JOSSIP REPORTS — Um, Tom Brokaw? You're a liar. Yes, you're a well-respected newsman, who anchored NBC Nightly News for nearly two decades with aplomb, overseeing everything from the First Intifada in the Gaza Strip to the Monica Lewinsky scandal. But you're also full of fibs.
When Jossip and others reported earlier this month that you were among the NBC News veterans voicing your concerns to the high ups that Keith Olbermann and Chris Mattthews' partisanship was making 30 Rock stink of liberalism instead of neutrality, you quickly denied the claim, saying you never voiced concerns to GE chief Jeff Immelt, NBC News head Steve Capus, nor MSNBC president Phil Griffin.
Except here we are, just a few weeks later, and — what's this? — you've changed your story. CONTINUED »
Tom Brokaw currently occupies the chair once held by the late, great Tim Russert on NBC's Meet The Press. While there's been much speculation on who will hold that spot once Brokaw's interim is over (with the current popular theory that it will be a whole host of people, including David Gregory and Chuck Todd) there is no doubt who won't be in the posish: Keith Olbermann and Chris Matthews.
The MSNBC in-fighting during the DNC was well-documented by the MSM, and it turns out that the catfight between Olbermann and Matthews nixed their chances of being the political anchors for the station…because of Brokaw himself.
Rachel Maddow, the likable blazer-loving MSNBC host, is enjoying the honeymoon stage with media critics as her Rachel Maddow Show delivers impressive ratings — better than Keith Olbermann's! sometimes! — and makes one small step for lady/gay-punditry kind. Just how big is the press suckling at her teet (for the time being)? After the NYT and American Prospect last week delivered puff pieces on Maddow, the LAT joins the fun. CONTINUED »
Katie Couric has done an ample job of resuscitating her reputation. Once the piñata of television news — everyone got a turn beating her, and she had to hang there and take it — she's quickly rebranded herself as RESPECTED JOURNALIST and, before that, got a reprieve from media critics bashing her when Keith Olbermann took some of the heat away. But as Couric exits the stage, temporarily, it's no longer Olbermann who's filling the void of short-lived attention spans by media critics. It is, actually, another woman. Her name is Rachel Maddow, and the industry freakin' loves her. CONTINUED »
We like Andrea Mitchell when she's practicing the fine art of journalism. We don't like Andrea Mitchell when she tries anchoring more than 30 seconds of MSNBC programming or bigfoots her colleagues for special treatment. So, we have a sort of wishy-washy feeling toward her. But our feelings aside, she's an ace reporter; a veteran NBC News foreign affairs correspondent, she's earned her keep.
So it makes sense that she'd have a hand in reporting on the news that's affecting every American and, thus, every human being on earth: the collapse of the U.S. economy.
But the struggling financial markets aren't the only angle to this beat — there's also the political angle, because Bush, Obama, McCain, Biden, and Palin are all weighing in on how many billions of dollars we're going to lend to who, and how many trillions of dollars our deficit will end up with. And that's really Mitchell's main territory.
But then there's one small eentsy-weentsy tiny infinitesimal issue: Mitchell's husband is a man named Alan Greenspan. You might know him as the ex-chairman of the Federal Reserve, which he led until 2006 and, some might argue, laid the groundwork to get us into this mess. So might that conflict of interest preclude Mitchell from reporting on, well, anything right now? CONTINUED »
It took just one week for Rachel Maddow to beat Keith Olbermann. It tooks just two weeks for her to beat CNN's Larry King Live, as well as double the ratings for the last two weeks of Dan Abrams' Verdict. And it will take just five more minutes for MSNBC to announce a bonafide hit on their hands. And then just two more minutes for Fox News to shoot down the good news by reminding everyone Bill O'Reilly is still the ratings king. But before you let the spin get to you, realize what's going on here: A woman — a gay woman — has, right out of the gate, made a huge mark on cable news punditry. While viewers flock to Keith Olbermann for his left-wing rhetoric (which, to be sure, is pretty logical much of the time), they're flocking to Maddow not for her bitchy rants or extremism, but her sensibility about the political climate. It's pleasing to see her rewarded for it.
The latest sign that General Electric brass isn't pleased with the MSNBC situation? You know, besides their attempt at correcting all the in-fighting?
They're ousting HR head Jim Mills and bringing in a GE heavy to take over.
Mills — who isn't fired, but is instead moving to head HR operations for 30 Rock's "boring" units, like ad sales and corporate communications — was instrumental in the merging of NBC News and MSNBC, when the cable network physically moved from New Jersey to Midtown Manhattan. Even before the dust was settling, many senior staffers considered Mills to have done a mostly terrible job.
We're told a memo just went out to all NBC News and MSNBC staffers with the news (send over a hard copy please?), also naming Mills replacement: Kevin Lord, the SVP of GE's enormous HR department, who's been dipping his feet in 30 Rock for the past year. This was what we refer to as a very clear sign GE's executive suite is getting deeply involved in MSNBC's day-to-day. Nice to see you?
