Inside Cable News

I haven’t blogged in over a year. But this story got me back because it’s a case study on how non network news people don’t understand how news networks function as well as serve as a reminder that in today’s polarizing times that people who are the faces of network newscasts need to be on guard and exercise extreme self-restraint.

So yesterday after finishing her remote shift on the road in Michigan on MSNBC, anchor Chris Jansing was confronted by Jack Allison, a Bernie Sanders supporter and podcaster, about why the network didn’t cover someone bringing a Nazi flag to a Sanders rally. It didn’t go well as Fox News’ Joseph A Wulfwon reported…

As the Michigan primary was underway, “JackAM” host Jack Allison approached Jansing at the Detroit Institute of the Arts (DIA) and asked her why the network chose not to dedicate any significant coverage to the disrupter who flew a Nazi flag at Sanders’ rally in Arizona last week.

“Hi, can I ask you a question?” Allison asks. “Why did your network not find it newsworthy to report on an anti-Semitic attack [at] the Jewish candidate’s rally on Friday?”

“[I] don’t make those decisions. So I can’t answer that,” Jansing responds.

“So who makes those decisions? Because I texted producer Daniel Arnall personally and told him about this information, so it’s not credible that no one in the building knows. So I want to know why the network made that decision,” Allison continues.

The full video was posted on Twitter by Allison so you can go watch it yourself.

My first reaction on seeing this was, and still is, what did you expect Jack?
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Mediaite’s Justin Baragona writes, with some palace intrigue tossed in, that Thomas Roberts is out at MSNBC and Justin Gura is in. I knew about Gura because he tweeted it yesterday but the Roberts news I didn’t catch until today.

Yes, it’s been a long time since I’ve written anything here but I’ve been bored out of my skull at the lack of interesting cable news angles that don’t involve Trump or Clinton. Which makes Baragona’s article whet my appetite…

Per an MSNBC Spokesperson: “Thomas Roberts has decided to leave MSNBC for other endeavors. He’s been a valued member of the NBC News and MSNBC family since 2010, and we’re thankful for his contributions and Emmy Award-winning coverage for the news division. We wish him success in his new adventure.”

This version of events runs counter to what Mediaite has heard which is that Roberts was made many unfulfilled promises and that MSNBC staffers are upset that Roberts, a very highly regarded colleague at MSNBC, has been forced out.

I do not find it surprising that Roberts may be feeling like the victim of unfulfilled promises. Network history is replete with the bodies of talent who got run over after being promised all kinds of stuff. I find it a bit more surprising that anyone would be shocked that he has been (allegedly) forced out. He lost his M-Fr gig and wound up on weekends. That’s a demotion, pure and simple. Banishment, at that point, becomes a much more realistic outcome.

Another thing to notice with this move is that it is just a weekend anchor job and yet we are told it was made by Lack directly not MSNBC president Phil Griffin, something that an official MSNBC source disputes.</blockquote.

This doesn't surprise me. Lack has his fingerprints all over MSNBC as he continues to bring NBC News and its cable offshoot tighter together.

There is heightened sensitivity surrounding Lack’s role since many inside the network believe Griffin will soon be replaced by his “number two,” former CNN showrunner Jonathan Wald. Wald, who was also hired directly by Lack, left CNN earlier this year to become the SVP of Programming and Development at MSNBC.

This would surprise me, mostly because NBC just renewed Griffin so it would look very odd to move him off after just having re-signed him. Why rehire a guy you really didn’t want to keep around? But NBC could try to disguise the switch as a “promotion” though it’s kind of difficult to promote someone from being a network head to a higher position precisely because there aren’t really any viable higher positions at NBC than network head.

Well that was insanely fast…like itchy trigger finger insanely fast. I’m not sure that wasn’t a premature move on some level. Short of cratering outright, which Van Susteren’s show didn’t do, it’s hard to kill off a show after only six months.

But, what’s done is done. TVNewser’s Chris Ariens writes that Ari Melber will be taking over the 6pm slot.

TVNewser’s Chris Ariens reports that Hugh Hewitt will be getting a half hour show on early weekend mornings.

