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

[nicholasclaxton]

At least they are attempting to get the real stories out there (thanks rachel maddow)

Do you see anyone else in the MSM pointing out Cheney's War Crimes - the fact that thousands of US Soldiers have been killed/wounded and WE WERE LED INTO A WAR under LIES!

At least they are not racially driven liars like Faux News...At least they have the passion to get people to watch. And at least they try to get the news out that needs to be out...

If you don't like MSNBC then don't watch it.

[moderationisbest]

kieth's 15 minutes are nearly up. he doesn't realize this, but george bush and the hatred towards him created keith. if/when his chosen candidate becomes president, he'll have to shift from hate to defense. that is never as easy a backdrop against which to maintain a high level of shrillness. i do get a kick out of him - in the end, he's a very unhappy man.

[bluestatelib]

Ridiculous. Olbermann has been around for over a decade. He's well beyond 15 minutes in the limelight.

[moderationisbest]

keith in his current incarnation (hosting countdown, conventions, enjoying ratings growth, etc) has not been around for a decade. he is smart. he made a conscious decision to throw caution to the wind and start hating. it is great for ratings. unfortunately, it is not sustainable. he is currently growing off a very small base of viewers, so his % gains are strong and will be strong for about 3 more months. thereafter, the law of big numbers catches up - you must know that there are not nearly enough limousine liberals to support solid growth off of a base of 900k. relax, don't get upset and enjoy it. you've got a few more months until another performer steps onstage to replace him.

[nicholasclaxton]

You have no clue - Keith's been 'on - air' for years on top of years...His following will not go away just because some moronic right wing liar nut jobs want them to.

And if you were paying attention to the stories he covers, as an American you too should be unhappy, well unless you like the fact your administration has done nothing less than punishable war crimes, lied to its citizens, tortured, etc etc etc

wake up! the more voices out there (like KO, Rachel, Etc) that Try to point these things out and bring them into the light the better...Do not punish the messengers punish the war criminals like Cheney and Bush!

[cheshirecat831]

Looks very happy to me...he loves his work

[Eoin45]

Passionate yes. Shrill no. Don't agree with you at all. Olbermann will be with us long after O'reilly atc. are gone. I see that you're in favor of moderation in capitalization as well.

[moderationisbest]

Good point on the capitalization. I will try to do a better job on that one. The issue for Olbermann is that he stands for nothing other than hatred of President Bush and other Republicans. The anger card works well in opposition. However, if/when the person he works for becomes President, the people against which he directs his silliness are not going to be as important / powerful. At that point, only the hard-core limousine liberals will stick with him - that's likely not enough. Regardless, you keep having fun watching him and MSNBC. It's a terrific outlet for repeating what you want to hear. I am enjoying it.

[mairs]

Yeah, he doesn't suffer fools gladly. Reminds me of the people around me that I admire the most. That's why I like him, because he's truthful, real, and has a sense of humor about himself. He doesn't actually spew hate, if you'd actually listen to him. He is most of all impatient with the wool being pulled over our eyes on a daily basis.

[mouthofthesouth]

Chris Matthews has looked ill for several weeks now and I noticed yesterday that he was coughing a lot. I believe that he is really ill and that may account for his testiness. But if the truth be known, he has never liked Keith. He was the golden haired boy at MSNBC before Keith came and he is obviously resentful. As for Rachel, he was extremely rude to her once on his show - shouting at her and bullying her as he is wont to do when someone does not answer him as he wishes. When she joined the network as a commentator, she was on his show only once and after that she only appeared on Keith's show and on Primary nights. I believe that Chris is the one with the attitude problem and not Keith and Rachel. As for Joe Scarborough, I quit watching Morning Joe months ago. I just couldn't take anymore of his juvenile behavior and his blatant water-carrying for the Republicans. He is just too immature to have a show of his own. He makes Tucker Carlson look good in comparison. He needs to go and very soon. I for one would like to see a total left leaning network from 7 to 10 every night. I think the left deserves its own network , After all the Right Wing has Fox and no one seems too upset about that except Keith. The Left is hungry for commetary that is not Right Wing.

[groucho]

Keith, I love you. Joe lost his shovel in Florida a few years. Can you do a story on that?

[DesertLight]

Can you hand me the Martini glass?

[carpefactum]

The MSNBC coverage has looked a little ragged this week, but I'm sticking with it as my primary source. CNN has been sounding more derisive of Democrats every day and the coverage there is simply boring. Faux of course is in its own world, but always available for comic relief during commercial breaks on the other channels.

Keith Olbermann and Rachel Maddow do a good job balancing their obvious liberal bias with the need to provide information that's new and analysis that's worth listening to. I don't care whether people think they are journalists or not. There's a lot more commentary than journalism on all the cable shows. I'm glad they get a shot at putting their opinions out on a daily basis.

[Roose]

Keith, Rachel, Chuck Todd and David Shuster: The only reason to watch MSNBC, all others can go take a hike.

[MorningJoeMikaIsMarried]

The only reason, I also like Norah too

[Amsterdam83]

Let's not leave out Eugene Robinson.

[AnnieinOR]

agree... but he's not a host... love him just the same!

[connorin]

are you pimping out schuster?

[nicholasclaxton]

Shuster is great! His future is bright.

[MorningJoeMikaIsMarried]

No that would be McCain Pimmping out Cindy I can rember how many sisters I have but I do know at least one of them is voting for Obama -- McCain

[Eoin45]

Let's keep Eugene Robinson too please.

[tavote08]

100% on point. Each one should have their own show & they can lump everyone else into a variety segment in the Morning Joe slot.

[mdcolli]

http://www.oreilly-sucks.com/politics/cablenewsratings.htm

[PurplePhase]

Networks are supposed to broadcast soap operas, not be a soap opera.

