Shuster in Trouble…
The news of David Shuster’s CNN pilot test, has apparently not gone down well inside 30 Rock. The New York Times’ Brian Stelter has more…
MSNBC executives were highly displeased when they learned about his test for the competing news channel CNN through a New York Observer article Friday morning, and they are now contemplating their response.
“If true, this is unacceptable and David will be punished appropriately,” an MSNBC spokesman, Jeremy Gaines, said Friday afternoon.
Reached for comment, Mr. Shuster referred the call to his agent and said he could not confirm or deny the Observer report.
Shuster wasn’t on MSNBC at 3pm today, Contessa Brewer was. Shuster was already restricted from Twitter because of his reactions to the O’Keefe bust.
Update: This anonymous blurb Steve Krakauer relates on Mediaite is just beyond the pale…
An NBC insider tells Mediaite, “Shuster has never been a major player at MSNBC.”
What a load of utter claptrap. Shuster was on twice a day while Contessa Brewer was on only once and Monica Novotny has been pushed to the sidelines. He’s been brought in for long hours of on-air coverage of special events, most recently over health care reform voting. They sent him off to Louisiana to report on the O’Keefe bust (sending the anchors remotely is something the network almost never does anymore). They put him on the White House grounds to report on Health Care Reform. Until recently, as Krakauer noted, he’s been subbing regularly on Countdown (btw Krak it’s possible MSNBC is looking to slot O’Donnell in on his own hour and that may be why MSNBC gave him such a long run on Countdown). They even tried to frame a show around him (1600 Pennsylvania Avenue). Not a major player? Then why is the network spending so much air time on him? Some executive at 30 Rock had to want him having all that exposure. It didn’t just accidentally happen all by itself…
Update 2: The shuster.msnbc.com page is now blank. Make of that what you will…
Update 3: J$ doesn’t make much of it apparently. He put the link up and then took it off. I think he’s probably right. I’m not convinced that page was active prior to this morning.
Inside Cable News 
April 2, 2010 at 1:13 pm
Someone over at TV newser found out that shuster.msnbc.com has been pulled
He might have already been fired…?
April 2, 2010 at 1:55 pm
Ha, I wondered how he was able to do a CNN pilot while working at MSNBC.
April 2, 2010 at 2:14 pm
Good luck with the side ways promotion David Shuster.
April 2, 2010 at 2:22 pm
Why would CNN want him? Seriously.
April 2, 2010 at 2:30 pm
His Wiki page says he was fired today.
April 2, 2010 at 2:40 pm
Well, the same person who posted that on Wiki just undid it.
April 2, 2010 at 3:04 pm
You have to wonder if that first Wiki-poster is one of our commenters.
April 2, 2010 at 3:11 pm
You have to wonder if that first Wiki-poster is one of our commenters.
It wasn’t me, but God knows I’m going to think real hard to make it true..
April 2, 2010 at 3:12 pm
The wiki poster who did and then undid the Shuster fired claim has tons o’ Wiki entries to his name, mostly about cnbc and cable business news. This is his wiki page:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Vikramsidhu
I suspect he just got a little ahead of the news and pulled back. Ironically he has chided other people for claiming things by noting that nothing’s been officially announced! So he’s practicing what he preaches, if belatedly.
April 2, 2010 at 3:15 pm
Geez, that’s gonna be my son in a few years, if not already.
April 2, 2010 at 3:28 pm
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue was a show that was built around David Gregory, not David Shuster – and was a train wreck.
Saturday Final was a vehicle built around O’Donnell (using the old Nachman set – if that doesn’t take you back). It was, also, an unqualified train wreck.
April 2, 2010 at 3:29 pm
Time for a little crystal ball action..
I predict Shuster will indeed get fired and CNN will hire him because they feel guilty.
Remember, this is the same network that had Wolf Blitzer on the air for no less than 20 hours a week for years.
Translation: I place CNN’s failure to attract new viewers squarely on his back. Oh wait a minute. I guess we should also blame Klein or whoever really runs the network. (Perhaps Wolfie has a little “pull” with the higher ups?)
April 2, 2010 at 3:32 pm
As Spud points out, MSNBC gave Shuster a lot of air time and resources over the past couple of years. For him to then try and bolt like this after all that is pretty surprising.
And after struggling (ratings-wise) over there, why would CNN be interested?
April 2, 2010 at 3:41 pm
For him to then try and bolt like this after all that is pretty surprising.
In Shuster’s defense – which you won’t get from me very often – MSNBC dragged him all over that network, then stuck him in a their dayside dreggs while giving a left-wing Rush Limbaugh (Shultz) his own show at 6. I’d be pissed, too.
April 2, 2010 at 3:44 pm
I don’t think Shuster was fired … yet because we don’t know about the pilot for CNN. and Shuster has a big role at MSNBC but they gave him like 3 chances already
April 2, 2010 at 4:05 pm
MSNBC dragged him all over that network
Yeah, fair counterpoint. I.e., Was he dragged around or did he go willingly?
Spud mentions all of these opportunities: were they real chances or did MSNBC just use him as utility man to cover for them since they didn’t want to find someone else?
Still, if he tested for a show on CNN and didn’t tell MSNBC about it, that’s a no-no.
April 2, 2010 at 4:24 pm
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue was a show that was built around David Gregory, not David Shuster – and was a train wreck.
True but it was Shuster’s show for a while till that blowhard took over the timeslot.
April 2, 2010 at 4:41 pm
I don’t agree that 1600 was a “a train wreck”. I wasn’t hugely fond of the show with either host, but it was a hell of a lot better than The Ed Show. But what do I know..I still miss Tucker..
April 2, 2010 at 4:54 pm
Spud,
Shuster’s twitter page links to the shuster.msnbc.com page, which makes me think msnbc took the page down.
Of course, that could mean nothing. I would like to know whose bright idea it was for Shuster to try out of CNN. This has to be the stupidest idea for CNN, Shuster, and anyone involved.
April 2, 2010 at 6:46 pm
I too liked “1600” although I never saw the point of putting the pundits in separate windows. Just put them around a table and you could call it “Capital Gang”.
April 2, 2010 at 7:03 pm
-Separate windows-
“Windows” was probably an idea from the “MS” days of MSNBC.
April 2, 2010 at 7:34 pm
I still miss “Coast To Coast” with Monica Crowley and Ron Reagan.
But, perhaps that’s just me…
April 2, 2010 at 7:48 pm
I still miss “Coast To Coast” with Monica Crowley and Ron Reagan.
I miss their dueling condescension. They reminded me of a classic SNL skit, Heavy Sarcasm.
April 2, 2010 at 10:03 pm
Aww..KO’s little lapdog just keeps piddling on the rugs at MSNBC…looks like it’s time to put him down.
April 2, 2010 at 10:08 pm
Drinking again, Mlong?
April 3, 2010 at 5:16 am
Bottom line — MSNBC/Shuster haters will be extremely distraught if he gets the boot.. Because they spend an inordinate amount of time sifting through his transcripts and video looking for anything and everything to amplify.
April 3, 2010 at 6:39 am
stevemg Says:
April 2, 2010 at 3:32 pm
As Spud points out, MSNBC gave Shuster a lot of air time and resources over the past couple of years. For him to then try and bolt like this after all that is pretty surprising.
I have heard the Morale is terrible at MSNBC. Perhaps Shuster saw this bi lateral transfer to a more hospitable working environment. I don’t think that CNN leans as heavy to the left as MSNBC so is Shuster going to tone down his bias?
April 3, 2010 at 8:01 am
This is hysterical!
Wasn’t David Schuster the guy who called into Tucker Carlson’s old 11 p.m. program, stating that Karl Rove’s arrest was to occur “within the hour”? (This was back during the Valerie Plame/Scooter Libby investigations.) Schuster was avidly awaiting Rove’s arrest, in that program and throughout his reporting on that story.
YEARS LATER, no arrest.
If Schuster wasn’t arrested for that whole debacle (being extremely biased, PLUS being so wrong on a story), you’d think he’d be home safe.
April 3, 2010 at 2:30 pm
[…] Shuster in Trouble… « Inside Cable News […]
April 3, 2010 at 3:00 pm
[…] Shuster in Trouble… « Inside Cable News […]
April 3, 2010 at 4:27 pm
There are a couple of points about this story that strike me as a bit odd.
First, the whole story has revolved around Shuster. There has been virtually no mention of the other party in the story Michel Martin. She is a very well respected reporter with a lot of experience (WSJ, ABC, NPR etc.) who would be a much better fit with CNN than Shuster. Pair her with someone like Zain Verjee, who is now mostly on CNNI, and you could have a very watchable show on important subjects that is much needed on cable news. It won’t be a ratings grabber but if CNN really wants to do “straight” news these are the type of hosts they need.
Second, no one has said boo about this report; since it broke. Shuster, Martin, CNN and even MSNBC, except for that one crypt line, have been silent. Why? Usually someone inside leaks something about a rumor like this or CNN/MSNBC would send out a denial. Neither has happened which makes the story even more interesting. I guess we’ll find out on Monday when Shuster is scheduled to be on air again.
April 3, 2010 at 4:42 pm
I like Shuster, but my feeling is this is strike three for MSNBC. The “pimped-out” comment about Chelsea Clinton was strike one, the Tweet to O’Keefe (which I didn’t have an issue with because O’Keefe is a smarmy little rat) was strike two, and doing this pilot with CNN is strike three.
And, he’s out.
Besides, at this point, he’s a very expendable liability for the network. They can afford letting him go and giving LOD his own show anyway. I don’t know who would be Keith’s back up on Countdown, but LOD is too talented a host to just be a guest host.
April 3, 2010 at 4:59 pm
“but LOD is too talented a host to just be a guest host.”
I love LOD and think he is one of the smartest; if not the smartest, analysis at MSNBC. However he has a way to go before he should get his own show.
His presentation is still wooden although he has made great strides in his on air delivery over the last year.
The biggest problem is his habit of going off on a guest when he thinks they are idiots or making idiotic statements, which they often do. Recently he had to be pulled off a guest on “Morning Joe” after he berated him for most of a segment. Not good.
However if he were to replace Dylan Ratigan I would take all I just said back.
April 4, 2010 at 5:50 pm
Karl Rove is reporting that David Shuster has already been fired.
(sorry, had to be done)
April 5, 2010 at 3:50 am
“Recently he had to be pulled off a guest on “Morning Joe” after he berated him for most of a segment. Not good.”
That would be former bushie, Marc Thiessen. He deserved to be called out by LOD in their discussion… nobody else would have the balls to do it. Should he have done it a different way? Sure… but those kind of people are usually treated so well that they need to get nailed sometimes, too.
“However if he were to replace Dylan Ratigan I would take all I just said back.”
What’s wrong with DR? He’s a strong progressive… one that we don’t really have too much of out there, esp in the MSM.
April 5, 2010 at 5:23 am
Dougie: We have a disagreement on the style of host we prefer. I am partial to the Rachael Maddow & Chuck Todd/Savannah Guthrie less confrontational style and don’t appreciate hosts that yell at guests whether they deserve it or not.
I don’t disagree with Ratigan, on his point that the banks stole from taxpayers, but I am tired of his constant repetitive rant on the subject that every guest and thus the viewer are subjected to.
Schultz, Matthews & Scarborough have the same problem but to a lesser extent.
October 10, 2011 at 2:04 pm
[…] new promotional campaign or, as he has so many times in years past with the likes of Jesse Ventura, David Schuster or Keith Olbermann, meting out the public reprimands of talent gone awry. We’re only at the […]