Top 5 Liberal Blogger Responses to MSNBC/Oblermann

By Eric Pfeiffer | September 8, 2008 11:49 AM | | Comments (0)

MSNBC has had trouble getting people to pay attention to its network for years, usually trailing Fox and CNN in the ratings. But over the past year, as Keith Olbermann was allowed to take a more left-leaning, opinionated approach to the news, the network's ratings have begun to flourish. Now, MSNBC is pulling Olbermann and "Hardball" host Chris Matthews off of their breaking news coverage for the rest of the campaign, replaced by David Gregory. Is MSNBC making a mistake in giving in to conservative pressure? Olbermann really is a pundit and should be identified as such. Although he's a pundit who knows what his station's viewers want. Meanwhile, Chris Matthews has been an anchor of real reporting and analysis at the network for years, even as he's occasionally upset both those on the left and the right.

John Aravosis says the move was especially bad because conservatives don't watch MSNBC:

I'm sure that now that NBC/MSNBC has caved to the Republicans, the GOP will never say another mean thing about the network. Yeah, ask the Democrats how well the "cave just this once and they'll leave us alone" strategy has worked. Not to mention, how many people at the Republican convention do you honestly believe watch NBC or MSNBC? They watch FOX, you morons. We watch NBC and MSNBC. At least we did. You people are idiots.

Glen Greenwald says MSNBC is afraid of the political right:

That is extraordinary for a media company to publicly embarrass, diminish and tarnish its own principal asset. It is plainly doing so for ideological, not ratings-based, reasons: namely, it fears doing anything to anger the White House, the McCain campaign and the Right in this country.

The Moderate Voice's Jazz Shaw says Olbermann crossed the ideological line "far more than once too often," but says "he did add more spice to televised political coverage."

Transplanted Texan says the move could be good for Olbermann, but fears the looming presence of Gregory:

If Gregory does well, I imagine we'll see him take over the Meet the Press chair after the election. Shame, I was kind of hoping for Gwen Ifill out of all the realistic options. As for Olbermann, while my opinion of him hasn't fallen quite as far as most other MyDDers, I still applaud the move. Maybe this kick in the pants will help him return to his pre-primary, less pompous, totally awesome form? And Matthews... eh, wish they'd just fire him. "HA!"

Liberal Values' Ron Chusid captures the real dilemma of having pundits as anchors:

Having Keith Olbermann and Chris Matthews anchor political coverage was often more interesting than the other networks, but it was, to be mild, journalistically flawed.

Tags: Blogger Reactions, Keith Olbermann, MSNBC

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