As part of the expansion, conservative radio talk show host and MSNBC contributor Hugh Hewitt is getting a half hour show, airing Saturdays at 8 a.m. ET. In addition, Thomas Roberts will anchor two hours in the evening both weekend nights.

Cue the delusional howls of “MSNBC is abandoning the Left” in 3, 2, 1…

It’s hardly prime timeslot placement and it’s only a half hour. Not exactly a full throated embrace of Hewitt. But it does give the network the ability to point more at balance than say FNC can. And before the J$ brigade storms this blog in protest, I ask you to name me one show, just one show, that is fronted on FNC by a prominent liberal equal to Hewitt’s prominence on the Right.

Variety’s Brian Steinberg has a conveniently well timed profile of MSNBC. But I’m going to focus on the less PR friendly parts…

Some think the rejiggering may alter perceptions of MSNBC as a “liberal” network that’s only for blue states. “It seems to have moved a bit more to the center,” says Thomas O’Guinn, a professor of marketing at University of Wisconsin-Madison who studies the way TV viewing affects consumer beliefs. He acknowledges the network “has still signaled, in lower decibel levels and insult levels, that it is still the voice of the loyal opposition.”

MSNBC needs to do more to stay even with its competitors. It has brought in significantly less advertising revenue than Fox News or CNN, according to SNL Kagan, a market-research firm that is part of S&P Global Market Intelligence. Kagan projects Fox News will snare $912.6 million in ad revenue in 2017, while CNN will collect $427.4 million. But MSNBC is seen winning $267.8 million.

And rivals have grown the money they get from cable and satellite distributors faster than MSNBC. Kagan projects the monthly fee Fox News collects per subscriber will rise 24% between 2015 and 2017, to $1.55. CNN’s is seen increasing 19.7%, to 79 cents. But MSNBC’s is expected to rise just 4%, to 26 cents per subscriber, according to Kagan.

In a semi must read article that clearly takes sides and doubles as an Andy Lack hit piece, The Huffington Post’s Ryan Grim writes about MSNBC’s ratings rise and how that is allegedly making life difficult for one person at NBC…

But from inside, the news about Wallace and Hewitt was seen as just two more steps toward the full execution of the vision of Andy Lack, the NBC News executive who oversees MSNBC. He has made quite clear his plan to move the cable news network away from its bedrock liberalism and toward a more centrist approach personified by Brian Williams — even including hosts of a conservative bent, as typified by hosts like Megyn Kelly or Greta Van Susteren, who Lack brought over from Fox News.

But Lack, in seeking to make this vision a reality, has an unusual problem for a TV executive: sky-high ratings. Since the election of Trump, MSNBC’s liberal primetime programs hosted by Chris Hayes, Rachel Maddow and Lawrence O’Donnell have surged not just in ratings but in the share of the cable news audience they’re capturing. In its earnings call on Thursday, NBCUniversal specifically cited the boost in ratings to “The Rachel Maddow Show” for a spike in profits. Maddow has been the top show on cable news in the key demographic for two months running, an inconceivable achievement at MSNBC.

Tossing those primetime hosts overboard while they’re raking in viewership and revenue has so far proved an elusive task.

“Hayes, Maddow, O’Donnell ― the entire primetime lineup is doing record numbers and Lack can’t stand it. It makes him furious,” said one senior MSNBC source, echoing the sentiment of many other insiders who spoke to HuffPost only on the condition of anonymity. (An NBC spokesman said Lack is happy with the high ratings.)

The Huffington Post’s Yashar Ali writes that Lawrence O’Donnell may soon find himself without a show on MSNBC…

Lawrence O’Donnell, host of MSNBC’s “The Last Word,” has just four weeks left in his contract, and the cable network does not appear to be interested in renewing his deal. Four well-placed sources tell HuffPost that MSNBC has not been in contact with O’Donnell’s team of representatives to negotiate a new deal.

The absence of active negotiations weeks before a contract expires is highly unusual and often a sign that a contract won’t be renewed. News networks normally don’t risk letting the contract of a host who has a highly rated program expire or even come close to expiring before renegotiating. A short time-frame puts the network at a strategic disadvantage in talks, that’s why cable networks often start negotiating renewals six to nine months in advance of a contract ending.

