"Keith Olbermann was pulled from [the Republican convention] to anchor MSNBC's storm coverage from New York, with his seat beside Chris Matthews filled by David Gregory. Capus said political considerations had nothing to do with that move; Olbermann has been sharply critical of the GOP." [AP via Crooks and Liars]
It comes as no huge shock to hear that the on-air bickering that has characterized MSNBC's coverage of the Democratic convention has carried over into behind-the-scenes tension and backbiting. The reports poured in last night. Politico quoted a "high-ranking journalist" who said "the situation at our channel is about to blow up." Jossip reported that both staff and top brass believe network host Keith Olbermann is way out of bounds in bashing other anchors. And the Wall Street Journal quotes former MSNBC host Connie Chung thusly: "Grow up! They have to just grow up." Whose fault is all this? Probably MSNBC chief Phil Griffin, whose staff (judging from all the reports) have a hard a time trusting. Well, he is the fellow who keeps rather ridiculously insisting MSNBC isn't becoming the left-wing Fox News. But the Journal has found another guilty party: Tim Russert, who had to go and die:
MSNBC's team at the Democratic National Convention needs to get more sleep and maybe also one of those massages that Arianna Huffington is giving out. The cable network's anchors are sniping at one another tonight, just like they did last night. About 20 minutes ago, ahead of Hillary Clinton's speech, Chris Matthews was talking about how some women feel disenfranchised within the party. It's a touchy subject for Matthews, who has been accused of sexist commentary against Clinton, and he did not appreciate a producer telling him to wrap up his ramble. He also didn't appreciate his sometime rival Keith Olbermann making one of those "talking" gestures with his hand. He, uh, let him know that. There's more real-life political drama and intrigue among MSNBC anchors than at the convention at this point. Click the icon for the video. More MSNBC internal fighting in our earlier roundup of Cable Feuds.
Cable news is a hyper-competitive environment full of huge egos fighting with each other for every scrap of a ratings point. And at this time of year, with all the shouting heads descending upon the political convention like a gang of ferrets into a small sack, conflict is inevitable. Plus it's hot, and there's not too much real news anyhow, so everyone is grumpy. After the jump, an illustrated guide to the most vicious feuds in the cable world. Pick your side, demonize your enemies, and play along:
Here's a fun video of Keith Olbermann, Joe Scarborough and Chris Matthews of MSNBC being vicious and bitchy to one another when they're supposed to be discussing the Democratic National Convention yesterday. All you really need to know is that all three men hate each other, although you might as well learn why, since we had to: Scarborough and Olbermann are blowhards from opposite sides of the political spectrum, Matthews thinks Scarborough is too partisan and Matthews and Olbermann constantly try to out-wonk one another out of insecurity. Everyone's big egos might be good for ratings, but they're making it very hard to cover the convention. Matthews was heckled by Hillary Clinton supporters, Olbermann briefly recused himself from gushing about Michelle Obama because he realized he sounded like a "sycophant" and Scarborough got into the middle of the fracas shown in the video. Be sure to stick around for the Matthews-Scarborough nastiness at the end. (Click the video icon to watch.) [YouTube via TVNewser]
Rachel Maddow, liberal MSNBC pundit, was supposed to get Chris Matthews' show when his contract ran out, but MSNBC decided to capitalize on election fever and complete her transformation from feminist Rhodes Scholar AIDS policy wonk to television star right away. They gave her Dan Abrams show, even though everyone at the network loves Dan and his show's been doing well. But he's a soft-spoken legal analyst and she's a phenom in the making. She's the Keith Olbermann liberals won't be embarrassed to admire! Keith, stentorian wiseass and former sportscaster, is clearly a raving egomaniac. When his ire is directed outward at figures deserving of his scorn, it's incredibly watchable television. But you cannot ever escape the obvious fact that the man, admirable moral center or no, is a smug jerk in private and public life. Which is a plus in televised punditry, but it's exhausting. Maddow, smart and cool, is now poised to make the most of an Obama presidency. She presents a perfect liberal alternative to a Bill O'Reilley or Sean Hannity: not because, like them, she's a bullying cheerleader for Obama and his party (that's a little more Olbermann), but because she's principled enough to fight for the Democrats when they're right and criticize them when they're wrong, without engaging in the partisan horseshit of official party mouthpieces like Carville and Begala. (This, by the way, is the important difference between the liberals of MSNBC and the liberals of CNN: Olbermann and Maddow are angry constituents, not party operatives.) In other words, she's an idealized version of her theoretical audience (educated urban liberal), much like O'Reilley is a caricature of his own (enraged suburban/exurban male). And mark our words, we'll soon be seeing her on the front page of the Times Magazine or Newsweek as THE NEW FACE OF CABLE PUNDITRY and then will come the longer psychoanalytical think-pieces in New York and The New Yorker (she's slightly less suited for that Olbermann-profile treatment in Esquire but you never know). Which, it could be worse. We like her! Plus, as the 2000s have taught us, Americans are totally willing to and love out lesbians on their televisions (thanks Ellen!) as long as they're not really annoying (sorry Rosie). (And in the [totally likely!] event of a McCain presidency, Maddow might actually do even better, as advocate-y liberals always operate best in opposition—which is why they always undermine the Democrats so effectively.) [Photo: dipdewdog]
Right in sync with the meltdown of America's subsidized mortgage giants comes still more evidence the nation's vaunted free market is broken: Fox News Channel chief Roger Ailes just took home a $4.5 million performance bonus, bringing his total annual compensation to $20 million. It's true, as Silicon Alley Insider points out, that Fox News retains a wide overall lead over CNN, with 1.5 million viewers per day. But annual bonuses are supposed to reflect performance over the past year, and by that measure this one is a bizarre waste of money.
