NBC News, MSNBC: Uneasy coexistence?

[DeepModem Mom]

AP: NBC News, MSNBC: Uneasy coexistence?
By DAVID BAUDER


(Media Bistro)

....Through its unusual public criticism of NBC's handling of Richard Engel's interview with the president, the Bush administration struck at the soft white underbelly of the news division's co-existence with the opinionated personalities of MSNBC. "I'm sure you don't want people to conclude that there is really no distinction between the 'news' as reported on NBC and the 'opinion' as reported on MSNBC, despite the increasing blurring of those lines," Bush counselor Ed Gillespie wrote to NBC News President Steve Capus in a letter pointedly released to the public.

Capus said viewers are smart enough to understand the difference and that the criticism is a reflection of MSNBC's growing popularity.

Clinton's campaign didn't want to talk publicly about NBC, but it has been unhappy about the Democratic candidate's treatment by "Hardball" host Chris Matthews. That culminated in Matthews' apology in January for saying that the reason Clinton is a U.S. senator and candidate for president "is that her husband messed around." Keith Olbermann has been critical of Clinton and supportive of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama on MSNBC's "Countdown."

When Tim Russert declared Obama the Democratic nominee during MSNBC's coverage of the North Carolina and Indiana primaries, the words carried extra weight because the "Meet the Press" host is generally considered the top broadcast journalist in Washington. It was no coincidence when Clinton ran a campaign ad in Oregon criticizing pundits "who talk about who's up and who's down" instead of about issues, pictures of Matthews, Olbermann and Russert flashed past. The only non-NBC journalist was ABC's George Stephanopoulos, who has his own complicated relationship with the Clintons.

"Getting into the game of trying to attract an audience based on your point of view rather than reporting is dangerous because it does invite this kind of backlash," said Tom Rosenstiel, director of the Project for Excellence in Journalism. It's hard, he said, to have it both ways....

The network has emphasized that MSNBC and NBC News are synonymous. The bond was tightened recently when MSNBC moved out of its New Jersey headquarters to Rockefeller Center in Manhattan. Now Olbermann's "Countdown" and Brian Williams' "Nightly News" are produced under the same roof. NBC News personalities appear more frequently on MSNBC....

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Research to be released by the Project for Excellence in Journalism will show that people would be hard-pressed to prove that opinionated MSNBC shows spill over in any way to NBC News programs like "Today," Rosenstiel said....

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hFLqq6dWINvgt7lv7ZT1x5WPKS6QD90TB1A80

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Link to recent article on the same subject: NYT, 5/20, Is MSNBC a Political Liability to NBC? http://tvdecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/05/20/is-msnbc-a-political-liability-to-nbc/

[Me.]

1. Funny How This Is Never Mentioned Regarding Faux

"Getting into the game of trying to attract an audience based on your point of view rather than reporting is dangerous because it does invite this kind of backlash," said Tom Rosenstiel, director of the Project for Excellence in Journalism. It's hard, he said, to have it both ways....

[DeepModem Mom]

2. Indeed! I didn't include quotes from one person cited in the article...

because, while he once worked for NBC, he also worked for Fox.

I think the issue of NBC/MSNBC is an interesting one, and worth writing about. But what about Fox??? (Of course, one difference is that Fox never had a history of excellence in journalism to defend, as NBC has.)

[Me.]

4. I Think There Is Envy Regarding MSNBC

I think it started when KO started attracting progressives. It's in a schizo phase where they can't quite decide if they're apples or oranges. Gregory is middle right while Tweety is like a pendulum. Personally as the father to an Obama supporter I think he's as influenced as other parents have been. Though, he's been around a long time and knows when they're shoveling goop.

[creeksneakers2]

3. This means Keith is getting to them

Fantastic!