Is MSNBC the "Liberal Channel?"

[KoKo]

Read more: http://www.bluenc.com/olbermann-out-tonight-friday#ixzz1BmoqOsfl


Although Anderson Cooper was saying the opposite over on CNN, that he was fired, likely due to the merger.

I also though this user comment on a TPM story was particularly apt. I hesitate to repost anything in full, but since its a user comment perhaps it is okay (I worry as more comments come in it'll get bumped back pages so that a link alone might not be fully useful):

Read more: http://www.bluenc.com/olbermann-out-tonight-friday#ixzz1BmogQvCJ

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/01/keith-olbermann-out-at-msnbc-...

Kaneblues:

Rachel Maddow does five hours a week on camera. Keith Olbermann did the same. Combined they provided ten hours of news, progressive commentary and sane conversation for an entire week. For this, MSNBC is deemed a liberal news outlet and we are often reminded by outside sources that MSNBC represents the liberal point of view and that they are "left leaning".

And yet, the conservative MorningJoe provides fifteen hours a week. Self-professed conservative Dylan Ratigan does five hours a week as does Andrea Mitchell. Republican commentators Pat Buchanan, Peggy Noonan, Ron Christie, Mike Murphy and a long list of other GOP loyalists are paraded in throughout the day while stories are often presented with republican narratives. In addition, roughly 48 hours of the week or more are devoted to the neverending Doc Block series of sensationalist and titillating aspects of prison life, teen runaways, and punking sexual predators.

The notion that MSNBC is a liberal news outlet is nothing more than a fabrication designed to convince liberals that they are provided an alternative. MSNBC is not a liberal alternative, rather it a corporate news source that up until now provided a mere few hours of the week to a progressive viewpoint.

Keith will be replaced by...
Submitted by Jake Gellar-Goad on Fri, 01/21/2011 - 11:08pm.

this schedule according to the NYT:

http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/01/21/olbermann-hosts-last-co...

MSNBC announced that “The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell” would replace “Countdown” at 8 p.m., with “The Ed Show” with Ed Schultz taking Mr. O’Donnell’s slot at 10 p.m. Mr. Olbermann did not discuss any future plans, but NBC executives said one term of his settlement will keep him from moving to another network for an extended period of time.

NBC executives said the move had nothing to do with the impending takeover of NBC Universal by Comcast.

Read more: http://www.bluenc.com/olbermann-out-tonight-friday#ixzz1BmobMKGl

[Arkana]

1. A channel that features Mrs. Greenspan and Joey Scabs

is by no means "liberal".

[SoCalDem]

2. crumbs for us hungry chumps.. that's all they gave us

There never was parity..nor was there intended to be.

[KoKo]

12. Remember when Geraldo Rivera DEFENDED CLINTON on MSNBC..during Lewinski Scandal?

Then after that, Geraldo went to Faux News with a big gig to expose MAFIA SECRETS...and Arianna Huffington turned into a Liberal...and a few years later founded "Huffington Post?"

Yeah...there's something wicked or wierd "afoot" with what's going on. Either they are pawns or they are good folks who are PAID OFF. I don't know which it is...but I know that we have NO LIBERAL MSM VOICES out there. If any "pop up" they are canned shortly after and yet Limpballs and the Faux Right live on to fight and fight and tear down the country we "THOUGHT" we were a part of.

It's hard to say these days. It's easier to be mistrustful of what is going on than a believer that anything the Left could do would ever have "starying power."

I hate the cynical view....but sometimes if it "walks like a duck...no matter how liberal the artist is ...the duck is just a duck. And...how is a better way to deal with this than everything that has been tried in the last 20 or 30 years?

:shrug: I know the Right laughs at us. I read many websites and the commenters are all GRAVE DANCING on our LIBERAL BONES... It gets discouraging. Maybe their way is the correct way forward...but what if it isn't? What if they are in denial caught up in their "Deregulation, Anti-Tax Ideology and they think they FINALLY HAVE THE LEFT BY THE THROAT! Get rid of the Last vestiges of the New Deal and CUT OUT ALL TAX AND REGULATION. They will have WON! But, what are the evil fruits they are now to deal with of what they've done.

I think it's sad that the Left has to go through their downfall for years...decades...when we tried so hard to change things when we finally saw what evil was coming our way for America.

[jakeXT]

13. Geraldo isn't buying fake terror and is ready to question 911

Geraldo Rivera Tells Bill O'reilly Recent Domestic Terror Plots Are Fake
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=czr6fHD-jzE

Judge Napolitano and Geraldo Rivera discuss Building 7
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPEj2Pa1Y2g

[blockhead]

15. Amen

good post.

