MSNBC: Choosing A New Progressive Anchor

[ihavenobias]

"The New York Times is reporting that MSNBC might be headed in a more progressive direction. It's about damn time. Sixty percent of the country has been waiting for this for about ten years. Thank God, Olbermann snuck past the old guard and helped to change the face of television.

The next issue is who do they hire? Press reports say it might be Rosie O'Donnell. To say that I am equivocal about that is a significant understatement. Rosie was great in challenging conventional wisdom on the war and many other issues when she was on "The View." So, God bless her for that.

But, on the other hand, I'm not sure she is really the spokesperson for the level-headed, ultra-knowledgeable, progressive voice in the country. There is the 9/11 conspiracy stuff that no mainstream progressive believes in. And her style is not exactly cool-headed. Do we really want Rosie representing our point of view?

I feel really bad in even bringing any of this up because she has at times fought the good fight when almost no one else on television would. It's not that I don't appreciate her contribution to the conversation; it's that the next progressive host on cable news has to be good -- really, really good.

We need someone who is going to be smart, on top of the news and beyond reproach. And someone who we know can handle the position - and bring in good ratings in this format..."

For the rest of Cenk's piece, click here:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/cenk-uygur/msnbc-might-already-have-_b_71663.html

[Fearless]

1. Umm... how about KO?

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

3. This is for another show, in addition to Countdown.

[Fearless]

14. Yes and...?

[Audio_Al]

18. Alison Stewart would be an interesting choice. She took over for Keith and made it play quite well.

Would this be in conflict with her other responsibilities at NPR? At MSNBC?



Young, attractive, smart, witty. But does she really want it? Oh, and it says she's married to the VP of Programming at MSNBC. Hmmmm... that might be a problem.

http://www.npr.org/about/press/2007/042707.stewart.html

http://www.npr.org/blogs/bryantpark/

[Fearless]

33. Contractually it probably should be a problem

[ihavenobias]

34. I don't know

I'm always disappointed when she's filling in, but in fairness, that might be less to do with her and more to do with wanting Keith.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

2. Rachel Maddow would be excellent.

Much better than Rosie, who tends to be a bit obnoxious sometimes.

[Der Blaue Engel]

4. Rachel Maddow

Hands down.

[LSparkle]

5. I nominate Amy Goodman, Greg Palast, Rachel Maddow ...

Palast might not make a great anchor, but he could sure use his own show. It's an absolute shame that such a great AMERICAN investigative reporter can't get a gig in his own country and works for the BBC ...

[ncteechur]

6. I'll believe it when I see it.

They didn't give Phil Donahue very long to succeed, so I'm a bit skeptical about it all. I would love it to have a network with the viewership of MSNBC to be able to balance the swill being peddled by the creightons at Faux Noise, but right now, I ain't seeing it.

[ncteechur]

7. But if I had to pick one, I'd pick Sam Seder, although I like Rachel Maddow a lot.

Sam Seder's thing with Katherine Harris cracks me the hell up.

[ihavenobias]

9. Seder

I like Seder too, generally speaking. It's strange that his show is only on one day a week. Although he is starting to show up as a co-anchor on the Young Turks which is fun.

[Audio_Al]

27. Sam Seder certainly has an interesting background, to say the least.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Seder

We listen to him occasionally on AAR, but not one of our favorites exactly. Looks like a nice kid who just got through his Bar Mitzvah! Raised in Worcester, Massachusetts -- who knew? We were 30 minutes from him all those years!

[ihavenobias]

28. Well, when you put it that way

No, he's not one of my favorites, but I like him better than some for sure.

[annabanana]

36. (only if he leaves the bow tie at home). . . n/t

[liberalnurse]

8. My personal favorite would be Ed Schultz...but

a female is a good directional choice for the next leftie pundit....Stephanie Miller!

[LSparkle]

10. Ed is extremely good on-camera

When his show was broadcast on C-Span, it was GREAT (unlike a lot of the other radio shows that didn't translate to TV very well).

Momma's got to stay on radio (don't think she could get away with the fart jokes on TV). But then again, I wouldn't mind feasting my eyes on Jim ...

[ihavenobias]

13. Not a fan of Stephanie

Personally, I think her show is obnoxious and appeals to far too small an audience. Too many goofy sound effects and way too much over the top sarcasm.

I know a lot of people who agree with me on that take and can't stomach more than a few minutes of her show.

In other words, I think a lot of people would dismiss her based on her delivery/the style of the show, even if the substance behind the potty humor, innuendo and near constant sarcasm is sometimes relevant and important.

If I had to choose from someone who's not on Air America, I'd take Ed Schultz. He has great potential for crossover appeal. I think he'd be the best bet for disarming conservatives long enough to get them to consider what he's saying.

[rwheeler31]

11. Ok I will be the one to nominate Stephanie and the mooks.

[rwheeler31]

12. Is Thom Hartman too uh smart?

[ihavenobias]

15. Yes, Hartmann is too much

I absolutely love Thom Hartmann and believe he is, by far, the most purely informative of any progressive host of I've ever listened to. His knowledge of history and economics and his ability to put current issues in a much needed (and rarely discussed) context is amazing.

Honestly, listening to his show is like auditing university level courses at times.

With that said, I just don't think he'd necessarily work on television and appeal to a broad enough audience.

Believe me, I wish that weren't the case and I'd be happy to be proven wrong.

[MikeNearMcChord]

16. Thom has said he is happy where he is

I would love to see MSNBC, show class and bring back Phil Donahue. Though some of the other choices are good also, with Amy Goodman the best of that lot.

[Audio_Al]

24. Thom is good, but I agree -- he's happy here right down the street from us.

Phil Donahue and Jack Cafferty are too old. Amy Goodman is bright, but very serious, strident, and getting old. Arianna H. looks great, but tonight on "Countdown," I swear we needed captioning to understand her. But thanks to her, we have the Huffington Post.

David Shuster looks nice but there's something about him we don't like. Shrill? Can't quite put our finger on it.

Keith is just a unique talent doing a unique job. See suggestion about Alison Stewart in this thread.

Just our two cents.


Radio Lady and Audio Al

[rwheeler31]

17. Well Randi and Malloy are too hot. Could Mark Green do it?

[Audio_Al]

26. You mean Mark Green, the President of Air America Radio?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_J._Green

[Berry Cool]

19. I don't think Steph and the mooks will ever move from the West Coast

and I've heard that Ed Schultz puts down Keith regularly on his show (I have no idea why), so I doubt he would be a good fit.

I'd love to see Rachel, but as Cenk says, I think David Shuster could do a fine job too. I think he cares about truth, period. He knows what it was like to have worked at Fox Noise and been able to criticize the president only when that president was Clinton, and how all the criticism of the White House shut down when Bush came in. He learned a lesson from that. He does a good job guest-hosting other people's shows and would probably do fine with his own.

ed. sp.

[Audio_Al]

20. Read it and weep, people. Depressing. Here is the real nitty-gritty on progressive cable TV news.

The viewership is just not there. I wish this were not so.

http://www.mediabistro.com/tvnewser/ratings/the_scoreboard_monday_nov_12_71006.asp#more

Link doesn't line up in the DU; it's a table. I don't know how this will be overcome by anybody's talent.

For example, yesterday's numbers:

Tuesday, Nov 13

The Scoreboard: Monday, Nov. 12
25-54 demographic: (L +SD) (Looks like this is in thousands, but I could be wrong.)

Total day: FNC: 276 | CNN: 166 | MSNBC: 114 | HLN: 98

Prime: FNC: 486 | CNN: 284 | MSNBC: 178 | HLN: 165

Total Viewers: (L +SD)

Total day: FNC: 909 | CNN: 489 | MSNBC: 285 | HLN: 250

Prime: FNC: 1788 | CNN: 947 | MSNBC: 513 | HLN: 474

[ihavenobias]

22. Wait a minute

There is only ONE progressive cable news show, and the ratings for it have increased dramatically in the last year.

By contrast, the latest study I saw said there was something like a 13-1 conservative to progressive ratio for cable tv news hosts (self described I'm not sure).

At any rate, considering the majority of the country despises this administration and current crop of republicans, it's safe to say that democrats/progressives/liberals (whatever you call them) are drastically under-represented on cable tv.

So what if conservative shows have higher ratings. Why wouldn't they, considering they're all over the place AND there are different varieties of conservative shows in various formats.

It's not like EVERY conservative likes EVERY single conservative host on tv (some like Hannity and Beck, others may like O'Reilly, etc.).

But with progressives, you either like Olbermann and his particular style, delivery, content and format or you're out of luck (again, when it comes to TV).

[Audio_Al]

23. OK. You've buoyed me up. We love Olbermann and his style. Wish we could clone him!

My wife was on TV with Phil Donahue in 1981, as a guest. When he came back on a few years ago, we had great hopes for him. But, alas and alack, it was not to be.

We think his time has passed, although if he was signed on today, we'd watch.

Pass the torch to the younger generation.

Thanks for your comments, friend.

Respectfully,



Radio Lady and Audio Al

PS. Neither of us had heard of Cenk Uygur before tonight. But, in the old days of radio and TV, my wife says he would have had to change his name!

[ihavenobias]

30. Who's Cenk?

I hadn't heard of Cenk until I saw him on Olbermann's show talking about Fox News this summer. Then I met him at the Yearlykos convention which was a lot of fun.

At any rate, I wonder how much his name *does* in fact effect his status...same with his skin color. It's sad that it's still an issue for some people, but I guess we all agree on that.

[abq e streeter]

21. Dennis Kucinich

I'm serious...

[Audio_Al]

25. Agree totally. But he's busy running for President now.

I'm serious, too.

Respectfully,



Audio Al (2007)

[abq e streeter]

29. Agreed, but down the road apiece...

[dbt]

31. Rachel Maddow!

Nobody else gets close.

[mwb970]

32. Rachel, or David Shuster. And lose Tucker. /nt

[The Blue Flower]

35. Thom Hartman

THE most knowledgeable figure in broadcasting.

[WilyWondr]

37. Lara Logan

Thursday, May 18, 2006

NEW YORK -- The words erupt in machine-gun bursts as Lara Logan strafes the critics who say she and other journalists in Iraq are ignoring the signs of progress there.

"That's complete nonsense," Logan says. "I tell the American commanders all the time: When we can get in our cars and drive to the opening of a store and interview people on camera without fear of being killed, or getting everyone involved with us killed, the good-news stories will be told."

Her lilting South African voice is tinged with a fervor that a more polished reporter might try to hide. But the 35-year-old Logan has no interest in tamping down the passions that drove her into journalism and fueled her rapid rise to the post of CBS's chief foreign correspondent.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/17/AR2006051702337.html

She needs to be on TV more :loveya: