This is sort of interesting: Both NBC News star anchor Brian Williams and MSNBC rising star anchor Rachel Maddow interviewed Barack Obama today in Florida — and so far, both are online at MSNBC, on their respective web pages. (The embedded clips are below.) ,The Williams clip, contained in a preview report done by Norah O'Donnell, is available at the top of the Nightly web site, and Maddow's interview with Obama is front and center of her recently pumped-up webpage. On Twitter, two clips from the Maddow interview were released; earlier, the Nightly publicist circulated an excerpted transcript of Williams asking Obama about the Supreme Court, the economy and the auto industry (Maddow asked Obama about national security and the Republican party).
What's my point? Well, the lack of pecking order is interesting. Williams put in 7 years hosting his show on MSNBC, and is the big dog of its parent network; Maddow has had a show for under two months and is the most junior host between the two networks. Yet on the web, they are equal — hell, Maddow even comes out ahead with two clips, delivered to the Twitterverse a solid hour before Williams' 'exclusive' interview goes to air. If I had to guess, I'd bet that the Maddow interview clips will do better online.
So — is this the case of well-established colleague being generous with time and credit, a newbie who's got a way savvier web operation, or someone in the middle who's not making sure that seniority is being weighted accordingly? If I had to guess I'd say the first one; Williams has been very supportive of Maddow, and in fact teased her in his discussion with O'Donnell. And as between the two of them, she's on the cable network and has the cable ratings, so would needs more help (which might explain why no such reciprocal tease is offered on Maddow's site or twitter). Probably there's nothing more going on here than everyone scrambling to get stuff online ASAP and drum up interest.
(And, yes, MSNBC.com is separate from the networks, too. Like I said, this is probably just about slapping stuff online — but it's precisely the sort of thing that competitive colleagues guarding their exclusives would be possessive about.)
But as the conventions of the news business morph and crumble on all sides, it's yet another indication of what a leveler the internet is. It is also an indication of something else: recalling how years ago, Barbara Walters had to let a man ask three questions before she was permitted to ask one, it's more proof of just how different things are than they used to be.
Update: Here's a similar post by my colleague Jason Linkins, with the Maddow preview but no mention of BriWi; below is a transcript received from the Nightly publicist, which did not mention Maddow. Let the battle of the buzz begin.
Update II: Hardball and Olbermann both excerpted the interview and interviewed Rachel. This isn't Kremlinology, it's just observation; I just think that it's the first time there have been 'competing' interviews between NBC and MSNBC, and it's the first big get for Rachel Maddow, so it's interesting to see how the excitement around her as a rising star is translating into how this interview has been both promoted and picked up. That's all I got.
Here are the three clips of NBC/MSNBC anchors interviewing Obama...in order of appearance; full interviews will be posted on MSNBC.com (and, of course, will air on that other thing, television).
Transcript of Williams/Obama interview from tonight's "NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams":
Supreme Court
WILLIAMS: Senator, a question about the Supreme Court. Everyone running for President always says, especially on the narrow issue of abortion rights-- no litmus test. It-- it's said on both sides of the issue. And if that's true, if you're not going to call a future Justice into the Oval Office, if you're successful in this endeavor and bring up the subject, how then do you also avoid surprises? I don't think-- George H.W. Bush, 41, ever dreamed that in Justice Souter he was appointing a dependable liberal vote.
OBAMA: Right.
WILLIAMS: And as Eisenhower for years called Justice Brennan, his biggest mistake in office. Two surprises that just come to mind.
OBAMA: Right. Well, look, I-- I think that you-- what you can ask a judge is about their judicial philosophy. And as somebody who taught constitutional law for ten years, who actually knows a lot of the potential candidates for Supreme Court on the right as well as on the left 'cause I've taught with them or-- or interacted with them in some way-- I can tell you that-- how a Justice approaches their job-- how they describe the path of interpreting the Constitution I think can tell you a lot.
