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NBC News, MSNBC: Uneasy coexistence?
AP on Yahoo ^ | 5/26/08 | David Bauder - ap

Posted on 05/26/2008 3:38:19 PM PDT by NormsRevenge

NEW YORK - NBC News has managed to achieve the near-impossible this election season in getting Hillary Rodham Clinton and George Bush to agree on something.

That something, however, is antipathy toward NBC News.

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.

A clash between two cultures at NBC played out vividly on the air during a discussion between Matthews and anchor emeritus Tom Brokaw on MSNBC's New Hampshire primary coverage, he said. Matthews had called for an investigation of opinion polls when Clinton surprisingly beat Obama that night.

"You know what I think we're going to have to go back and do?" Brokaw said. "Wait for the voters to make their judgment."

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.

Olbermann's success has had a spillover effect on the network, said Eric Burns, an ex-NBC News correspondent and former host of "Fox News Watch" on Fox News Channel.

"He has made, just in terms of general image, MSNBC and by implication NBC (appear) much more liberal than it really is," Burns said.

Fox's Bill O'Reilly has relentlessly hammered NBC News on this issue because of his feud with Olbermann. That became heated enough to reach into the top levels of corporate owners General Electric Co. and News Corp., as outlined recently in The Washington Post.

Gillespie's letter also expressed several other complaints about NBC News, including Capus' declaration in fall 2006 that NBC would refer to violence in Iraq as a civil war. Grumbling by the Bush administration against NBC isn't surprising given the savage commentaries Olbermann has unleased against it.

To a certain extent, Gillespie's criticism may have been a lifesaver for NBC News after skirmishes with the Clinton campaign.

"We must be doing something right if people are squawking on both sides of the aisle," Capus said. "News and news-related programming is not always a popularity contest."

Certainly not with the subjects. Ratings indicate that "the public has demonstrated that this is a non-issue," he said.

It's wrong to base a network or a news division's image on one or two shows, he said. MSNBC has Olbermann and Matthews, but it also has former Republican politician Joe Scarborough on in the morning, he said.

"Viewers are savvy enough to know the differences in that kind of programming," Capus said. "The mission of NBC News hasn't changed. The difference is that MSNBC has had some success, and success comes with attention and scrutiny."

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.

Burns said he knows Capus and Williams and doesn't question their credentials as solid, unbiased journalists. But the partnership with MSNBC means these issues won't disappear.

"It's a fine point, but for someone who cares about news it's a very important one," he said, "and it's not something that has ever been raised before."

___

NBC is owned by the General Electric Co.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Foreign Affairs; Miscellaneous; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: coexistence; enemedia; msnbc; nbc; uneasy

1 posted on 05/26/2008 3:42:01 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
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MSNBC http://www.msnbc.com/


2 posted on 05/26/2008 3:42:33 PM PDT by NormsRevenge (Semper Fi ... Godspeed ... ICE toll-free tip hotline 1-866-DHS-2-ICE ... 9/11 .. Never FoRget!!!)
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To: NormsRevenge

Break ‘em up. Force GE to sell.


3 posted on 05/26/2008 3:44:09 PM PDT by DManA
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To: DManA

Let them spout their lib tibs...people get to know
they are just loyal to the libs and their pinheads.
Throw in CNN and you got the whole picture..JK


4 posted on 05/26/2008 3:49:06 PM PDT by sanjacjake
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To: NormsRevenge

Fox never should have traded Burns for Cream Puff Kendall, the Fox News Watch show is now officially unwatchable.

As to the NBC/M(isery)NBC simpatico, is anyone surprised, if NBC could find a pod of viewers under 70, they would have Eric Cartman and Kyle Brozylofski computer generated anchors running the show...


5 posted on 05/26/2008 3:56:08 PM PDT by padre35 (Conservative in Exile/ Isaiah 3.3/Cry havoc and let slip the RINOS)
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To: NormsRevenge
"MSNBC's growing popularity"

Haven't seen the cable ratings lately....but last time I did, MSNBC wasn't doing well at all, especially compared to Fox News.

* Of course going from a 1.0 to a 2.0 could be called 'doubling' the audience.

6 posted on 05/26/2008 4:01:28 PM PDT by capt. norm (Never underestimate the power of very stupid people in large groups.)
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To: NormsRevenge
the "Meet the Press" host is generally considered the top broadcast journalist in Washington.

Indicating just how low the entire enterprise has sunk.