A spokesman for NBC News declined to comment on “ongoing negotiations.” Although, multiple sources from inside and outside the network have told HuffPost that no negotiations have taken place.

Surprising, considering how MSNBC’s prime time has been tearing it up in the ratings this year. But maybe not so surprising if Andrew Lack wants to get Brian Williams in at 10 instead of 11…

With the announcement of Nicolle Wallace getting the 4pm hour on MSNBC, speculation centered on what would become of Steve Kornacki. Now we know. NBC announced that Kornacki has become NBC News and MSNBC’s National Political Correspondent and chief sub for Hardball with Chris Matthews…

STEVE KORNACKI NAMED NATIONAL POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT FOR NBC NEWS AND MSNBC

NEW YORK, NY – May 8, 2017 – Steve Kornacki has been named National Political Correspondent, NBC News and MSNBC, a role that will expand his duties and visibility across both networks, MSNBC President Phil Griffin announced today.
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MSNBC announced that Nicole Wallace will be hosting the 4pm hour. That’s Steve Kornacki’s hour, btw. Kornacki is apparently going to be contributing to the hour but if that’s all he ends up doing this should be viewed as a demotion.

As for Wallace, it’s a further erosion of what’s left of the wall separating traditional journalism from the world of political operatives. So many have “crossed over” now, it’s almost meaningless to assert there even is a wall still. Salinger, Sawyer, Stephanopoulos, Wallace, Perino…where does it end?

In any case it looks on its face like MSNBC is cutting back another hour of news in favor of more POV Analysis.

NEW YORK (April 28, 2017) – MSNBC today announced that NBC News political analyst Nicolle Wallace will expand her role to host a new program that will air weekdays from 4-5pm ET. The New York City-based program will premiere in May.

Wallace, a former White House Communications Director, will tackle the latest political developments and conduct interviews with leading newsmakers. MSNBC host and political correspondent Steve Kornacki will continue his presence in the hour, providing in-depth discussion and analysis. The broadcast builds on the momentum of MSNBC dayside (M-F 9am-5pm), which delivered the network’s biggest total viewer audience ever in the first quarter of 2017.
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TVNewser’s A.J. Katz writes that Kate Snow will be leaving MSNBC dayside to do work for the mother ship network…

Kate Snow is leaving her MSNBC show for expanded duties at NBC News.

NBC News president Noah Oppenheim announced that in addition to anchoring Sunday Nightly News, Snow’s new 3-year deal will include reporting stories for NBC’s upcoming Sunday news magazine show, which will be hosted by NBC News newcomer Megyn Kelly. Snow will also report pieces for NBC Nightly News, Today and Dateline.

Snow was doing six day work weeks for months so something had to give.

MSNBC’s dayside lineup has been in turmoil for a while now, despite the election being over. 10am has no designated anchor and now neither does 3pm. In addition Craig Melvin only anchors 4 days a week because of his Saturday Today duties. The network has been double and sometimes triple shifting Katy Tur for completely inexplicable reasons.

Tur is so far an interesting case study in branding confusion. Her big claim to fame was working the campaign trail and reporting from the field. MSNBC has been going out of its way citing her remote reporting in its advertising.

And yet how is the network using her? As a news anchor. She built up her brand doing one thing…the network has been advertising her doing that one thing…and then it winds up having her doing something completely different from the brand that’s been cultivated. It’s bizarre. They should have given her a D.C. job.

Nothing about Tamron Hall leaving NBC makes any sense for either side in this drama. Usually when there’s a breakup there’s a winner and a loser. But in this case there are no winners. There are only losers.

For NBC, losing Hall is not just optically bad, it is substantively bad. It would not be an understatement to argue that NBC had invested a lot in her. It elevated her profile across multiple platforms.

Hall’s duties included the following…

– Today’s Take
– Anchoring MSNBC’s 11am hour
– Subbing on Today
– Subbing on NBC Nightly News
– Hosting Dateline Crime on I.D.
– Hosting Dateline Extra on MSNBC
– Hosting the Westminster Dog Show TV coverage on NBCU’s networks

Hall was NBC’s highest profile female African American talent and NBC made extensive use of her. It was in NBC’s interest to keep her with the network given all the investment the network had made in broadening her profile across NBCU. Losing her would open up the network to all kinds diversity based criticisms. The downside far outweighed the upside if NBC let her walk and the network had to have known this.