And so my criteria, for example, would be-- if a Justice tells me that they only believe the strict letter of the Constitution-- that means that they possibly don't mean-- believe in-- a right to privacy that may not be perfectly enumerated in the Constitution but, you know, that I think is there. I mean, the-- the right to marry who you please isn't in the Constitution. But I think all of us assume that if a state-- decided to pass a law saying, "Brian, you can't marry the woman you love," that you'd think that was unconstitutional. Well, where does that come from? I think it comes from a right to privacy-- that may not be listed in the Constitution but is implied by the structure of the Constitution.
So I can have that conversation with a judge. Now-- if it was a conservative who was listening to me right then says, "See? You know, he wants to-- allow the Court to legislate." Ninety-nine percent of cases the Constitution is actually gonna be clear. Ninety-nine percent of the cases are statutes or congressional intent is gonna be clear. But there are gonna be one percent, less than one percent of real hard cases.
WILLIAMS: Second Amendment last term.
OBAMA: Second Amendment last term is a great example, where the language of the Second Amendment is not perfectly clear. I believe that the Second Amendment is actually an individual right. I think that's the better interpretation. You can make the other argument. And so I can have those kinds of discussions with a Justice without getting into the particulars of-- is Roe versus Wade, as currently outlined, exactly what you believe? Or do you believe that the DC gun law-- should have been overturned? And I think-- Senator McCain, if ends up being-- the nominee-- could have those same conversations as well.
Auto Industry
WILLIAMS: An American industrial question. Does America need American car companies? Three too many? Too-- too few? And on top of the billions already spent, what's it worth to you if the answers yes?
OBAMA: Well, I think we do need American-- cars. We started the auto industry. We revolutionized the auto industry again and again and again. And it built our middle class. It was the core of our manufacturing base for decades. The notion that we can't compete in an industry that we created I think is you know, unacceptable. And not only that, but you've got an entire Midwest, Ohio, Michigan, big chunks of Indiana, parts of my home state of Illinois, that-- the entire fabric of those-- those states' economies are built around the auto industry.
So-- we can't just say-- we're gonna wash our hands of the industry. I know we can compete. We've got great workers there. The auto industry is going to have restructure. And I've been saying for a long time that you've got to be competitive. And the government can help. But the government's not gonna help if you continue down a strategy that is entirely relying on building-- big gas guzzlers. Those aren't the cars of the future.
And so what-- what I've said-- starting at the beginning of this campaign, I went to Detroit and took some heat for saying it-- is we will provide you loan guarantees. We will provide you-- with-- the resources you need to retool. We'll help you with some of your legacy costs in terms of healthcare and pension costs for your workers. But in exchange, that money has to be reinvested in creating-- the high energy-- the high-efficiency cars of the future.
I know that's something that we can do. And my hope is, is that-- if I'm elected that I'm immediately meeting with heads of the big three automakers as well with-- the-- the United Auto Workers. And to sit down and craft a strategy that puts us on-- on a path-- for an auto industry that can compete with anybody in the world.
Economy:
WILLIAMS: Has the job of President-elect, whether you or John McCain, changed right now this year because of what we're going through?
OBAMA: Yes. It's gonna be a lot tougher. I don't think there's any doubt about that. We-- we know that the next President is likely to inherit a significant recession. We don't know yet how long and how deep it is and what actions we take-- over the next six to nine months could de-- help determine how deep and how long. But what that also means is that there's gonna be less revenue coming in because-- uh, businesses aren't making as much money. It means that unemployment is gonna be higher. There's gonna be greater demands on social services. It means that-- you know, dealing with our short-term deficit and our long-term debt is gonna be more difficult.
So there's no doubt that-- we are gonna have to spend a lot of time, whoever the next President is, focused on making sure that the financial rescue plan actually works the way it's supposed to, that it shores up our housing market, the taxpayers are protected and getting their money back, that it's not being used to enrich-- corporate CEOs.