Last week I noted that I had been blacklisted from MSNBC for hurting Joe Scarborough's feelings on Twitter. Apparently, they have a policy of booting anyone who criticizes the network's sole conservative host (and no one else).
A lot of the responses were incredulous. Why would MSNBC president Phil Griffin let Scarborough dictate the guest list of the evening hosts? Scarborough's crappy show is last in the advertising demo among the four cable morning shows, lagging even Headline News' show (quick -- what's that show called?). On the other hand, Keith Olbermann's show is the only show in all of cableland to break Fox News' stranglehold on the top 10 list.
The answer is that with the impending acquisition of NBC by Comcast, Griffin fears for his job, and Scarborough is his meal ticket. You see, Griffin had nothing to do with Olbermann's show, and had little to do with Rachel Maddow's -- a project spearheaded by Olbermann.
According to MSNBC insiders, as Olbermann’s ratings have risen, so has his level of power at MSNBC. “Phil Griffin didn’t hire Rachel,” says one person who works at the network. “He didn’t want to hire Rachel. Keith hired Rachel.” Olbermann plays down his involvement: “It was nothing more sophisticated than being the person who nominated her for membership in the club.” But he was the one who broke the news of Maddow’s show on August 19, on the liberal Website Daily Kos, writing coyly, “Yes, I had something to do with it.”
The Ed Show is growing nicely, but Griffin has apparently decided that the show isn't high profile enough to earn him job security.
Under normal conditions, that wouldn't matter. NBC clearly loves Griffin -- he had a huge role in cancelling Phil Donahue's show (the highest rated on the network at the time) in 2003 for the crime of being liberal in the post-9-11 environment, concluding that Donahue presented a "difficult public face for NBC in a time of war......He seems to delight in presenting guests who are anti-war, anti-Bush and skeptical of the administration's motives." Heavens! Griffin got the vapors, and Donahue was soon gone.
Griffin is the guy who pulled Keith Olbermann and Chris Matthews from anchor duties when the McCain campaign whined about it.
He is the guy who is paying Mark Halperin to be MSNBC's "senior political analyst", the same toxic Beltway blowhard who said:
Media bias was more intense in the 2008 election than in any other national campaign in recent history, Time magazine's Mark Halperin said Friday at the Politico/USC conference on the 2008 election.
"It's the most disgusting failure of people in our business since the Iraq war," Halperin said at a panel of media analysts. "It was extreme bias, extreme pro-Obama coverage."
Griffin is the guy who had Oliver North anchor MSNBC for most of 1999. He's the guy who pays white supremacist and Hitler apologist Pat Buchanan (literally) to camp out at MSNBC HQ.
NBC/GE truly loves Griffin for holding the line against the transformation of MSNBC into a true progressive outpost. In that, he's been very successful. What Griffin doesn't have is a runaway hit that's his. Or many allies. My MSNBC sources say that Griffin has zero relationship with the primetime hosts, so all Griffin has left is Joe. And when you put all your eggs in one basket, you do anything to protect that basket. Scarborough knows this, and thus gets to call the shots -- such as dictating who Keith Olbermann and Ed Shultz can have as guests on their shows.
Or hiring Halperin, who appears to have been hired almost exclusively for Scarborough's gratification. According to Nexis, since the premiere of Morning Joe on October 22, 2007, Mark Halperin, MSNBC's "senior political analyst," has spent 70 percent of his on-air time either on Scarborough's show or shows hosted by his posse. It's pretty clear he exists merely because Scarborough wants him around.
All of this intrigue at MSNBC will come to a head when the DOJ approves the Comcast acquisition. When that happens, Comcast executives will sweep through the various NBC properties cleaning house. It's the real-life 30 Rock plot line -- tension are running high, the pressure is on.
Griffin's case for keeping his job is thin gruel -- years of propping up Ollie North, Joe Scarborough, Pat Buchanan, and Mark Halperin at the expense of the network's core and profitable shows and hosts have given him little to boast about. The big primetime hosts are apparently happy to see him flounder (not a single one of them has intervened with me in this sorry matter to give their boss a break, apparently happy to see Griffin take the hits). Scarborough can't deliver the knockout ratings (or any ratings) Griffin needs to claim personal success.
But Griffin soldiers on, clinging to Scarborough for dear life, and Scarborough uses that desperation to his advantage, calling the shots at the network -- keeping his piss-poor rated show, getting the network to hire the likes of Halperin, and dictating the guest list of other shows.
One thing is for sure, I look forward to launching a public campaign, once the Comcast deal is approved, for the new owners to bring in more enlightened leadership at MSNBC.