For Hall, walking away from NBC was an extremely risky maneuver for one simple reason. The likelihood that she could land elsewhere with anywhere close to the same profile and salary she would have gotten by staying at NBC were very low. It’s not a question of “is she worth it?”. It’s a question of “where’s the space and need available at any other network to make it happen?”

Do not underestimate the significance of this question. Consider:

– At ABC, GMA is full. Yes, it’s not killing Today like it was a couple of years ago but the network just reloaded on talent and format changes so it was unlikely to blow that up at this stage. The rest of ABC’s news properties are pretty well set for the long term. There isn’t much need for Hall at ABC.

– At CBS, the same story. Gayle King just re-upped on CBS This Morning and given that show’s upward trajectory there would be little motivation to upset that apple cart. Oprah just signed on with 60 Minutes. While there have been rumors of changes coming on the CBS Evening News, it would be extremely unlikely that CBS, having been burned rotten by the Katie Couric experiment, would take a flier on her. There isn’t much need for Hall at CBS.

– CNN is a little more interesting but equally unlikely. In the immediate aftermath of Carol Costello’s exit to HLN, I could have seen Hall slip in to that slot. But that ship is long gone from port now and to bring Hall in to the network at this point, while not impossible, is certainly less likely than it would have been prior to CNN’s rejiggered dayside lineup announcement.

There are still potential spots in CNN’s dayside to plug Hall into. Inside Politics and Wolf Blitzer’s first hour would be the most obvious shifts. But that means Blitzer and/or King would be displaced. Blitzer still has The Situation Room and he’s been made to give up time on that show in the past. But it would mean the second time King would lose his show and that would be a bitter pill to swallow indeed.

More to the point, there is nothing CNN could offer Hall that would match what she was currently enjoying with NBC. NBC had her all over the place. At CNN, she would be just another face in a very large crowd. To elevate her profile beyond that would put too many network veterans’ noses out of joint.

– FNC? News anchors are not the draw there…they’re interchangeable cogs. It’s the opinion people who rule the roost. Even if the network had the desire or the room to accommodate Hall, both of which I would find highly implausible, the top dog at FNC’s news is Shepard Smith and his profile has shrunk from what it was six years ago. Hall would be taking a considerable profile hit, compared to what she enjoyed at NBC, if she came to FNC.

From my vantage point Hall’s best option was to remain at NBC.

This is what makes what happened yesterday so unfathomable. It was in both parties’ interest for Hall to stay with NBC. That it didn’t happen suggests someone screwed themselves somehow.

But the question of who sabotaged any prospective deal remains a mystery. There’s been some (NBC based) leakage in the press; no doubt to put a favorable spin and try to mitigate any Ann Curry like fallout from taking place…with Megyn Kelly undeservedly playing the role of Matt Lauer. The gist of the leaks was NBC was willing to throw a lot of money Hall’s way and expand her profile on Today to compensate for Today’s Take going away.

The leaks don’t flat out say it but the impression that’s left hanging in the air is that Hall’s camp screwed this up somehow. There’s been nothing so far from Hall’s camp to refute this but I would not automatically assume that lack of response means there’s truth to the charge. They could just be taking the high road knowing that they need to find someplace new now and any public spat would be counterproductive to that end goal.

The last thing Megyn Kelly needed was more pressure. Well now she’s got more pressure. It’s not fair to view it this way but a lot of people are going to be view it this way:

Megyn Kelly pushed Tamron Hall out of NBC.

In my opinion, to make that claim is stupid. Megyn Kelly had nothing to do with Hall and NBC separating. NBC hired Kelly not knowing where she would go, though the smart money immediately moved to the 9 or 10 am hours. Let’s be clear here; NBC is the reason Today’s Take got cancelled, not Tamron Hall and not Megyn Kelly. If NBC didn’t view Today’s Take as weak it wouldn’t have pushed Willie Geist and Natalie Morales out and Billy Bush in. If NBC didn’t view Today’s Take as weak it wouldn’t have reversed itself and thrown Bush under the bus after the Trump video came out. If NBC didn’t view Today’s Take as weak it wouldn’t have considered it as the more expendable of the two shows after Today (the other being the Hoda Kotb/Kathie Lee hour) if the network wanted to find a place for Kelly’s show. Kelly had nothing to do with any of this.

