MSNBC Infighting Boils Over

MSNBC problems seem to be everywhere, with a truckload of stories, infighting caught on tape, and bad ratings. Here is a collection of links that chronicle the implosion at MSNBC during the Democratic National Convention.

The Infighting
Round 1: Joe Scarborough Vs. Keith Olbermann, Chris Matthews On McCain's Gains In The Polls Round 2: MSNBC Round 2: Joe Scarborough Vs. David Shuster
Round 3: MSNBC Drama Pervades Convention Coverage: Olbermann vs. Matthews, Attempts To Get Guests Banned For Round 3
Round 4: Keith Olbermann Caught Saying About Mike Murphy: "Let's Wrap Him Up"

The Reactions

MSNBC Journalist: "The Situation At Our Network Is About To Blow Up"

Connie Chung On MSNBC Infighting: "Grow Up!"

"Daily Show" Mocks MSNBC Infighting: "It's Lord Of The Flies On The NBC Roof!"

"Nobody Can Believe How Much Keith Olbermann Is Getting Away With"

And, Most Importantly, The Ratings

MSNBC In Distant Third In The Ratings

Comments

[supersenior]

As far as MSNBC goes, I wish they would get rid of Pat Buchanan. He's such a racist and doesn't even try to hide it. I end up wanting to throw a chair at the TV everytime he is on. A few more comments, 1) I love Keith 2) Chris Matthews is in love with himself 3) Joe Scarbourgh is also someone I cannot stand to listen to - I automatically fast forward if recorded, or change channel if he is on. 4) David Gregory is drinking McCain's Kookaid, don't know why. 5) love Rachael Maddow, she will be great! 6) Howard Wolfson is a traitor to the Democratic party by going to work for Fox, but he is really slimy so I guess it's a good fit for him.

[thepathforward]

Seems a lot of this dust up and controversy coming Keith’s and others way may be driven by Repubs who are probably thoroughly unhappy about anchors like Keith O., Rachael M., David S., Chris M., et. al. telling the electorate in objective terms what is presently going on, and what has gone on the past several years politically- information that the voters need to make a sound decision in November ‘08.
Those like Keith, Rachael, David, and often Chris IMO just won’t drink the kool-aid of the Republican talking points like so many others in the MSM (thank God). And they in general refuse to march in step with this seeming MSM Republican/Sen. McCain “political bye” process, but instead point out IMO objectively the Sen. McCain campaign gaffes, contradictions, voting record anomalies, vacillation of political positions, kitchen sink political tactics against Sen. Obama, etc.
Others at MSNBC seem to make it a point on-air to assert their Republican ties boldly. But when Keith, Rachael, David, Chris, et. al. assert themselves regarding reporting sound Democrat solutions to critical national/international issues, it seems the MSM floodgates of crying foul open up.
IMO MSNBC would be making a great mistake if voices (of objectivity) like Keith, Rachael, David, Chris, etc. were restrained or restricted. Implosion?-IMO BS.

[frappe]

I agree with you. I wouldn't be surprised to learn that much of this controversy is fueled by the obnoxious Right who won't be satisfied until we have ONE CORPORATION running everything.

[MorningJoeMikaIsMarried]

Exactly why else would Morning Jealousy is giving back ground interviews with the Page

[Opus007]

Right frappe- the RCA- Republican Corporation of America. With all the rage on the right- why isn't it EVER directed at this corrupt incompetent, Fascist Bush admininstration? How could any reasonably intelligent person even consider voting for McCain for a nano second? Keep deluding yourself that LIBERALS are the bain of your existence. Keep yourself deliberately uninformed so you can keep believing that W and McCain are great leaders.

Ever notice the GOP ads never talk about their accomplishments? They don't have any positive accomplishemnts, although in a moment of clarity the GOP could go on at length about how they ran this country into the ground.

[Bettysdad]

Schuster and Matthews shouldn't be mentioned in the same sentence as Olbermann and Maddow.

[tavote08]

Give Schulster a chance, he has held back alittle since his suspension, he doesn't allow (dem or Rep) to sit in front of him a just spout made up garbage. The closest thing to Tim Russert they have left.

[MariaHopeful]

Highly suspicious how as soon as Dan Abrams is canceled we are hearing all of this delicious tid bits of disharmony. Hmmmm...

[happycat]

I have been on vacation on Lake George all week and this is the first time that I have turned on the computer. If I was back home, I would have seen all of this on MSNBC. I can't believe all of the crazy things that are going on over there. Wow. Too bad the resort here only gets CNN and Fox news. I would settle for all of the fighting going on at MSNBC over that trash any day.