With the Dow Jones dropping more than 800 points, the dollar weakening with news of AIG's government buyout, and a total loss around one trillion dollars for the country in this week alone, you'll have to forgive Chris Matthews for forgetting himself for a moment and actually asking a legitimate question to Eric Cantor (R-VA):
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So … Keith Olbermann couldn't have been expecting thing. In lobbying MSNBC to give protege Rachel Maddow her own show, Olbermann thought he'd scored two programming hours for his political agenda. Which, well, he did. But he also didn't just provide a solid lead-in for Maddow's 9pm show — he gave her the opportunity to beat his own ratings. CONTINUED »
Leave it to the articulate, but wholly irrational, Catholic Exchange to explain the behind-the-scenes dealings at MSNBC. "And these people think John McCain is suffering from a delusion." [Catholic Exchange]
Even those who don't criticize MSNBC for leaning left do realize the cable news network's politics are impacting the image of NBC News proper — an epiphenomenon that has carefully been spun by conservatives as the equivalent of nailing a peacock to the cross. But the case has been made, and that's the conventional wisdom: Keith Olbermann and Chris Matthews are making the nonpartisan news division inside 30 Rock look bad. How to solve the crisis? Ben Grossman, the usually on-target Broadcasting & Cable scribe, suggests a simple-in-theory resolution: Split 'em up. Just take the "NBC" out of "MSNBC," put the cable news channel under the same umbrella as USA and Bravo, and all will be better!
Except that's nearly impossible. CONTINUED »
And that makes two. After Felix Gillette's Observer piece that claimed a number of NBC News veterans were voicing their concerns about the direction the network, and MSNBC, were headed (i.e. the left) to top brass, at least two of those namedropped have come out to say Gillette got it wrong. First was Andrea Mitchell (via Keith Olbermann's "Worst Person in the World" segment), who says she never stood up at a NBC News gathering in D.C. to say she was worried, and now it's Tom Brokaw who insists he never spoke to the likes of GE chief Jeff Immelt, NBC News president Steve Capus, or NBC Universal head Jeff Zucker about NBC's editorial leanings. Which must come as a surprise to all the 30 Rock insiders we've spoke with, who might counter Brokaw's claim.
Just when you thought that this country had stripped September 11th of all emotional resonance with bitter in-fighting and exploitative faux-patriotism, MSNBC found a way to get creative with the memorial:
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While you figure out whether you want to watch the History Channel's all-day (and all-night) coverage of the Twin Towers falling, Keith Olbermann already determined how he wanted to usher in the day of mourning: by slamming the McCain campaign's supposed exploitation of 9/11. "This is supposed to be a day of remembrance," Olbermann said last night. "Remembrance of the attack, remembrance of the national unity which followed it. Most important of all, remembrance of the dead." Except then McCain went and exploited it! We've got Olbermann's entire delivery below, but as you watch, imagine not Olbermann saying these words, but Barack Obama. The Countdown anchor has become the Democratic nominee's mouthpiece in all attack matters, and while Olbermann may have spoken these words all on his own — whether Obama was in the picture or not — it's becoming harder to separate official campaign talking points from Olbermann's own rhetoric. Much the same way it's always been hard to distinguish the Bush administration's agenda from Bill O'Reilly's. CONTINUED »
'Rachel Maddow had a strong showing in her MSNBC debut Monday night, snaring 1.5 million viewers to beat CNN's "Larry King Live" at 9 p.m. - both in total viewers (by 1 million) and in adults 25-54 (483,000 for Maddow vs. 383,000 for King).' [NYP]
Accustomed to playing defense, MSNBC president Phil Griffin finds himself in a worn-in seat prescribing euphemisms toward his embattled network. With the in-fighting between Keith Olbermann, Chris Matthews, Joe Scarborough, and David Gregory taking a backseat to the assumption that Griffin & Co. caved to right-y criticism that the network's coverage leaned too far to the left — thus resulting in K+M moving back to pundit-only chairs — MSNBC now finds itself again defending its internal decisions. If only criticism of the cable news network, then, were coming from Fox News and sites like Olbermann Watch. In fact, for months it's been NBC News insiders who've besieged the ears of Griffin, NBC News president Steve Capus, and GE chief Jeff Immelt, begging for change. So who's been complaining? CONTINUED »
Tim Graham is the portly Director of Media Analysis at the Media Research Center, which sounds very Marshall McLuhan but in actuality is a conservative watchdog group. So already you know what station he likes to make guest appearances on (hint: rhymes with "box"). This man is obsessed with MSNBC's recent woes, and bringing down Keith Olbermann.
Tim Graham, like any other red-blooded American male, is also fascinated by lesbians, most notably MSNBC's Rachel Maddow:
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It's getting a wee bit exhausting talking about how hard Katie Couric's CBS Evening News has fallen, and then rehashing the issue every time bossman Les Moonves publicly shows his support, even though backroom speculation has the two working on a way to split after the November election. But then Couric had to go and perform what on-lookers called some of the best political convention coverage that aired, and so here we go again. CONTINUED »
BFFN: Best Friends For Now?
If GE chairman "Jeff Immelt's fingerprints [are] all over" a supposed deal to beef up Keith Olbermann's contract while letting Chris Matthew's ride out his agreement until it expires next year, than Jeff Zucker's fingerprints are all over the Page Six item saying it's so. CONTINUED »
Editorial Director
