MSNBC is not even trying to hide their partisan Democrat bias any longer. I used to watch MSNBC from time to time, but rarely do anymore. It is just hard to take seriously any network that tries to pass off Keith (Kos diarist) Olbermann as objective, or as a journalist for that matter. I have been channel surfing during the convention this week though and was surprised to find that the network is even farther in the tank for the Democrats than they were when I last watched. I didn’t think it was possible. To call the “coverage” of the convention provided by Chris Matthews and Keith Olbermann a lovefest does not quite go far enough to tell the story. They aren’t even trying to pretend to be fair or unbiased anymore, now going so far as to openly (or at least on open mic) try to shut out the dissenting voices of Republican guests.
Newsbusters has great coverage of the drama going on at MSNBC for those like me whose gag reflex will only tolerate a minimal amount of viewing. Most recently, Keith Olbermann tried to pull the plug on Republican Mike Murphy. They mock the “fair and balanced” slogan of Fox News, but consistently show just how unfair and unbalanced they are by not providing equal time to those with opposing viewpoints. Recently Matthews and Olbermann branded Hillary Clinton campaign advisor Howard Wolfson a Tokyo Rose traitor for working as an analyst for Fox News, while they limit Republican guests and commentators and then insult the ones they do allow on. Don’t believe me though. Take a look at the MSNBC convention coverage yourself. If you don’t need convincing on the point of bias, take a look anyway. They have one helluva soap opera going on over there and it looks like it is going to get worse before it gets better.
Update: The Politico has a great rundown of this week’s MSNBC drama including the following statement from network president Phil Griffin: “MSNBC does not have an ideology…We hire smart people who are passionate about their love of politics and love of news…Look, when Keith anchors, he plays it straight down the line,” Griffin said. “This is our team. They’ve served us well. We love ’em, and we’re going to be at the Republican convention, and it’s going to be great. And I don’t have any hesitation.”
Update II: More MSNBC objectivity.
