beck, Dobbs, Ingram, etc, etc, we seem to get overwhelmed by the Right's smear-machine. After all, they have no qualms for attacking us with innuendo, smears, 6 degrees of separation, etc. Meanwhile, half our discussions here on Kos discuss the ethics of how we go after McCain (On age, on Cindy, etc). If they continue to paint Obama as Muslim, unpatriotic, and with terrorist ties, how can we ever be on the offensive? We will have to continue to be on the defense and it seems to me this is a losing equation. What should we do?
This last question is of particular importance to me because this morning I listened to a fifteen minute tirade from Conservative Radio (Quinn and Rose) about how Obama is against the constitution and actually hates the constitution! How can we defend against this, and if we are busy defending, how do we win???