Blue Spot

Chris Matthews Advised To Leave MSNBC And Begin Senate Campaign, Report Says | AHN | December 4, 2008

Washington, D.C. (AHN) - NBC anchor and pundit Chris Matthews has been advised to quit his post at the network and begin his campaign for senator of Pennsylvania, according to a report.

Speculation is rife that Matthews, host of MSNBC's "Hardball," wants to challenge Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA), one of the most senior members of the Senate, in 2010. The 62-year old political commentator has been advised to resign from NBC "as soon as possible" and enter the race in order to demonstrate that he is serious about his candidacy, Politico quotes some Democratic operatives.

But the report also quotes NBC sources as saying talk of a Matthews' run is a ploy to have leverage during negotiations when his contract expires in June.

Matthews last week met with Democratic State Committee Chairman T.J. Rooney and executive director Mary Isenhour in Washington, D.C. about a possible Senate bid, according to The Patriot-News. He is also said to be looking for a house in the Keystone state.

Matthews, whose journalistic career includes more than a decade working as Washington, D.C. bureau chief for the San Francisco Examiner and a David Brinkley Award for Excellence in Broadcast Journalism, has been accused of being biased and favoring then-Senator Barack Obama during the election.

He had repeatedly expressed admiration for Obama's speeches, famously describing the feeling he had during one of them by saying there was "a thrill going up my leg." During the protracted primary race between Obaman and Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY), Matthews had to apologize to viewers and to the former first lady after he came under fire for saying Clinton's support was due to sympathy for her and her husband's infidelity.

Labels: Chris Matthews, Media bias, MSNC

Real Clear Politics - News - Elections 2008 - Opinion - Commentary - TIME

From a study by
the Project for Excellence in Journalism:

• MSNBC stood out for having less negative coverage of Obama than the press generally (14% of stories vs. 29% in the press overall) and for having more negative stories about McCain (73% of its coverage vs. 57% in the press overall).
• On Fox News, in contrast, coverage of Obama was more negative than the norm (40% of stories vs. 29% overall) and less positive (25% of stories vs. 36% generally). For McCain, the news channel was somewhat more positive (22% vs. 14% in the press overall) and substantially less negative (40% vs. 57% in the press overall). Yet even here, his negative stories outweighed positive ones by almost 2 to 1.
• CNN fell distinctly in the middle of the three cable channels when it came to tone. In general, the tone of its coverage was closer than any other cable news channel to the press overall, though also somewhat more negative than the media overall.
• The distinct tone of MSNBC—more positive toward Democrats and more toward Republicans—was not reflected in the coverage of its broadcast sibling, NBC News. Even though it has correspondents appear on their cable shows and even anchor some programs on there, the broadcast channel showed no such ideological tilt. Indeed, NBC's coverage of Palin was the most positive of any TV organization studied, including Fox News.
• At night, the newscasts of the three traditional broadcast networks stood out for being more neutral—and also less negative—than most other news outlets. The morning shows of the networks, by contrast, more closely resembled the media generally in tone. That might surprise some who imagined those morning programs were somehow easier on political figures. Overall, 44% of the morning show stories were clearly negative, compared with 34% on the nightly news and 42% in the press overall.

Just as I've been saying for months, we now have two major 24 hour cable "news" networks that are devoting most of their coverage to opinion (and a third not too far behind). MSNBC has become the left-wing version of Fox News Channel. This can't be to good for the country and can't possibly help Barack Obama with his promise to bring the country together. With the two networks feeding partisan vitriol to millions of listeners from both sides of the ideological spectrum, they are helping to perpetuate a culture of permanent campaigns causing even more extreme discourse and a more cynical populous.

Even pro-Obama media has noticed and criticized the left-wing turn that became very evident earlier this year. TNR writer, Isaac Chotiner, slammed the network back in May in a article titled, "Dangerous Liaison."

...the network's coverage has helped create a bubble around Obama supporters that in the end is neither healthy nor desirable.

The problem here is that when supposedly "straight" news anchors phrase questions in leading ways, and report one campaign's spin as if it were fact, it distorts what is actually going on in the campaign--even for those of us who make a living obsessing over and writing about politics. And when anchormen themselves shill for Obama, the distinction between his talking points and the truth grows even blurrier still. So, as much as I find MSNBC entertaining, their creation of a parallel, pro-Obama universe is the type of thing I'd expect of Fox. That's when I know it's time to change the channel.

Hopefully, the more open minded, perceptive Americans will reject this perpetual bickering and call for a new network that employs actual journalsts and gives you the facts while leaving the spin for the noise networks. CNN should get credit for attempting to accomplish this, but until they decide to stop featuring party operatives and partisan activists like Donna Brazile, Roland Martin or William Bennett, they fall way short.

The traditional news broadcasts still get better ratings because most people with common sense still value fairness, and not that they're perfect but, I know Brian Williams is going to be more fair and less obnoxious than Keith Olbermann. I have no desire to watch a network that only gives you news that is custom made to my ideologic makeup. And I hope America still wants to be challenged (not ridiculed) and resists becoming even larger herds of conservative and liberal sheep.

Labels: Bill O'Reilly, Fox propaganda, Media bias, MSNC, Olbermann