Joe Scarborough Vs. Keith Olbermann, Chris Matthews On McCain’s Gains In The Polls
Olbermann and Chris Matthews went over the line with Joe Scarborough
“Daily Show” Mocks MSNBC Infighting: “It’s Lord Of The Flies On The NBC Roof!”
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August 28th, 2008 at 8:56 pm
FYI
MSNBC prez defends convention team
POlitico-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.
As replays of the conflicts became YouTube hits, MSNBC President Phil Griffin gave his first public defense in a Politico interview.
“MSNBC does not have an ideology,” Griffin said. “We hire smart people who are passionate about their love of politics and love of news.”
“Do I want them to have squabbles?” Griffin asked. “No. But I understand they’re human.”
In addition to Olbermann, MSNBC personalities Chris Matthews, Joe Scarborough and David Shuster were involved in Denver controversies.
On Monday evening, Olbermann interrupted Scarborough while he was talking about McCain being competitive in the polls. “Jesus, Joe, why don’t you get a shovel?” Olbermann remarked.
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.”
August 28th, 2008 at 8:57 pm
FYI
MSNBC Blowing Up In Denver: The Saga
Jossip-MSNBC’s internal fighting is far from over — nor is the reporting on it. We hear the Wall Street Journal’s Rebecca Dana will have something up for tomorrow’s paper (albeit leaning in the network’s favor), which follows our own regular reports, as well as the Drudge-linked Politico story from Michael Calderone.
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: 1) 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.
And one last thing: Nobody, including all of MSNBC, believes Phil Griffin when he says “MSNBC does not have an ideology … We hire smart people who are passionate about their love of politics and love of news.” Says one veteran off-camera staffer: “Bullshit … It’s a total farce.” It’s a shame that MSNBC can’t own up to the way it’s leaning, if only because now it can’t separate itself from the same charges aimed at Fox News — that it leans one way politically but pretends to be balanced.
August 28th, 2008 at 8:59 pm
FYI
Conventions: 18 Million Supporters, 26 Million Viewers for Hillary
NYT-Hillary Rodham Clinton’s address at the Democratic convention attracted almost 26 million viewers Tuesday night, according to Nielsen Media Research.
That number is up significantly from the 22 million who watched night one of the convention on ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, Fox News Channel, MSNBC, BET, and TV One, according to Nielsen.
Among the broadcast networks, NBC led with 5.98 million viewers, ABC followed with 4.76 million, and CBS had 3.82 million. A comparison with 2004 is difficult because the broadcast networks did not cover the second night of the Democratic convention that year.
Among the cable news networks, CNN again led the competition, averaging 4.80 million viewers from 10 to 11 p.m. Fox News delivered 3.48 million and MSNBC netted 2.57 million. All three cable news networks are up significantly compared with 2004.
Unlike the broadcast networks, the cable channels are covering the conventions all evening, although they spend much of the time analyzing the event instead of showing the speeches. In prime time, CNN averaged 3.40 million viewers, Fox News averaged 3.36 million and MSNBC averaged 1.99 million.
Update: 6:27 p.m.: In a reflection of the intense interest in the historic nature of Barack Obama’s candidacy, blacks are watching the Democratic convention in proportionally higher numbers than whites, according to the Nielsen ratings.
On Monday 4.3 million black viewers watched the networks when Michelle Obama addressed the convention, equivalent to 12 percent of blacks living in households with television. That figure is compared with 7.6 percent of whites living in TV households who watched.
On Tuesday 4.6 million black viewers watched when Hillary Rodham Clinton spoke, equivalent to 12.7 percent of the potential audience. That figure is compared with 9 percent of whites.
August 31st, 2008 at 8:16 am
A lot of folks over here on the right love these guys on the left because we don’t have a lot of emotion invested in these neocons. And frankly I’m not sure what Olberman’s political views are other than he doesn’t like snooping and spying and the lies surrounding the war. Scarborough on the other hand is pretty touchy with McCain. McCain isn’t a real conservative. Plenty of real conservatives aren’t bothered by these views of McCain.
August 31st, 2008 at 6:33 pm
“Plenty of real conservatives aren’t bothered by these views of McCain.”
Then again, plenty of “real conservatives” are hanging out in federal prisons
September 1st, 2008 at 11:31 am
Yeah but they still get to play tennis. Of course everything is ass backwards in DC. The criminals are running the show there.
September 1st, 2008 at 5:26 pm
I’m beginning to think that things are actually “normal” in DC, and that the rest of us have simply forgotten how the world actually works…
September 1st, 2008 at 10:40 pm
Thanks for the tip Cash Advance!
Has anyone told the Bush administration that they can borrow now against the future income of the nation? What a great idea!
September 9th, 2008 at 3:56 am
GOD LOOK WHAT FOX DOES, ALWAYS BASING MSNBC AND NBC. WHAT IS WRONG WITH FREE SPEECH. I AM GOING TO MISS MATTHEWS AND OBERMAN’S COVERAGE OF THE CONVENTIONS. JUST WATCH FOX NEWS AND HUME IS ALWAYS GOING AFTER SOMEONE ON HIS SHOW, SHOWING HIS CONTROLLING ATTITUDE. THEY THINK THEY ARE SO ABOVE ANYONE ELSE. LOOK HOW HANNITY AND O’REILLY GOING AFTER ANYONE THAT DOESN’T BELIEVE THE WAY THEY DO.