[dmspeech]

What some of you morons don't understand is that Keith's show is called Countdown He says, What stories will you be talking about ? Not, I'm Keith Olberman and this is the news. That's the difference between him and Fox N E W S

Liberals and progressives have a right to have someone to listen to and hear comments and people that aren't on all the other cookie cutter shows. Keith does it with humor. I sometimes watch the show twice in case I missed something. Keith=MSNBC

I can hardly wait until Rachel Maddow comes on after Keith. I must admit I like Dan Abrams, too. I wish he could take Joe's place in the morning as he's a trainwreck. The other morning when he yelled at Shuster I thought, if I wanted to hear a screaming redneck I'd go down the road to the trailer park --seriously I live in Alabama.
The difference between Keith and Joe is that Keith is smart and Joe just thinks he is.

[UnbiasView]

"Liberals and progressives have a right to have someone to listen to and hear comments and people that aren't on all the other cookie cutter shows"

Can you show me the place in the constitution where it says the government must mandate that someone on the television must hold your beliefs?

Super liberal media fails almost all the time because the audience isn't big enough to make it a profitable show . . . look at Air America.

[BDW]

I thought all of the MSM was liberal?? Did I miss a memo??

[dmspeech]

. I wouldn't think you'd be too concerned about the Constitution as Bush has done away with it.

[tenilla]

I wish Dan could replace Joe in the morning. Joe is insufferable and Mika never stands up to
him -- she just literally "tee-hee's". I watched Don Imus, warts and all, evfery morning, but I
cannot stomach Scarborough, Mika, Pat Buchanan, and Mike Murphy. I listen to NPR until
Joe is off. It has been great to see Abrams in the morning this week.

I loved Dan and Contessa Brewer the last few weeks. And Dan is the only MSNBC anchor who
took the time to document all of John McCain's alarming gaffes so far in the campaign.

[speedingpullet]

I will miss Dan too, but I think he has his hands full going back to his old job as general manager, especially at this clusters@$ck that is MSNBC's dem convention coverage.

I had to switch over to CSPAN, because I was NOT HEARING anyone over the guy with the bullhorn (and newly aquired stepladder) who keeps on informing me '911 was an inside job' every 2 seconds.

Swear to gawd, rachael maddow was just about to leap from her seat, vault the barrier and stuff that bloody bullhorn down 911's throat.

Such a pity, I normally enjoy KO and RM, but MSNBC is unwarchable atm

[punkingale]

And Joe's a graduate of The University of Alabama. I think he learned rudeness at Florida Law School, though.

[DFutureIsNow]

If they dump Mathews, Scarborough & Buchanan they can still save themselves

[cnick]

Scarborough has to go, he turns people off, and MSNBC loses viewers when they hear his voice and see his W. C. Fields nose, a snark through and through.

[UnbiasView]

I am watching MSNBC now . . . you can't hear what is going on but there is a giant marijuana poster in the background . . . this network is run by a bunch of professionals.

[Fair]

For a Right Winger you don't seem to know much about free speech.

So you are insinuating that they should send thugs out into the crowd OReilly style and take away the person's poster?

What if the poster showed an anti-abortion message, would you also agree it should be pulled out of camera range?

[UnbiasView]

"What if the poster showed an anti-abortion message, would you also agree it should be pulled out of camera range?"

The goal would be not to have the crowd in the background . . . so you can run a professional show like the rest of the networks?

I am pro choice by the way so I really wouldn't care and they just had to cut to inside the stadium because they couldn't be heard or hear each other.

[UnbiasView]

Ha . . . they moved them.

[CostaMesaJoe]

They might have panned the camera to my room for that instant....

[cnick]

Loved the giant marijuana leaf!!!!

[tlawson2]

It's sad but as another commentor posted earlier, I think we see the result of what has become of these guys now that Tim Russert is gone.

I Love Keith Olbermann, Chris Matthews, Rachel Maddow and even Pat Buchanan - but Tom Brokaw has got to go! He is really a Mc Same operative. When Tom comes on, I turn to C-Span or CNN. I am really sick of him dogging on the Democrats - that is Pat's job and one Pat Buchanan on MSNBC is enough.

This is really sad yet interesting to watch...........kind of.

[clevomon]

...Wow. Glad I switched over to BBC. That channel wasn't good for my blood pressure, and it doesn't look like it's good for its hosts' either.

[StephenDedalus82]

I'm of two minds about this. On the one hand, Olbermann is displaying symptoms of some sort of masculinity problem I'm not qualified to diagnose, and his obsession with Bill O'Reilly has turned from funny to disturbing. On the other hand, seems like Scarborough is getting his panties in a wad over a cable news channel exhibiting a political bent, as if only conservatives are allowed to have such a thing. If I recall MSNBC was Fox-lite a long time before it started making headlines with one of its talking heads' liberal sympathies.

[Fair]

The pre-runner channel that became MSNBC was Fox Lite created and run by Roger Ailes. Laura Ingraham and Coulter had shows, I think it was intended to counter CNN back then but backfired.