A does not beget B. Megyn Kelly’s arrival does not mean Tamron Hall’s departure. Whatever broke down in the negotiations between Hall and NBC caused Hall’s departure. It was a departure that nobody should have wanted. Both sides lost.

CNN’s Brian Stelter writes about Tamron Hall’s abrupt departure…something everyone would have found impossible to contemplate a month ago.

Tamron Hall, a regular host on NBC’s “Today” show and MSNBC, is leaving the network later this month.

Her departure was announced on Wednesday after days of contentious contract negotiations.

Hall had been the co-host of the 9 a.m. hour of the “Today” show and a daytime anchor on MSNBC. Last week executives informed Hall and the “Today” staff that the 9 a.m. hour was being canceled to make room for a new program led by former Fox News host Megyn Kelly.

Hall won’t have a chance to say goodbye on the air. “Yesterday was her last day as an anchor on both networks,” NBC said in a statement. “Tamron is an exceptional journalist, we valued and enjoyed her work at ‘Today’ and MSNBC and hoped that she would decide to stay. We are disappointed that she has chosen to leave, but we wish her all the best.”

Too bad this happened today and not last week. Then Hall might have immediately wound up over at CNN’s dayside operation (provided no non-compete was at play). But with CNN’s roster now set for the moment, Hall would be frozen out. Of course Jeff Zucker could just as easily blow that up to make room for Hall if he wanted her bad enough.

I really don’t see where Hall would land at this point. GMA has too many people. Gayle King just signed a big extension for CBS This Morning. What’s left?

TVNewser’s Chris Ariens writes about changes to MSNBC and how some of NBC News’ staff is being redeployed…

Hallie Jackson, who covered Donald Trump’s campaign for NBC News, has been named White House correspondent for the network. Meanwhile, MSNBC correspondent Kasie Hunt has been named Capitol Hill correspondent. Katy Tur, who had covered Trump’s campaign from day one, will remain in New York and will anchor MSNBC’s 2 p.m. ET hour during Trump’s first 100 days.

Left out of this was the fact that Jackson will continue to anchor MSNBC at 10am, which she confirmed via Twitter.

I was actually surprised by this news. I expected Tur to get the White House gig but maybe she didn’t want it after all the crap she had to deal with covering Trump during the election. Jackson getting the gig AND keeping 10am is both noteworthy and not novel. It’s noteworthy because it puts her on the “NBC grooming train” for a bigger role at some point down the line. It isn’t novel because both Chuck Todd and Savannah Guthrie had similar roles for a couple of years. One difference however is that Todd and Guthrie had the 9am slot and not the 10 which one would think is the better slot to have from a logistical standpoint if you’re going to have both roles but evidently NBC thinks it can still work with one hour less separating the two duties.

It’s also interesting that MSNBC would not fully commit to Tur full time. The press release says it’s for at least the first 100 days and maybe that’s just bet hedging and she will probably stay on. But from an optics standpoint it’s not much of an endorsement.

I was going to comment on this Joe Concha article in The Hill on Tucker Carlson’s ratings rise and the (predictable) comparative ratings decline Greta Van Susteren has had to contend with on MSNBC since she started but Concha referenced this ridiculous Daily Kos column which was basically tossing a giant hunk of red meat on my empty plate.

Sorry Joe…but thanks for the meal.

Anyway, the Kos article makes an all too predictable appeal for Joy Reid instead of Van Susteren. Nothing noteworthy about that…in fact it’s expected a left wing site would clamor for a left wing host over a host whose actual ideology and affiliations are far less predictable to pin down (sometimes maddeningly so). No, it’s the justification for why Reid should have gotten the slot that deserves strict scrutiny…

She’s also given MSNBC some of their highest numbers in over a decade:

Airing on the weekends from 10 a.m. – 12 p.m., AM Joy delivered the time period’s biggest total viewer audience since the 1st quarter of 2003 and biggest A25-54 audience since Q4 2012.

