True North

The NY Times is reporting that MSDNC has picked David Gregory to "anchor news coverage of the coming debates and election night." Big deal:

After months of accusations of political bias and simmering animosity between MSNBC and its parent network NBC, the channel decided over the weekend that the NBC News correspondent and MSNBC host David Gregory would anchor news coverage of the coming debates and election night. Mr. Olbermann and Mr. Matthews will remain as analysts during the coverage.

Instead of there being two hotheaded egotistical liberals on stage, they'll now have three. I don't think that's the definition of reform to most people. I guess that's MSDNC's definition. Perhaps that's why they're in the situation they're in.

The funniest quote from the article comes from MSDNC's President Phil Griffin:

"In a rapidly changing media environment, this is the great philosophical debate," Phil Griffin, the president of MSNBC, said in a telephone interview Saturday. Fighting the ratings game, he added, "the bottom line is that we're experiencing incredible success."

MSDNC consistently comes in last in the ratings. What sane person would characterize that as "experiencing incredible success"? That's spin that a Clintonista would admire. I'm certain that consistently finishing last wouldn't be characterized as "experiencing incredible success" elsewhere in the business community. I'm betting that the executives at NBC News consider it success, either.

In January, Mr. Olbermann and Mr. Matthews, the host of "Hardball," began co-anchoring primary night coverage, drawing an audience that enjoyed the pair's "SportsCenter"-style show. While some critics argued that the assignment was akin to having the Fox News commentator Bill O'Reilly anchor on election night, something that has never happened, MSNBC insisted that Mr. Olbermann knew the difference between news and commentary.

MSDNC can insist all it wants. The proof tells a different story. I'm finicky that way: I'll trust proof over everything else because talk is cheap.

It's easy to figure out what's happened if you pay attention to what just happened. This isn't a big deal. Thinking that David Gregory, one of the most partisan White House correspondents around, will control Chris Matthews, much less Keith Olbermann, is foolish. If MSDNC wants to be taken seriously, they should get serious commentators/analysts. Until then, they'll be treated with disdain.

They'll deserve being viewed as the laughingstock of the news industry.

Comments welcome at LFR.