Everyone is out to get Bill O'Reilly! First Scott McClellan, the elven former White House press secretary, said on MSNBC last weekend that he and his minions used to feed Bush administration talking points to O'Reilly and other Fox News shouting heads. "It was done frequently, especially on high-profile issues," he told O'Reilly nemesis Keith Olbermann following an appearance on Chris Matthews' Hardball. Then CNN covered the allegations as though they were news! Clearly a conspiracy is afoot. O'Reilly said on his show tonight that McClellan and MSNBC "look to be partners in this enterprise," while CNN picked up "garbage." So O'Reilly can presume MSNBC is in cahoots with McClellan simply because it aired and editorialized on his statements, but MSNBC can't say O'Reilly was in cahoots with McClellan even when McClellan himself says that's what happened. Watch this twisted logic unfold by clicking the video at left.
In a bizarre mash-up of some of our pop culture touchstones, professional opinion-haver Keith Olbermann made a cameo appearance on The Soup this weekend. Olbermann popped up on E!'s pop garbage digest hosted by the lovable Joel McHale to introduce a clip of noted idiot Brooke Hogan (daughter of Mr. Nanny) saying that she doesn't really do the whole voting thing because she doesn't think it's appropriate for women to run for president. Because who trusts anything that bleeds for a week and doesn't die?? Is she right or is she right? Anyway, Olbermann made a Gary Busey joke and the world felt just a little bit more snug. In kind of a too-tight way. Clip after the jump.
Hah. Here is friendly Joe Scarborough taking the most thinly-veiled shot EVER at his MSNBC colleague Keith Olbermann. "I know a couple of hosts ran this last night, made a huge deal because a liberal blogger picked it up. I guarantee the hosts that ran this, waving their arms, had no idea whether the Sunni Awakening or the Surge began at the same time." Hah. Way to not name names, Joe! See, it's funny because Keith Olbermann is running for president as an experienced foreign policy pro. Do Joe and Keith not get along? Clip after the jump.
Phil Griffin was only promoted to president of MSNBC last week, but he's already escalated the cable news network's feud with competitor Fox News Channel. That probably shouldn't be surprising given that Griffin is the chief patron of Keith Olbermann, the antagonist most detested by Fox. But Griffin's swipes at his competitor in the Kansas City Star are still startlingly raw: "You can't trust a word they say," Griffin said of Fox News. "THEY made the business decision to create an ideological network. We didn't. They were the ones that got in bed with the Bush Administration, so that most of the time, where did the Bush Administration officials come out and make their points? Fox News." Well, OK then! But isn't MSNBC adding a lot of left-wing opinion to its own newscasts, via Olbermann and others? Totally different, said Griffin:
Keith Olbermann and Rupert Murdoch's media empire keep adding to their illustrious history of mutual hatred. Last month, the Murdoch-owned Post's Page Six accused the broadcaster of valuing ketchup more than the memory of the newly dead Tim Russert. Earlier this week, Page Six ran a particularly provocative item accusing Olbermann of being, uh, too nice to the departed Tony Snow. And last night, Olbermann had his revenge for that; he was forced to call Page Six "sick, sick people" and big liars for all their lying lies. Click to watch his righteous thunder. We report and you decide, ha ha!
As you are likely painfully aware, MSNBC Countdown host Keith Olbermann is in a big feud with the entire News Corporation, since he picked a fight with thin-skinned Bill O'Reilly on Fox News. This feud recently grew to include News Corp.'s Post. When Post reporter Paula Froelich researched an item for Page Six on Olbermann supposedly demanding Tim Russert's old job, Olbermann preemptively called the reporter "the worst person in the world" on his show. When the Post did a story on Olbermann supposedly demanding to fly first class, he called Page Six-er Corynne Steindler "the worst person in the world." And now someone else at the Post is about to be called the "worst person in the world," because Page Six just ran some more bullshit gossip, this time about how Olbermann was way too nice in eulogizing former Bush press secretary Tony Snow. Wait, what?