Despite a crushing election, this nation leans left. Trump was beaten in the popular vote by 3 million votes, and Democrats won the majority of votes in the Senate and House as well. If ratings were based on arcane rules or gerrymandering like our national elections, then yes, MSNBC’s strategy would make sense. But they aren’t. Ratings are actually based on popular opinion. There is a huge market for the American progressive audience—one, I might add, that is not currently being filled.

Reality check #1: That’s weekend mornings. Weekend morning ratings on MSNBC are miniscule compared to what early prime and primetime deliver. If Reid’s show had knocked CNN out of second, the article’s argument would turn from a plaintive plea to real substance. But that has not happened.

Reality check #2: MSNBC already tried Reid on weekdays and the jury came back with a death sentence. It got cancelled and one of the reasons was poor ratings. Reid’s show was part of that idealogical block experiment MSNBC tried which dragged down all of dayside. MSNBC would be insane to try that again barring some new development and as I already pointed out statistical improvement in the 10-12 hour on weekends that does not dislodge CNN isn’t enough of a persuader.

It’s way too early to render a judgement on Van Susteren’s show. It is silly to argue MSNBC made the wrong call at this point but it’s preposterous to argue that what Reid has done on weekends justifies MSNBC bringing her back to weekdays at this point.

The Daily Caller’s Betsy Rothstein is hearing things…

After all that hullaballoo over at FNC, Greta Van Susteren is making a quick and sudden return to cable news. According to Mirror sources, she’s getting a 6 p.m. time slot on MSNBC.

Van Susteren at MSNBC: Good fit or bad fit?

MSNBC has been using Mark Halperin on First Look so far this week.

…I stop to let the shock wear off…

…ok, enough time…

It’s not just that they’ve been using a political journalist in a straight news anchor role…but they’ve tailored the show to him to some extent. It comes off as more of a segue into Morning Joe, where Halperin can be usually found hanging around like a Vulture next to a dead carcass, than it did last week. Mike Barnicle doing sports. Mark talking to Joe in the minutes before his show airs. And, get this…today they paired Chris Jansing with him and they had him both introduce her and say goodbye for her.

Now, here’s an 18 year vet of MSNBC/NBC news who has been just about everywhere and done just about everything for the network(s) and you have newbie non-contracted Halperin doing her introduction and sign off; the ultimate bigfooting. How embarrassing for her.

Good Morning America, I’m David Hartman along with Joan Lunden…

Yeah…it’s that embarrassing.

It’s well known Phil Griffin has a thing for the H-Team; Halperin and Heilemann, so With All Due Respect gone from Bloomberg’s lineup and 6pm now burning a hole in MSNBC’s schedule, expect to see these guys a lot more on MSNBC’s air.

Just not for regular newscasts. Please.

Never in a million years would I have figured this would happen. Thomas Roberts posted on his Facebook page that he will no longer anchoring at MSNBC. Presumably he’s done with MSNBC entirely though that’s not clear from what Page Six reported.

Friends,

I wanted you to hear directly from me…it is true I won’t be keeping my current show weekdays on MSNBC. My last show was Thursday.

My colleagues are incredible people…and I am so proud of our team and our accomplishments. It is always a special blessing when co-workers become close friends and family. We achieved that bond and our hard work was recently honored by winning an Emmy in 2016 for Breaking News coverage of last year’s Supreme Court decision on Marriage Equality. I can’t thank my colleagues enough for years of their dedication to me and our show.

Also, a BIG thanks to the viewers who’ve been supporters of our coverage at MSNBC. Hearing from you (whether positive or negative) is always an important thing for me.

So what’s next? Stay tuned!

In the meantime, I am going to be spending the holidays with my husband and family.
From our family to yours…

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays & Happy New Year,

-Thomas

Absolutely stunning news and adds questions to who is calling the shots at the network now; Phil Griffin or Andrew Lack?

There was a time when Roberts was golden…especially after he filled in on Countdown when Olbermann was suspended. Griffin prizes loyalty and Roberts doing something that few others wanted to do – anchor Keith’s show under the circumstances of his suspension – earned him major brownie points with Griffin and Roberts was rewarded with a move from free-lance status to contract employee with a dedicated timeslot.

Roberts’ presence and profile rose at the network. He started appearing on Morning Joe when Willie Geist’s appearances were scaled back.

Unless this was purely a money issue or some personal falling out occurred behind the scenes between Roberts and Griffin, I just don’t see Griffin dumping Roberts. So I’m wondering if other forces intervened.

MSNBC has been trying out everyone with but the Kitchen sink on Dayside lately. They finally started trying to work Katy Tur in, presumably after some behind the scenes work; not everyone is a Hallie Jackson natural their first at bat (though Jackson still talks at a million miles a second which is a big issue for me). They even had Kasie Hunt try and anchor a show or two, something I didn’t think would happen because it hadn’t happened yet.

Changes are coming in 2017. Roberts was just one domino.

Mediaite’s Lindsey Ellefson pens a nonsensical article about MSNBC and what it needs to do…

MSNBC seems to constantly be in the midst of an overhaul. Earlier this summer, the network was proclaiming that their days as a bastion of liberal commentary were o-v-e-r, just like they were last winter, for instance, although it didn’t really seem like they ended up reining in Rachel Maddow, Chris Hayes, Joy Reid, and the rest of the gang either time. In the wake of the election of Donald Trump to the presidency, though, it’s time to start asking whether MSNBC should be trying to rein them in.

This is either a complete lack of understanding by Ellefson about what MSNBC has been up to or a complete Strawman argument. Or both.

First, MSNBC never ever proclaimed that their days as a bastion of liberal commentary are “o-v-e-r”. What it did do, once Andrew Lack came back, was say it was going to fix dayside and bring it back more under the news and analysis format and away from the unabashed liberal opinion format. But that’s only part of MSNBC’s schedule and that leads me to my second point which Ellefson gets wrong; there was never ever any intent of reining in Rachel Maddow, Chris Hayes, Chris Matthews, and Lawrence O’Donnell. Including Joy Reid in the list of the “spared” is wrong on two counts. First, she wasn’t part of prime and not central to MSNBC’s plans. Second her dayside show didn’t get spared, it got cancelled. Furthermore, if not for the Melissa Harris-Perry fiasco, Reid probably still would not have a show.

The one point Ellefson gets right is her first one. MSNBC always seems to be in the midst of an overhaul. It’s seems to have been like that since Phil Griffin took over 9 years ago.

Ellefson spends the rest of her article making a plaintive appeal for more liberal programming on MSNBC…

Where else can people look for liberal viewpoints on traditional television? Since Jon Stewart abdicated the throne at The Daily Show, the nightly broadcast that he made famous has failed to live up to the expectations his fiery legacy left behind. Sure, Bill Maher and John Oliver help out when they can on Real Time and Last Week Tonight respectively, but not everyone has HBO and to be clear, once-weekly shows are not enough to even out the selection of political opinions.

Look at the two main competitors of MSNBC, Fox News and CNN. Whether some people want to admit it or not, CNN is remarkably centered, and at the least, tries very hard to be. For every liberal commentator, there is a conservative. The shows tend to be hosted by actual journalists and anchors, not partisan pundits. Jake Tapper values journalistic neutrality so much that he does not vote and Anderson Cooper is seen as the industry standard for what “unbiased” is supposed to look like. On the other side of the spectrum sits Fox News, which is undeniably a hotbed for right leaning thought leaders. Fox News has a right to be that hotbed. In fact, it has as much of an obligation to its viewers to hold down the right side of the airwaves as MSNBC has to hold down the left. Bill O’Reilly and Sean Hannity make it clear that they are not journalists and we cannot begrudge them their right to share their thoughts.

There are a few inconvenient facts here which Ellefson pretty much ignores.

First, MSNBC is under no obligation to hold down any end of the political spectrum. What it is obligated to do is produce compelling programming that viewers tune in to and which generates a profit. That’s its only obligation and its not an obligation to its viewers but to the shareholders of Comcast. Whatever works.

