More Evidence O’Reilly was Right…
(via J$)
Ignore the usual Gibson blather and skip over to the 4:30 mark. That’s when things get interesting when Gibson reveals more (alleged) evidence that the MSNBC leftward turn was indeed a business/ratings decision. Somewhere Bill O’Reilly is gloating big time. And, as one of his most consistent critics regarding his over the top war on NBC, I have to acknowledge that he’s earned the right to. Unless of course Gibson is embellishing his story (something that can’t be dismissed out of hand given his history of disingenuous, misleading, and distorted statements)…
January 21, 2009 at 3:13 pm
This is news? FNC became a ratings powerhouse by tilting towards the right on their opinion shows. Griffin obviously went the other way, filling an empty space. The debate isn’t over whether one network or the other adopted an ideological POV for ratings, it’s whether either one of them let’s that bleed into straight news. Griffin’s supposed statement to Gibson adds nothing to that discussion. In fact, based on his alleged statement that they wouldn’t air ANY conservatives, it would appear he is specifically referring to Primetime. Dayside has lots of point/counterpoint discussions, including heavy doses of Pat Buchanan.
January 21, 2009 at 3:49 pm
I have trouble believing that Griffin is close enough to Gibson to say something like that without knowing Griffin is going to repeat it on air. Simply, I don’t believe it happened like that.
January 21, 2009 at 3:52 pm
Shocker !
The question is not whether MSNBC moved left, the question is whether Fox News’ mission statement from day one was to appeal to conservatives, and whether they have only furthered their movement to the right in recent years.
The second question is whether it was appropriate for Fox News to program a network with a conservative slant from the very beginning and whether Fox’s decision eventually contributed to MSNBC’s move to the left.
In any case it is all water under the bridge for me now. I have a news network, President and congress that better reflects my values. Fox News appeals mostly to the attendees of the Republican convention and we know what demographic they represent and the long-term viability of that shrinking demographic.
January 21, 2009 at 4:53 pm
El, I’m not going to take a stand one way or the other in your war on FNC. You’re entitled to your opinion and I agree with and disagree with some of your points. But how do you account for the that more Democrats watch FNC than Republicans (or so we’ve been told)?
Personally I find it extremely discomforting to hear anyone from the right or the left say that they’ve found a news network that more reflects their values. It means they don’t want facts or honesty or to have the story told the way it is to the best of ones ability. It means they want an echo chamber.
January 21, 2009 at 5:23 pm
This nonsense that ONLY hardcore conservatives watch FOX is… well, nonsense.
Look at the ratings. In fact, look at the inauguration ratings. The liberal network, MSNBC, got hammered by the conservative network, FNC, while CNN won overall.
If they wanted ratings, going left WAS the right thing to do. As Joe mentioned, that’s not the issue.
The issue is whether or not their liberal tilt carries over to it’s regular news, and there’s no question that it does.
When you have David Shuster doing news reports and anchoring supposed striaght news shows, there’s a problem.
When you have Republican haters Matthews & Olbermann as your main news anchors, there’s a problem.
When the only conservative voice you can point to that is brought on to argue the other side is Pat Buchanan, there’s a definitely a problem.
FNC tilts right, there’s no question, but at least the other side is heard. Not so on MSDNC.
January 21, 2009 at 6:04 pm
Griffin’s supposed statement to Gibson adds nothing to that discussion
Well, it depends on the topic on the table. And whether this account is accurate (I’m sceptical).
As we know, Griffin (Capus and others) have repeatedly denied that there was any plan to move left and have insisted that the network has no ideology.
Okay, on the latter point Griffin has recently stated that they don’t have as much ideology as Fox. Which, I guess, is an implicit acknowledgement that they have some ideology.
The larger issue of their violation of Church/State at the network is, as you point out, a bigger question.
January 21, 2009 at 7:51 pm
i’m sorry but the “supposedly” liberal NBC won. Add that to the msnbc numbers and they beat everyone
January 21, 2009 at 8:02 pm
I’m sorry, but this is a cable news blog, and MSNBC came in third.
Second, American Idol beat NBC and everyone else.
Third, Reagan’s inauguration got higher numbers than Obama’s.
My deepest apologies.
January 21, 2009 at 8:14 pm
Yeah but I thought we were talking about yesterday, not the 80′s. When, Who even had cable, let alone were born. Then, also, I thought we were talking about the Obama coverage. If we were, NBC/Univerisal won by a couple million. NBC competes with MSNBC, like it or not, cable or “broadcast” (who here has an antenna?), and they share the same talent. Remember Kelly O talking to Keith, and Brian W picking it up and reporting it live even though he had no contact with her? She was talking with the cable channel, as thier coverage won. I don’t think the bosses cared
January 22, 2009 at 4:09 am
bigred – It’s worth noting in regards to the “Reagan had more viewers” assertion that that number doesn’t take into account people who were watching streaming coverage on the internet, which I would be would put the two inaugurations on par with each other. Just saying.
Yeah, O’Reilly called it. But just to be fair, Gibson is wrong about the network going all Liberal. Joe Scarborough is still around.