In a must read, the Wall Street Journal’s Benjamin Mullin and Joe Flint write about how newly minted NBC Universal News Group Chairman Cesar Conde isn’t thrilled with how MSNBC’s reliance on politics programming impacts ratings when non-political news takes the forefront.
Mr. Conde is undertaking a review of NBCUniversal’s news operations that includes an analysis of MSNBC’s audience trends, according to people familiar with the matter. He wants to establish a brighter line between daytime news coverage and evening opinion analysis, they say.
This is nothing new for cable news or MSNBC in particular. That network has suffered for decades from this particular non-politics affliction and watched as rivals skyrocket in the ratings while its numbers don’t.
If you believe the Journal story, Conde is keeping his options open in ways that might seem surprising.
Inside Cable News 