[KoKo]

16. Thanks...glad to see you are another DU'er who remembers that FIASCO we had to go through...

Peace...:thumbsup: for remembering.

[OHdem10]

3. I believe most of us understood this. It was not and never has

been a Liberal Channel.

[emulatorloo]

4. No, it has never been the Liberal Channel. OTOH I believe O'Donnell labels himself a socialist

The fundamentals of TV/Cable News

- news is the filler between the important part - COMMERCIALS

- the higher the ratings, the more the company can charge for COMMERCIALS

That is how it is, that is how it will be.

MSNBC will continue offering "liberal" evening programming because it is lucrative.

Honestly to me It is starting to sound like Olbermann was sick of it and wanted out, especially after the bullshit suspension.

[KoKo]

11. Salon: "He didn't burn bridges here. He napalmed them."

Salon: "He didn't burn bridges here. He napalmed them."

Friday, Jan 21, 2011 23:22 ET
War Room
Is Olbermann the victim of his own success?
By Steve Kornacki



Sometimes it seemed like the only programming MSNBC actually believed in was Don Imus’ tired minstrel show in the mornings and weird prison documentaries on the weekends.

Meanwhile, the other cable news channel launched in 1996 was tearing it up in the ratings. From the very beginning, the Fox News Channel knew what it wanted to be. Rush Limbaugh had shown that there were millions of conservative Americans who were addicted to political news and commentary -- and who despised the traditional broadcast outlets (and also CNN). They weren’t looking for thoroughly reported investigative pieces or in-depth coverage of foreign affairs; they just wanted to hear about the latest Clinton scandal or the latest outrageous statement from some Democratic congressman. The programming they wanted was cheap to produce, and if you gave it to them, they’d be fanatically loyal. "Fair and balanced" was thusly born, and by the turn of the century, Fox was overtaking CNN – and leaving MSNBC in the dust.

That’s where Olbermann came in. He had actually been part of MSNBC’s revolving door cast before, in 1997 and 1998. Back then, though, his prime-time broadcast, “The Big Show” (a nod to "SportsCenter," which he’d spent the previous five years co-anchoring with Dan Patrick), was as directionless as the network itself. Politics wasn’t always the focus and news was covered more from a general interest perspective. When the Monica Lewinsky scandal broke in early ’98, executives demanded that Olbermann build his show around it; they hoped it might legitimize MSNBC the way the Iran hostage crisis legitimized “Nightline” in 1979 and 1980. But Olbermann resisted and walked away, making his disgust well known. (This kind of exit is his trademark. After he left ESPN, an executive commented that, “He didn't burn bridges here. He napalmed them.")

***

At the end of his Aug. 30, 2006 show, Olbermann looked directly into the camera and spoke: "The man who sees absolutes where all other men see nuances and shades of meaning is either a prophet or a quack. Donald H. Rumsfeld is not a prophet." His blistering takedown of the defense secretary was a viral sensation. Millions of liberals were equally exasperated with the Bush administration; but few could express themselves as exquisitely and powerfully as Olbermann. They asked for more, and Olbermann gladly gave it to them; over the next few years, there would be dozens of “special comments,” each delivered in the same dramatic style.

http://www.salon.com/news/keith_olbermann/index.html?st...

[azurnoir]

5. There's a liberal channel?

well I thought the closest was Current TV, I do not know if Comcast carries that however

[Fluffdaddy]

6. No......But

It's the closest thing we got. As far as news goes.

[Chipper Chat]

7. The way I see it:

MSNBC is slightly right-center.
CNN is right
FOX is far right
C-SPAN is right of center
The networks are all on the right.
There is NO TV channel that leans to the left (unless you count Current TV or MTV)

[elias49]

8. What? The 'liberal media' is a myth?

Who'd have thunk.
I still enjoy TV news from PBS.
And the BBC can be interesting.

[texshelters]

9. NO

that's just a lie to prevent any non-right-wing voice on the air.

Peace,
Tex Shelters

[Cleita]

10. Hardly, or they wouldn't have all the idiots on who come before

Ed who haven't been fired. Joe Scar should have been given his walking papers a long time ago if for no other reason than sloppy journalism.

[Stinky The Clown]

14. No. They only act like they're liberal

[KoKo]

17. I've wondered about that for awhile.

You think we were "sort of hoodwinked?" Maybe there's only a "nuance of difference" between parties?

Could this be possible? But....what if the "nuance of difference between them" ...is a matter of Life and "only a little death?" :shrug: Is that important? Should it BE IMPORTANT? That "sliver of nuance" between Life and Death...Survival and Wealth...Marginal Existence and Bountiful Life?