Bozell Calls Out MSNBC on The Kelly File: They Specialize In 'Scurrilo

January 31st, 2014 8:33 AM
As the latest MSNBC scandal and firing unfolded over a tweet insisting the "rightwing" would hate an "adorable" Cheerios ad with a biracial family, MRC president Brent Bozell appeared on "The Kelly File" on Fox News Channel to discuss NBC's "Lean Forward" offshoot. MSNBC said this conservatives-hate-racial-mixing tweet is "not who we are." Bozell said, oh yes, that's exactly who you are.  It'…

Phil Griffin Claims MSNBC 'Has Never Had an Ideology,' But Fox News Do

January 30th, 2014 10:09 PM
During an interview with Lloyd Grove of the Daily Beast website, MSNBC president Phil Griffin strained at gnats when he stated that his network “has never had an ideology” but insisted that the dominant Fox News Channel does.  “An ideology is a single thought across all programs,” he said. “We’ve never had that.” However, Griffin asserted, MSNBC instead has “a progressive sensibility,” which…

MSNBC President Dismisses Anchors' Gaffes, Says They Haven't 'Hurt Us

January 16th, 2014 7:47 PM
Phil Griffin, head of the MSNBC cable television channel, told Marisa Guthrie of the Hollywood Reporter that he accepts responsibility for recent embarrassments that led Alec Baldwin and Martin Bashir to leave the network and Melissa Harris-Perry to offer a tearful on-air apology. "These were judgment calls made by some of our people. We handled them. We were transparent. That is our…

Kochs Accuse MSNBC’s Maddow of Misrepresenting Their Donations and R

January 7th, 2014 5:29 PM
As NewsBusters has reported for years, the conservative-leaning Koch brothers are a routine target of the liberal media for their contributions to causes that don’t fit the left’s agenda. On Monday, Koch Industries accused MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow of misrepresenting its donations to falsely assert the billionaire brothers are supporting laws in Florida to drug test welfare recipients. In…

Suicide Prevention? MSNBC Has Appointed Executive to Review Scripts Be

January 6th, 2014 7:41 AM
After a string of high-profile embarrassments, MSNBC appears to have decided that perhaps letting the inmates run the asylum is not the best of ideas. According to a piece out today by National Review, the low-rated cable news channel has assigned an executive to review the scripts of its shows before they are aired as a way of trying to prevent such premeditated disasters like Martin Bashir…

MSNBC's Roberts Gets Promoted... to 'Morning Joe' Contributor Plus

January 3rd, 2014 1:10 PM
MSNBC president Phil Griffin announced this morning that 11 a.m. anchor Thomas Roberts would be getting a new year's promotion... to the 5:30 a.m. Eastern program, Way Too Early, the lead-in to Morning Joe. Roberts will vacate his present MSNBC Live gig but also be awarded a regular contributor slot on the Morning Joe panel. “This is a very exciting opportunity and right in line with my…

CNN's 2013 Primetime Ratings Lowest in 20 Years

January 2nd, 2014 3:20 PM
After his first full year running CNN, Jeff Zucker has little to be proud of. The primetime ratings of the self-proclaimed "Most trusted name in news" reached 20-year lows in 2013.

Zurawik: 'Griffin as Responsible as Bashir for This Kind of Hateful Sp

December 4th, 2013 5:37 PM
As NewsBusters revealed earlier, Martin Bashir has resigned from MSNBC due to vile comments he made in November about former Alaska governor Sarah Palin first reported here. Moments after the announcement, Baltimore Sun television critic David Zurawik said MSNBC president Phil Griffin is just as responsible as Bashir:

CNN and MSNBC Lose Almost Half Their Viewers in One Year

November 27th, 2013 10:43 AM
It's been a tough year for the liberal cable news outlets. Data released Tuesday show CNN shedding 48 percent of total viewers since last November and MSNBC dropping 45 percent.

Baldwin On Firing By MSNBC : 'Martin Bashir's On The Air

November 26th, 2013 7:23 PM
The New York Post reported Tuesday that MSNBC's Up Late with Alec Baldwin has been cancelled in the wake of the host's most recent gay slur. Yet eleven days after Martin Bashir said someone should defecate and urinate in former Alaska governor Sarah Palin's mouth, the vile host with some of the lowest ratings on cable television still hasn't been punished in any way. Baldwin apparently sees…

O'Reilly, Kurtz Spotlight MSNBC's Double Standard for Offensive Rhetor

November 22nd, 2013 8:37 PM
During Wednesday night's edition of The O'Reilly Factor on the Fox News Channel, Bill O'Reilly slammed Martin Bashir for his vulgar comments about defecating and urinating on former Alaska governor Sarah Palin, and guest Howard Kurtz said it's “stunning” that MSNBC has yet to discipline its weekday afternoon anchor. Even though Bashir apologized for his disgusting remarks on Monday, Kurtz --…

MSNBC's New Boy Wonder: 25-Year-Old Obama Adviser Ronan Farrow

October 17th, 2013 7:45 AM
Just as MSNBC went Hollywood and hired Alec Baldwin as a talk-show host, now they’ve hired the 25-year-old son of actress Mia Farrow. Ronan Farrow, currently buzzed about as potentially the son of Frank Sinatra, has been dabbling as an Obama State Department adviser since he was 22. He's projected to be a weekday MSNBC host starting early in 2014, but there's no word on who's getting dumped. (…

MSNBC Chief Phil Griffin on Chris Matthews: 'We Call Him a National Tr

October 16th, 2013 10:40 AM
It's really tough to imagine calling one of the nation's leading on air Democratic shills a national treasure. However, when your name is Phil Griffin and you are the president of what many refer to as "MSDNC," I guess it's understandable that you might think that about Hardball host Chris Matthews.

Nielsen: Fox's Megyn Kelly Really Did Trounce MSNBC's Maddow in Rating

October 15th, 2013 12:13 PM
When the new Fox News program The Kelly Files trounced The Rachel Maddow Show in the ratings last Tuesday, MSNBC president Phil Griffin actually called for an investigation into the matter. The good folks at Nielsen complied, and according to New York's Daily News, Griffin is once again looking foolish: