MSNBC takes Olbermann and Matthews out of anchor role
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MSNBC tried a bold experiment this year by putting two politically incendiary hosts, Keith Olbermann and Chris Matthews, in the anchor chair to lead the cable news channel's coverage of the election.
That experiment appears to be over.
After months of accusations of political bias and simmering animosity between MSNBC and its parent network NBC, the channel decided over the weekend that the NBC News correspondent and MSNBC host David Gregory would anchor news coverage of the coming debates and election night. Olbermann and Matthews will remain as analysts. (The
The change - which comes in the home stretch of the election cycle - is a result of tensions associated with the channel's perceived shift to the political left.
Executives at the channel's parent company, NBC Universal, had high hopes for MSNBC's coverage of the political conventions.
Instead, the coverage frequently descended into on-air squabbles between the anchors, embarrassing some workers at NBC's news division, and quite possibly alienating viewers.
The success of the Fox News Channel in the past decade along with the growth of political blogs have convinced many media companies that provocative commentary attracts viewers and lures Web browsers more than straight news delivered dispassionately.
"In a rapidly changing media environment, this is the great philosophical debate," Phil Griffin, the president of MSNBC, said in a telephone interview Saturday.
He added, "The bottom line is that we're experiencing incredible success."
But as the past two weeks have shown, that success has a downside.
When the vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin lamented media bias during her speech at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, attendees loudly chanted "NBC."
Olbermann's program "Countdown," which draws more than 1 million viewers a night, found its voice in his gnawing dissent regarding the Bush administration, often in the form of "special comment" segments.
"Countdown" will still be shown before the three fall debates and a second edition will be shown sometime afterward, following the program anchored by Gregory.
Griffin, MSNBC's president, denies that it has an ideology.
"I think ideology means we think one way, and we don't," he said.
Rather than label MSNBC's prime time as left-leaning, he says it has passion and point of view.
Just last year, Olbermann signed a four-year, $4-million-a-year contract with MSNBC.
NBC is close to extending Olbermann's deal through 2013 - and ensuring that he will be on MSNBC through the next election.
