MRC President and NewsBusters publisher Brent Bozell appeared on FNC's "Live Desk" at 2:55 p.m. EDT, reacting to MSNBC shelving Chris Matthews and Keith Olbermann from covering the presidential election. [audio available here]
BRENT BOZELL: I'm not surprised, Martha.... Simply because what you heard was this giant sound of America turning off its TV sets with these two left-wing activists posing as news anchors. They got trounced in the ratings, they came in last in the cable ratings even covering the Democrats. They have no credibility.
You have a man like Keith Olbermann who one day is the anchor covering the Republican Convention, the next day calls John McCain the worst person in the world, says that he is delusional, just insults him as best he can. And as a result MSNBC has no credibility.
Witness the fact that during the convention, when [Gov.] Sarah Palin made the comment about the liberal media that everyone in the convention turned and started chanting NBC. Not a good sign for the network.
For background, see the MRC's September 8 press release, including a statement from Mr. Bozell here.
Updated from original post at 14:49 EDT.
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KO and Matthews
September 8, 2008 - 14:12 ET by rick007I'll bet it was "O" dumbys decission.
Man these two idiots are killing me. LOL
Credibility
September 8, 2008 - 14:30 ET by thgrantCredibility actually means something to people who wish to be informed.
There is no point in watching some one who is trying to mislead you, such as Olberman and Mathews.
They behave as though they are working for the Obama administration. Oh, as employees of MSNBS, I guess they are.
The two of them are liers, first and foremost. And since they aren't even funny, why watch?
A lot of people realize this, as can be seen by the ratings. NBC is slow to catch on.
Don't taze me bros but...
September 8, 2008 - 16:08 ET by AndanteI think MSNBC (with NBC's blessing) decided to try in your face, agenda driven, attack commentary in an attempt to get out from under the MSM dog pile. The experiment was an embarrassing failure for NBC and their ugly stepchild. It will be interesting to see what they try next.
Some smart media mogul is going to see that FOX has what America wants and I expect to see one or two of the usual suspects make a strong move to the right. When one conservative outlet is constantly kicking ten MSM butts, someone is going to figure it out. It's all about the number of viewers = advertising $$ and eventually someone will give FOX some fair and balanced competition. This could be fun.
Pollyanna
"Why can't I just eat my waffle?" -- Obama
It will
September 8, 2008 - 16:26 ET by NorthCoasterbe fun to see what happens. Rachel Maddow needs to leave next unless they just have her editorializing.
This fiasco is the
September 8, 2008 - 16:43 ET by d1carterThis fiasco is the brainchild of Jeff Zucker and Steve Capus. They thought that everyone would like what they like. Nope, time to try something else guys. Should GE stop these guys before someone gets hurt?
Both Failed to cover/acknowledge the 10 Pt. McCain Gain
September 8, 2008 - 16:53 ET by JayTeeBoth these guys missed coverage of the Real America, and subsequent anticipation of the Polls.
Political Analysts who did not "See it coming" are not in great demand.
The Republican Revolution will not be Televised
Has anyone seen...
September 8, 2008 - 18:29 ET by zachlindHas anyone seen the cover of National Review (Sept 15, 2008) this week? The title says "Barack Obama's Pet Peacock" with a large clipart painted peacock in the background with Barack feeding it. Is this a great country or what?
Olbermann and the superiority complex
September 8, 2008 - 22:46 ET by caiobabeBefore this guy ever hit the "big time" national scene, Keith Olbermann was the local sportscaster here on one of the smallest stations in SoCal that had just one news cast at 10 p.m.
He would lead in with a teaser that was always arrogant and egotistical then when he got his time to call the sports of the day it would always end with some other arrogant remark aimed at the renowned anchor Hal Fishman. It was as if he was trying to compete for the anchor position.
It got irritating night after night with nothing new but more silly remarks aimed at his co-workers. Maybe he was creating his "on-air" personality at the time but it showed his true self.
Absolutely nobody missed him when he left.
cb... Lord I forgot all
September 8, 2008 - 22:51 ET by bigtimercb...
Lord I forgot all about Hal Fishman...
Gosh the years have gone by so quickly at times...
Anyway, thankls for the info...and the memories.
"America isn't the problem...America is the solution." ~ Rush Limbaugh
How can people miss the 'Big One'?
September 8, 2008 - 23:50 ET by DoktorFrankenThe gorilla in the room is, probably, that people have stopped buying GE products. That, and the whole NBC empire is the laughing stock of TV news throughout the world. That's a pretty big venue to suck in.
I am still awaiting, with rapt anticipation, for the on-the-air meltdown of Keith Olbermann. ''He's as mad as hell and he's not going to take it anymore'' kind of moment.
Kieth Responds:
September 9, 2008 - 00:42 ET by babooOlbermann's Response:
"All I have to say is that Newsbusters would be rightly eviscerated at all quarters, perhaps by the Republican Party itself, for exploiting the memories of the irrelevant (e.g, me), and perhaps even for trying to evoke that pain again. If you reacted to this article the way I did, I apologize. Now I'm going to cry as hard as I can, so much harder than any of you, because I'm not really sure where my next paycheck is coming from."