What Media Bias?
So the network of Huntley and Brinkley, of Chancellor and Brokaw, finally recognized the depths to which it had sunk.
So you’re saying there is hope:
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 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.
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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 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.”
Not that I watch either network very often—I get next to no news from TV—but the comparison to Fox is bogus, a smokescreen. Fox has no one like Olbermann anchoring news coverage. Even if they used O’Reilly in that role—which they don’t—it would not be comparable. Joesph Goebbels wouldn’t be comparable.
I just want to know why something that was fine and dandy yesterday became intolerable today. Those of us decrying Olbermann’s role were dismissed as right-wing flame throwers (btw, I have no problem with Olbermann as an opinion “columnist”, and I used to think he was the best of the Sports Center anchors). Somehow, we were not only right, but the insiders agreed with us all along.
NBC: No Bloody Clue.
Bloodthirsty Liberal said,
September 8, 2008 @ 7:12 am
BTL,
Do you think it has anything to do with the public’s rejection of their bias? Maybe they figured out (alas! too late!) that not all of us in Walmart Land have the I.Q. of a turnip. And that isn’t a particularly hopeful message for Barry.
- Aggie