It's about the NEWS, not the NEWS PRESENTERS.

If they aren't mature enough to handle their internal affairs, they aren't qualified to report the news. So let them capitulate. Maybe it will start a domino effect in the rest of the MSM that's in dire need of improvements.

[Roose]

Newsflash!!! It isn't news anymore, it is entertainment. You want news go to the three stuffy networks not cable.

[AnnieinOR]

no, if it's politics go to CSPAN

[Eoin45]

The three stuffy networks avoid talking about actual news as much as they can.

[PurplePhase]

The three networks I rely on are PBS, NPR, and C-SPAN.

[JScott]

Correct
Perhaps it's time for GE to get rid of their broacast properties, pehaps the relaxing of the media ownership rules won't be necessary (or maybe it will) either way the larger corps. will decide to get outta the broadcast industry because they crapped it all up and it won't be profitable, maybe divestiture will bring out better product, and news can be journalism and not infotainment and the news talking heads can be LESS important (like this soap opera crap) than what they report on.

[darthdarcy]

Dump Joe Scarborough...!

Let him go to Fox News, where he belongs..!

[leonyc]

My feelins is that Olbermann is overly partisan and, therefore, he is not very interesting to watch. That is, he always praises the Democrats and criticises Republicans, no matter what. I actually find Joe Scarborough very enterntaining. Morning Joe rocks.

[Opus007]

Scarborough just spews the RNC talking points- he isn't bright enough for independent thought.

[LiberalBuzz]

What kind of crap headline is this?

According to the WSJ, no friend of NBC,

"Audiences have responded positively to shifts at the network, making MSNBC the fastest-growing cable news network in 2008 and the top-rated one among viewers between 18 and 34 years old, the most desirable to advertisers. The network drew 2.15 million viewers on its first night of convention coverage, 88% more than tuned in for the first night of the 2004 Democratic convention, according to Nielsen Media Research. MSNBC also beat Fox News among younger viewers that night."

Seems less like an implosion than a ratings bonanza!

[UnbiasView]

By ratings bonanza you mean finishing behind Fox and CNN on a nightly basis right?

As far as cable news goes, they only have 1 show in the top 20 . . . the rest are Fox News and CNN.

[Eoin45]

Once again, since you never seem to get it through your thick skull. Ratings have nothing to do with quality.

[PAposter]

There's not too many 18-34 year olds complaining about MSNBC, and the older groups do not generally watch this network, so when they have an opinion, they are comparing apples to oranges.

Olbermann vs. O'Reilly
Matthews vs. Blitzer
Maddow vs. Hannity

These people cannot be compared.

[MorningJoeMikaIsMarried]

Excellent Match up

[Roose]

Like they say in show biz there's no such thing as bad publicity.

[PAposter]

So, DesertLight wants to spew his self-serving opinions, but does not want to engage in dialogue, you're not just of another opinion, you are of an "only" opinion. That must work out well for you, never a disagreement to be had. I hear McCain's having the same type of conversations these days.

[Cookie100]

I like MSNBC. Watch it all the time. Take the different personalities into account

[stevensjohn26]

Yeah, sure, can you say conspiracy nut? Fox is really trying to get people to riot. How ridiculous! Hey, by the way, we never went to the moon either, that was all staged by Hollywood....thanks

[noamjunior]

I love how these people who voted for Bush TWICE are calling Olbermann dishonest, egotistical and delusional

[cheshirecat831]

No one could reach the heights of those three attributes that the current sitting president has

[stevensjohn26]

Here are some stats on the oil companies. The oil companies produced a profit of 8.3%. All of the US Mfg companies produced an 8.9% profit. So you mean to tell me that "Big Oil" was less productive than US Mfg companies?? How could this be?? I thought "Big Oil" was making way too much $$. Maybe we should also put a windfall tax on US Mfg companies!!

Big Oil makes $1,400 per second in profit. I know that will outrage you libs out there. Big Oil also pays $4,000 every second in Taxes. They also spend $15,000 per second in operating costs. That is what the commie/libs like, punishing business and success.

[UnbiasView]

And this has what to do with MSNBC?

[JiminNC]

Your statistics are beyond moronic. With your numbers, the oil company executives are in the red and still trying to make money in a losing business. When you are making things up, try to make them believable. If BigOil is reporting record PROFITS, they are probably hiding that much more in loopholes and scams.

[stevensjohn26]

The host blocked out my first response to you. Let me try to be more "pc".

After paying the $15k in op costs, and $4k in taxes per second, the oil companies make a net profit of $1400 per second. Now, wouldn't you think the taxes and profit figures should be reversed. Realisitically, the oil companies should pay no taxes, since they produce so many jobs, and those people in turn pay a good amount in taxes.

Here is another mind boggling stat, Exxon paid more in taxes in this country than the bottom 50% of tax payers last year. Wow, that is shocking.

[guntotinganglion]

By the way, did you know that 59.35% of the time, people make up "stats" on the spot?

I'm sure the poor oil companies are grateful for your support. God knows, they can't defend themselves, because they're barely getting by! I'm sure they'll give you a nice discount on gas...when they round down from the tenth of a penny, just for you!

YOU LIBS...how bout coming up with another insult, that's one's as old, tired and dusty as Ronald Reagan's sack.

YOU NEOCONVICTS just keep returning to the same old and tired talking points. Not an original thought among the lot of you.

[stevensjohn26]

You are moronic. You don't get it. After they pay the taxes and operating costs, there profits are $1,400 per second. Do you need a lesson in basic economics?

[kcmookie]

Hey a$$clown, you just responded to yourself, and that is basic math not basic economics. You made no clear statement to proift being AFTER operating cost and taxes, now I can let you slide on the operating cost, but the taxes is not a clear assumption, so go suck on those economics!