Posted on 05/02/2002 5:07:14 AM PDT by PJ-Comix
NEW YORK (AP) - MSNBC has hired brash former New York Post Editor Jerry Nachman as the struggling cable news network's No. 2 executive and host of a late afternoon talk show.
Nachman promised to bring "a certain amount of flamboyance" to MSNBC, which has trailed the cable news ratings leaders, Fox News Channel and CNN.
Nachman, who has worked in local TV news, written for the prime-time drama "UC: Undercover" and produced "Politically Incorrect," will be MSNBC's editor in chief, a newly created position. He'll report to top executive Erik Sorenson.
"Erik's idea of being a player-coach just kind of blew me away," Nachman said. "That's hard to do in this stratified business. He said he was looking for a kind of all-purpose batting and pitching instructor as well as a guy who's going to play.
His show has no premiere date.
Sorenson is trying to position MSNBC as "America's Newschannel," marked by lively talk that cuts across the ideological spectrum. He's hired former GOP presidential contender Alan Keyes as a talk show host, and Phil Donahue will start his own nightly show soon.
Fox continued atop the cable news ratings in April, the fourth straight month it has beaten CNN. Fox averaged 686,000 viewers for the month, compared to CNN's 557,000 and MSNBC's 279,000.
MSNBC is currently positioned with little identity between CNN's traditional news approach and Fox's "brash cable pinball machine," Nachman said. "There's plenty of room to go where they ain't," he said.
He wouldn't discuss specific plans.
At CNN, executives believe Nachman's hiring is a signal MSNBC is looking to emulate Fox more than CNN. "MSNBC was looking for a direction and now they have one," spokeswoman Christa Robinson said. "We wish him well."
Fox News Channel dismissed the news. "MSNBC is irrelevant," spokesman Robert Zimmerman said.
Sorenson said he looked to Nachman to bring "grown-up leadership and supervision" to his newsroom. MSNBC wants to compete with Fox, but Sorenson cautioned against the idea the network will imitate Fox.
"I don't think they've done a lot wrong," Nachman said of Fox. "The question is: Will the glow endure? You have to look at it like President Bush's approval ratings."
Well, if you're going to steal ideas, you might as well steal from the best. But instead of stealing ideas, MSNBC, how about if you go back to your ORIGINAL concept of combining news and the INTERNET? In the beginning MSNBC was actually a very interesting network since they had a lot of coverage of the Internet. But then the old fogey ideas crept in and the MSNBC reporters began treating the Internet in a very condescending manner. Yeah, they would do reports on "that there newfangled Internet thing" but would quickly return to "real" news. Nowadays there is barely a mention of the Internet on MSNBC.
In their first few weeks, MSNBC was distinguished by its interesting coverage of the Internet. However, the "regular" reporters seemed rather uncomfortable talking about the Web so this aspect was pretty much dumped.
what's ironic is that NBC actually has some good news programs on CNBC..America NOW, with LarryKudlow, gives a conservative, free-market view of the news, though it slantds towards busines coverage, and the weekly WSK roundtable is the BEST discussion show on TV, bar none...
' So, I think Nachman will do nothing, and disappear in about a year or so......BTW..looking at his pic, I hope they gave him a physical before he took the job....his BP must be off the charts..
Not according to friends who worked with him at The Post. They say the most innovative thing he did was fall asleep at about 6 p.m. every night, with a donut in his hand, a dusting of powdered sugar on his chin and a trail of drool hanging from one lip while the TV in his office played Sylvester and Tweetie cartoons.
What he was good at was sucking up to the Post's owner, a crook caled Peter Kalikow, who ripped off the Post reporters' retirement funds while fatso Nachman told everybody what a genius the guy was.
Lazy, corrupt, arrogant, an apologist for crooks -- Nachman will fit right in at MSNBC. If they can shoehorn his porcine bulk through the front door, that is.
Yea, well.. there's a telling comment. Seeing that he was producer of "Politically Incorrect", I suspect he'll be making the same mistakes that CNN has made in recent months. That is, if he does anything whatsoever, besides running his mouth.
The most infamous incident during his reign was when a black reporterette complained that a copy editor was "racist" for refering to Harry Belafonte as a "Calypso King." Rather that anlienate one of the paper's few black reporters (of the professionally aggrieved, I'm-calling-Sharpton variety), he disciplined the editor -- even though he must have known the charge was ludicrous.
Expect more of the same at MSNBC -- with healthy doses of Tubby's jowls wobbling in egomaniacal delight as he squeezes his gross bulk between camera and viewer at every opportunity.
You must recall, then, the show hosted by Soledad O'Brien, "The Site." Do you recall what event transpired that threw "The Site" off the air, and signaled the beginning of the end of fresh programming on MSNBC?
Believe it or not it was the death of Princess Di. They went into 24/7 all-Di, all the time for a while and Soledad's show never returned. A shame since it was the only reason I ever watched MSNBC.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.