7 posted on 05/26/2008 4:04:40 PM PDT by Bahbah (Typical white person)
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To: Bahbah

lolol.. bring back the palm tree . :-)


8 posted on 05/26/2008 4:09:06 PM PDT by NormsRevenge (Semper Fi ... Godspeed ... ICE toll-free tip hotline 1-866-DHS-2-ICE ... 9/11 .. Never FoRget!!!)
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To: NormsRevenge
[..... anchor emeritus Tom Brokaw .....]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sounds like David Bauder has a new “idol” to bow down to.

These leftist AP’ers are a really strange bunch.

9 posted on 05/26/2008 4:19:20 PM PDT by Col Freeper (FR is a smorgasbord of Conservative thoughts and ideas - dig in and enjoy it to its fullest!)
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To: padre35

But I do love watching Megyn Kendall! Wow, what a babe... Damn I wish she would have married me... Oh well.

However, I miss ED Hill on Fox & Friends, and it seems that it’s become nothing more than commercials with an occasional “Fox News Flash” thrown in... It’s becoming hard for me to watch. I do have to say that I like turning the sound off and watching that “Robin” chick on CNN HN in the morning too.

Mark


10 posted on 05/26/2008 4:19:31 PM PDT by MarkL
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To: NormsRevenge

April 2008 cable RV ratings for pMSNBC - 29th place with 600,000 viewers. For reference, that’s about half of Comedy Central 30% less than the Food Network.

http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/news/recent_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003796132


11 posted on 05/26/2008 4:21:47 PM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer (The democRATS are near the tipping point.)
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To: MarkL

I’ll agree, she is quite pretty, but miscast on a show that is supposed to give insight into “how” the media works, to many flubbed lines, no knowledge of the subject matter being discussed.

I hope she improves because right now it seems like a College Freshman trying to start topics with Professors Emeritus, the lack of depth just kills.

Haven’t watched CNN, after the sniping our Soldiers story, they a


12 posted on 05/26/2008 4:28:26 PM PDT by padre35 (Conservative in Exile/ Isaiah 3.3/Cry havoc and let slip the RINOS)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

Watch out, M(isery)NBC may decide to give Emeril Lagasse a political show....


13 posted on 05/26/2008 4:32:01 PM PDT by padre35 (Conservative in Exile/ Isaiah 3.3/Cry havoc and let slip the RINOS)
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To: NormsRevenge

NBC and MSNBC are not nearly as bad as Fox News which has turned into McCain campaign headquarters. Carl Cameron is the worst reporter on tv. He biased all his stories against Romney and for McCain in the primaries and now FNC is all McCain all the time. CNN is much more balanced and they now have Tony Snow.


14 posted on 05/26/2008 4:42:35 PM PDT by jubail (Colmes is the smarter one between Hannity & Colmes)
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To: NormsRevenge

(To a certain extent, Gillespie’s criticism may have been a lifesaver for NBC News after skirmishes with the Clinton campaign.

“We must be doing something right if people are squawking on both sides of the aisle,” Capus said.)

This would have been correct if there were only 2 sides. However, NBC/MSNBC are all for Obama, and criticism by both Clinton and Bush do nothing but exacerbate their image problems instead of canceling each other out.


15 posted on 05/26/2008 5:26:21 PM PDT by winner3000
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To: jubail

I have yet to see Tony Snow on the air on CNN; MSNBC is hate speech and lies from morning til night; they are pathetic. I have written to GE Chairman of the Board and given him my extremely low opinion of MSNBC, and in particular, their number one hate monger — the olberidiot.

I watch some CNN, hardly any MSNBC, and mostly FNC; although I find myself watching reruns of CSI or NCIS more and more lately. The so-called “news” in this country is beyond pathetic. CBS is unwatchable; NBC is nothing but crap; ABC...never watch it. History will report these times as those with the most corrupt liberal biased media in our history.

They all are a bunch of liars; and I will include FNC in that group as well. They have lost their touch imho. There was a time we could count on them for truth and fact, now we get a bunch of BS even from FNC.

They all need to purge their producers and start from scratch.


16 posted on 05/26/2008 5:36:09 PM PDT by Laverne
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To: NormsRevenge
NEWS YOU WILL NOT SEE (on NBC or anywhere) this Memorial Day:

US Casualty rate in Iraq is the lowest this month of any month since we went into Iraq.

17 posted on 05/26/2008 5:48:47 PM PDT by cookcounty (Obama reach across the aisle? He's so far to the left, he'll need a roadmap to FIND the aisle.)
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