Second, MSNBC has already tried to expand liberal P.O.V analysis dayside programming under Phil Griffin. Not once, but twice. Both times MSNBC’s ratings crashed outside of prime time and both times the network retreated to a more news format.

Third, other than Maddow, MSNBC’s prime time has been a weak sister in the ratings since Olbermann left (if you factor out the 2016 election juiced numbers). Chris Hayes still has not established himself as deserving of holding down the 8pm timeslot. O’Donnell has done okay for his timeslot but hasn’t moved the needle enough. Even Maddow’s numbers are off now that Olbermann isn’t there to lead in to her.

What this says is that liberal POV programming in primetime may still be the way to go for the network but some of the faces of that prime time may need to change if the network wants to make a long term push to draw in more viewers.

The Washington Post’s Erik Wemple gets NBC News Topper Andrew Lack to comment, tangentially, on the Brian Williams fiasco…

The shyness has shielded Williams from having to confront again his scandal of 2015. NBC News suspended him for six months after learning about a series of exaggerations/embellishments/lies concerning his past as a reporter — a tour of shame with stopovers in Iraq, the Berlin Wall, Israel and elsewhere. As he prepared to return to work as a breaking news anchor on MSNBC, Williams sat for an interview with NBC News’s Matt Lauer, but he did not individually address all the episodes on his besmirched record. “I would like to take this opportunity to say that what has happened in the past has been identified and torn apart by me and has been fixed, has been dealt with,” said Williams, who lost his job as anchor of “NBC Nightly News.”

Monday, Lack sounded a note of accord. When asked whether Williams had left behind some unfinished business in that Lauer interview, Lack responded, “Ancient history to me.”

Not to me and not to a lot of other people and NBC can blame itself for our prolonged interest. It chose to bury the story rather than do what CBS did with the Thornburgh report which did a complete and very public number on Rathergate. The Lauer interview only compounded things.

We have not had closure. NBC ensured we did not get closure. So Andrew Lack can try and gloss it over…just as Rachel Maddow tried to gloss it over but for us it’s always going to be an issue until we understand what exactly happened and why.

CNN’s Brian Stelter writes that MSNBC is looking to give Brian Williams the 11pm hour through the election so that the network can talk about this year’s most under reported subject… (via J$)

According to the plan, Williams will anchor a special 11 p.m. program wrapping up the day’s campaign news, the sources said.

The plan is subject to change until the scheduling move is officially announced. But the Williams program has been under consideration for weeks inside MSNBC.

The Cleveland Plain Dealer’s Julie Washington, who appears to need to brush up on the currency of her Chris Jansing bio knowledge, has details of MSNBC’s convention coverage plans…

The Republican National Convention will be a homecoming for former WJW Channel 8 reporter Kelly O’Donnell, who will be part of the NBC news team reporting live from Quicken Loans Arena.

O’Donnell, a graduate of Villa Angela Academy, began her broadcast career at Channel 8 during the 1990s. During her years at NBC, O’Donnell has covered national stories from presidential campaigns to the Oklahoma City bombing, according to her NBC bio. She has been NBC’s Capitol Hill correspondent since 2007.

MSNBC anchor Chris Jansing, who is from Fairport Harbor, also will cover the convention for NBC News and MSNBC. Jansing, who joined NBC News in 1998, hosts the MSNBC weekday show “Jansing and Co.,” and has extensively covered past presidential campaigns, according to her MSNBC bio.

O’Donnell and Jansing will be among nearly 50 NBC News and MSNBC anchors and correspondents in the networks’ newsgathering operation during the convention, July 18-21 at The Q. NBC programming is seen locally on the affiliate station WKYC Channel 3.
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What is this…MSNBC talent departure day? First it was Luke Russert. Now it’s Jose Diaz-Balart…

In November, José Diaz-Balart was named to a rotating cast of anchors of the NBC Nightly News Saturday edition. Today, he was given the job permanently.

In a trade-off, Díaz-Balart will give up his 10 a.m. MSNBC show, though MSNBC president Phil Griffin says he “will contribute regularly to special reports and major events for both NBC News and MSNBC,” including at the political conventions over the next two weeks.

Anyone want to hazard a guess as to what happens with his slot?