MSNBC: from aqua to turquoise


A couple of weeks ago, my Obamaweek Newsweek magazine had a three page ad spread for MSNBC. The first page was all blue rectangles, with the subheading "Notjustliberalnews.com" followed by an all-red layout with "Notjustconservativenews.com." The last page suggested that MSNBC was the news channel with a "fuller spectrum of news" in a wide rainbow of colors.

Uh-huh, that's quite a spectrum. The professionals at NBC News were mortified at the left-wing antics of their cable namesake during the Presidential conventions:

In interviews, 10 current and former staff members said that long-simmering tensions between MSNBC and NBC reached a boiling point during the conventions. "MSNBC is behaving like a heroin addict," one senior staff member observed. "They're living from fix to fix and swearing they'll go into rehab the next week."

Network execs staged an intervention:

Keith Olbermann may be the "voice" of MSNBC, but network executives have decided to yank the talkmeister off its political anchor desk after the cable channel finished dead last in the Nielsen rankings of all news coverage during the two weeks of political conventions.

For the record, MSNBC was creamed by "fair and balanced" Fox News, who had almost four times as many viewers. Maybe Rachel Maddow will bring some of that Air America magic along to her new digs. Or maybe MSNBC needs a new ad campaign. Something.