MSNBC has announced that Keith Olbermann and Chris Matthews will no longer anchor political night coverage. My response? It's about damn time. These guys did everything within their power to influence the Democratic Primary -- with some of the most sexist coverage ever witnessed outside a FOX News broadcast. Their inability to be impartial has caught up with them, and they will now be demoted to the position of commentator.MSNBC said Sunday it is replacing Keith Olbermann and Chris Matthews as co-anchors of political night coverage with David Gregory, and will use the two newsmen as commentators.
The change reflects tensions between the freewheeling, opinionated MSNBC and the impartial newsgatherers at NBC News. Throughout the primaries and summer, MSNBC argued that Olbermann and Matthews could serve as dispassionate anchors on political news nights and that viewers would accept them in that role, but things fell apart during the conventions.
Gregory, the veteran Washington hand, will anchor MSNBC's coverage of the presidential and vice presidential debates and election night, said Jeremy Gaines, network spokesman. The change was first reported by The New York Times.
I'm not sure David Gregory is much better. The network probably should have just asked Tom Brokaw to handle MSNBC, while Brian Williams covered NBC. Or bring in Meredith Vieira or Ann Curry to handle the MSNBC coverage. They seem to be able to report in a professional manner.MSNBC has been plagued with squabbles by their male anchors. Keith, Chris, Joe Scarborough and David Shuster. There isn't a professional among the lot of them.
Jon Stewart had an interesting take, when interviewing Brian Williams on "The Daily Show."
All the drama made MSNBC a punch line when top NBC anchor Brian Williams appeared on Comedy Central's "The Daily Show" last week. "Is there no control?" Stewart asked him. "`Is it `Lord of the Flies?'"Stewart has proven once again that the best anchor this election season may just be a comedian!
A sheepish Williams said that every family has a dynamic of its own.
"But does MSNBC have to be the Lohans?" Stewart said.
7 comments:
Matthews made some sexist comments, but he's always seemed to me to be a total dweeb. I have a tendency to discount half of the words that come out of his mouth.
My beef with Olbermann, by contrast, is that the man is not nearly as brilliant, nor as learned, nor as articulate as he thinks he is.
I wish networks would find people who are genuine intellects, because genuine intellects often prove to be much classier than these two-bit egomaniacs masquerading as serious commentators.
Hmmm.
I'm not sure that I agree that this is a good thing.
It looks to me like the right-wing threw a tantrum and were once again rewarded.
I'm worried that Maddow's show won't have much support from the nework for the same reason.
Whatever the results I don't feel like I have much of a voice on the major networks, at least unbiased reporters much less progressives.
Bummer.
I don't know that it's going to change much, really. Matthews and Olbermann will still get lots of face time, and Gregory will basically be in charge of handing off to one or the other of them. I'll be worried if MSNBC starts talking about dumping Maddow's show before it gets off the ground.
Dean - I think a lot of liberal women are really angry at Olbermann and Matthews. I know I am. The network is as interested in keeping women viewers, as they are conservative viewers. Broadcasting in general has always catered to women more than men, as women are viewed as the group who decides where the money is spent ... and networks certainly want to keep their advertisers happy.
And has been noted, the two are not gone completely ... simply placed in a role where they can be as partisan as they want, because it's kind of expected that commentators have a POV.
BAC
"Broadcasting in general has always catered to women more than men"
Actually, unfortunately, that's not true. Daytime T.V. is targeted to women, but prime time T.V. is focused on a late-teen-to-mid-30s male demographic and assumes that women will watch whatever the guys like. You can tell by the ads. During the day it's all tampons and cleaning products, and in the evenings it's SUVs and beer.
Depressing yet true. Marketing execs have their heads are stuck in the 1950s that way.
I hope this move is in response to a drop in viewership and that the networks finally pick up the clue phone regarding female viewers. Chest-humping misogyny really is not edgy, cool, and entertaining for at least half of us out here.
It's true that Marketing execs have their heads stuck up their ... oh, you said "the 1950s" ... ha
Actually, women have always been the demographic most sought after. I spent the first half of my working career in broadcasting and advertising, and don't see any difference today.
BAC
I've had no more than 10" of tolerance for any major broadcast news channel for at least the past 10 years primarily b/c they're dominated by opinion shows. Hence, I get my news from PBS's NEWSHOUR with Jim Lehrer, CSPAN, Comedy Central, and foreign newspapers online.
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