For reporting that is an embarrassment to the profession
of journalism, and for being beholden to corporate paymasters rather than
the citizens of America.
Complaints against the MSM are numerous, most of them come from the
left-wing, and most of those have some legitimacy. Yet, very few changes
come as a result,
and certainly not any as a direct result of specific complaints, unless they
are right-wing complaints.
This is what we saw this week when MSNBC announced that Keith Olbermann
and Chris Matthews were
demoted from the anchor chair for the rest of the
election cycle, after a series of right-wing complaints against the cable
channel. MSNBC's replacement anchor is David Gregory, not exactly an impartial
choice, for the debates and on Election Night.
The MSM sat at George W. Bush's feet during his reign as president, and
the right-wing certainly didn't complain about the coverage of Bush. But
the MSM has actually gone after John McCain's flip-flops as well as Sarah
Palin's flip-flops a little bit, and had the "audacity" to report
this.
The baiting that the right-wing has done for months against General Electric,
NBC, and MSNBC culminated on Thursday night when Olbermann, who made it clear
that a commentary was coming, objected
to a RNC video designed to manipulate
fear and emotion from the attacks of September 11, 2001. He didn't attack
the RNC or the Republican Party directly. But in the mind of the right-wing,
enough was enough.
And the instances accounted to Olbermann and Matthews pale in comparison
to what comes out of the mouths of Bill O'Reilly,
Sean Hannity, et al. As for the allegations of anchors vs. commentators,
put Olbermann's words up against Brit Hume. But the MSM is deaf to the concerns
of the left-wing and eager to help any right-wing concerns.
Besides the unfairness of demoting Olbermann and Matthews while leaving
open any and all right-wing comers, there are serious ramifications to the
decision from MSNBC.
-- Responding immediately and drastically to pressure suggests that
all you have to do is complain and "problems" get solved. If
the management of MSNBC did what it did to get the right-wing off its back,
guess
again.
If you feed a dog scraps, and think the dog will never come back for more,
you don't know dogs.
-- Unless management wasn't watching its own coverage, they certainly knew
what was going on. If there was a legitimate concern, there could have been
meetings to discuss protocol. Olbermann and Matthews have been doing what
they have been doing, and their ratings have gone up. They have acquired
more viewers, and more importantly, viewers who weren't watching CNN or Fox "News" Channel.
Cable channels crave that kind of growth, especially one with a poor ratings
track record as MSNBC has had. Yet, MSNBC has decided to demote its growing
star at a time when more viewers would be paying attention. The media
loves to claim it makes decisions based on money, but this is a decision
that will
lose money and viewers for MSNBC.
-- Changing the rules in the middle of the game. If MSNBC decided after
the election to then change the perspective of its coverage, there might
be derision, but it wouldn't be seen as biased. The debates and Election
Night are crucial times to get legitimate analysis, and there is the perception
that MSNBC will have much less of it as a result of the changes.
Media outlets receive pressure from outside sources; it's just the nature
of the business. Readers, listeners, viewers, advertisers, outside groups
all respond in some form. But when a media outlet responds that quickly and
forcibly, the action encourages more complaints since they have a good chance
to succeed. Newt
Gingrich led a charge in 1995 against PBS, threatening to
zero their funding. And he had the power to do so, being the Speaker of
the House. The
NewsHour had two centrists: Mark Shields and David Gergen. Then the tide
turned into right-wing biased sources to worl alongside Shields: Paul
Gigot and then David Brooks – going from balanced to right-wing
biased. And that isn't even considering the damage from Kenneth
Y. Tomlinson,
who was chairman of the board of the Corporation for Public
Broadcasting under George
W. Bush.
The media, even the corporate-dominated MSM, is supposed to engage in an
appearancel of integrity. After making a complete turnaround on a dime
based solely on a few right-wing comments at a financial loss to the organization,
the
reputation has been tattered and torn. For that, and the horrible precedent
it sets, MSNBC network president Phil Griffin and the management
of MSNBC definitely earn this week's Media PUTZ of
the Week.
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