Griffin Named MSNBC President: Unanswered Questions…

I was dealing with the O’Reilly commentary on the Jackson N-bomb so I had to put this on the back burner until now. Today’s news about Phil Griffin being named President of MSNBC News raises some questions…

1) What happens on Today? Griffin was the head of Today and there was nothing in today’s release that covered what happens next there. Is it Jim Bell’s show now? Also given Today’s higher importance to NBC in terms of both prestige and profit generation, will Griffin’s move to take full control of MSNBC be viewed in some quarters as a demotion? Or will it be viewed as an attempt to take MSNBC to the next level by putting someone as important as Griffin has been to NBC in full control? I think it’s the latter but believe some nay-sayers will think it’s the former…

2) What happens with Shannon High-Bassalik? I’ve heard that Bassalik’s imprint at MSNBC has been confined to dayside programming mostly. With Griffin now devoting full time to MSNBC, will Bassalik still have the level of control over Dayside she had before today’s announcement?

3) Did Phil Alongi lose some power and autonomy today? His deputy Marian Porges was tapped to take over NBC’s Film Academy Journalism Program last week. Today, Griffin assumes control of the NBC Specials Unit with Alongi reporting to Griffin. So the NBC Specials Unit is in effect reporting to MSNBC now and not the traditional NBC News hierarchy. Does this signal the eventual demise of the NBC Specials Unit as a separate entity? Will it be somehow folded into MSNBC after the elections are over?