MSNBC (AKA Fox News-Lite) To Add Another Conservative To Nightly Line-Up

[JABBS]

MSNBC will shift Tucker Carlson's low-rated talk show out of prime-time in much of the country to 11 p.m. EDT, with ex-Fox News Channel anchor Rita Cosby filling his time slot.

Since its debut June 13, the bow-tied conservative's show has averaged 201,000 viewers, 25 percent fewer than its time-slot predecessor, "The Abrams Report," had in May, according to Nielsen Media Research.

MSNBC reminded reporters yesterday that Cosby scored an exclusive interview with Jermaine and Tito Jackson on her first day at MSNBC last month. She will begin "Rita Cosby: Live and Direct" Aug. 8.

***

So, if you're scoring at home, that's:

-- Hardball, hosted by faux liberal Chris Matthews

-- Countdown, hosted by actual liberal Keith Olbermann

-- Live and Direct, hosted by Rita Cosby, formerly of Fox News.

-- Scarborough Country, hosted by former conservative congressman Joe Scarborough

-- The Situation, hosted by mainstream conservative Tucker Carlson

***

Rick Kaplan has engineered the change at MSNBC -- The Situation was the first show he created -- and thus far, he hasn't helped the network escape cellar-dwellar status.

How low were Carlson's ratings? How about 10% of Fox News' Hannity & Colmes and 17% of CNN's Larry King Live? Ouch.

But here's the dirty secret Kaplan won't admit. None of MSNBC's right-tilting shows (and I include Hardball in that category) do well in the ratings. They all get clobbered, no matter how many RNC talking points they recite, and no matter how many right-tilting panels they showcase.

Memo to Kaplan: People on the left side of the aisle watch television, too.

Instead of creating Fox News-lite, shoot for balance. Take Bill Moyers' advice and, rather than retreading the same mix of pundits over and over, introduce guests at the "grassroots level," as Moyers puts it.

Maybe we'd all learn something, and MSNBC might finally get some viewers.

***

This article first appeared at Journalists Against Bush's B.S.

[Greeby]

1. Hey

They don't call it MSRNC for nothing ;)

[JABBS]

2. I hadn't heard that

[JABBS]

3. Is anyone familiar with Rita Cosby's work?

Is she better than former Fox News (current MSNBC) pundit Monica Crowley?

[eleny]

4. RC used to be on FoxNews

[Mika]

8. She's worse than Eva Braun. n/t

[Mitt Chovick]

15. She's a "true crime"/ tabloid reporter....Peterson, Jackson, etc, etc

I've never detected a political slant, right or left, in her reporting. I have detected dumbness in her reporting, though.

[Bumblebee]

18. Her voice is enough to send one out of the room...

I am not sure she is that right wing but she was obviously a FOX loyalist until they ditched her. When Paula Zahn left FOX, they stuck her in that time slot for a while -- didn't work. And her voice is really, really awful.

[bucknaked]

5. Does Microsoft even have anything to do with that network anymore?

I remember when they came out in the dot-bomb era, and anything associated with the "internet super-highway" was cool, thus the MS partnership, but what the hell does MS have to do with them now?

[Placebo]

6. Message to MSNBC: YOUR RATINGS ARE ALWAYS GOING TO SUCK

Stop trying to inflate them with Fox News' conservative leftovers and and CNN's conservative garbage.

[BillZBubb]

7. Wow, Jermaine AND Tito! That ought to pull in the viewers!!!!

Way to go MSRNC, you've snatched another winner... :sarcasm:

[JABBS]

13. I highlighted that ...

... because if that's her only claim to fame in one month of journalism, MSNBC is in trouble. Of course, viewers are too.

[MidnightWind]

9. But Kaplan is just keeping his corporate masters happy

and trust me, GE (corporate parent of NBC/MSNBC) and major defense contractor would rather have the GOP talking points recited than get good ratings.

But I've got a question. Do we really know that Cosby is a conservative just because she worked at Faux? Wasn't her show more crime related than political on Fox?

[bribri16]

10. I hope Olberman leaves MSNBC. He's the only one I tune in for.

But then, where would he go?

[JABBS]

14. Jon Stewart

If MSNBC was smart, they'd offer Stewart a fat contract for the 11 p.m. slot.

[Mister Mark]

11. Take it as a compliment

I look at it this way: Let the Repugs have the TV and radio. Those mediums don't require much thought. In fact, TV watching has been shown to actual reduce brain activity!

We've got the internet blogs and much of the print media - it takes brains to read and absorb information, so it's only natural that we're more successful with those mediums. :D

[CatholicEdHead]

12. These hosts seem to be on a rotating basis between the networks

that if one fires one, they find a job at another pretty quickly. This happens over and over and over...

[ihelpu2see]

16. that may work for me as long as the keep rachel maddow on with Bow Tie

guy... I stay up late here in CT and will miss the faux news remix but I will see the 11pm stuff with Bow Tie as long as the keep rachel. I pod cast her air america "Front Page" show every morning during the week, good stuff...

[Jane Eyre]

17. Rita Cosby used to report for "The 700 Club"

Yep, she sure did!!!

She started her career in TV news right here in Charlotte too. I believe she was a Channel 9 reporter, which is the local "blood and guts" news. If there isn't enough crime to report here in Charlotte, they go as far afield as they have to in order to fill the crime story quotient.