Ailes left and went to Murdoch and did the same thing successfully at Fox. Remember all those pundits at Fox built their careers, Hannity, O'Reilly, on attacking the Clintons and the whole Monica fiasco.

That's how Fox made it's case.

[BargeAtwil]

Unless MSNBC wants to do a show where chris matthews stares at a camera and talks about himself and his thoughts for 2 hours straight they pretty much have a problem. Pretty much, it's time for Chris Matthews to go.

What they need is a conservative to go up against olberman, and not tucker carlson lol. A 'Rove' type or something.

[CostaMesaJoe]

Pretty much, you may have a problem, if you pretty much, use pretty much in your posts more than once.
Chris Matthews talks about "himself"? LMFAO
Get a clue.

Keith would devour Hannity. I would love to see that.....

[miladyfair]

Like, totally fer sure.

[soozers]

I agree that Hannity is no competition for anyone in debate. Dim bulb and all that. But you shouldn't confuse the pocket full of memorized trivia Oberman pulls out of his ear for great intellect either.
He tries to bludgeon with obscure facts about Teddy Roosevelt bathing habits or FDR's cousins' husbands felony conviction, all very fascinating, but in objective analysis, he's just a blurt of anger and emotion. So predictable.

[MorningJoeMikaIsMarried]

Oh come now that person would be destroyed

[miladyfair]

LOVE your moniker. Crush much? :-)

[brighterside]

The world don't need another conservative. There are too many of those rightwing types on everywhere. The BillOs, Hannitys, and Limbaughs of this world to bring in the rating because America love to hear fear, uncertainty and doubt rather than good news. I don't care if ratings are down at MSNBC. If I want honest reporting without the rightwing slants that I hear everywhere, than MSNBC is the only place to tune in.

[UnbiasView]

"The world don't need another conservative"

Thanks Cleatus . . . .

I wouldn't mind seeing a show where Olbermann didn't just have yes men all the time.

[VSamuels]

So you are then suggesting that Fox News needs a few liberals to go up against their right wing pundits? The corporate media owned by folks who are mostly the benefactors of the republican party, slant the news to the right; it is the 'normal' in how it is presented and delivered to the American people. If folks need a right point of view, they have then the choice to tune in to CNN or Fox or ABC which can fill the bill.

These right winged leaning networks don't seem to be conflicted about providing a liberal on air with every right winged commentary they deliver, and neither should MSNBC be compelled as well. MSNBC's worry is that there seems to be a larger group of conservatives who are watching the media parade than liberals, and this factor is driving the dissension; money talks and at this time it is talking conservative as noted by Limbaugh and Hannity's lucrative new contracts.

MSNBC would be foolish to ignore that their listeners also watch T.V., their problem is finding a balance which works.

[smallfish]

I think they are very tired. The screaming protesters behind them make for a chaotic tired mind.
Even Kieth is tired. Last night when the crowd would scream they would all cringe.
I know everyone wants DRAMA and infighting because it's JUICY. The infighting may exist,
but I think people are reading into it.

[305Rider]

I agree, not to mention that they are in an extremely high charged political event.

[Sabreen60]

I love Keith. He's the only progressive on TV - until R@chel shows up.

[cnick]

I love Keith, I love Rachel, they can't get rid of Keith, it would be the end of MSNBC.

[tlawson2]

I second this motion! I love Keith and Rachel - if they got rid of them I would stop watching.

[soozers]

milady, it depends on the show being aired who the target market should be. Yes if the ads are for nikes and coca cola and the show is American Idol, then yes, you're point is valid. But if the ads are for investment firms and rolaids, then we, milady are the target.. Again msnbc's ratings are low because they don't get what fox so clearly gets.........it is our age group that watches political coverage and commentary (excepting countdown). The kids are watching Stewart..
And I don't know about you, but I have a heck of a lot more disposable income now than in my 20's!

[miladyfair]

I wish I did. :-) I have little ones, and they are very expensive right now.

Your points are also valid. However, I didn't want to get too deep into a marketing lesson for someone who probably wouldn't pay attention anyway.

It IS our generation who is paying attention, I agree. However, we are not always the favorite of advertisers. We are either too young or too old.

[k6007]

Too broke is more like it. N i k e are slavelaborprofiteers, just so you guys know. Newbalance is made right here in the good ole US of A.

[frappe]

Does Huffpo have a problem with MSNBC? I would think that of all of the cable news and opinion shows, that MSNBC would be the most "philosophically" compatible.

[MorningJoeMikaIsMarried]

They can't shelter this station. I love MSNBC

Especially in the evening

[Fair]

That's what I said, why is HuffPo even running an article like this?

[Steelrod]

Anyone find it funny how the guy on the bull horn is raining on Chris Matthews parade on Hardball. WHat is he saying anyway?

[aubrey8]

some guy on a loud speaker has been blowing Matthews off his chair for the last 10 minutes. you can't even hear him speak.

I think it may be Olbermann.