MSNBC opts for Ramsey over Bush Katrina speech…
Following up on yesterday’s item, The New York Times’ Allesandra Stanley also notes that MSNBC didn’t cover President Bush’s Katrina speech - opting instead to stay with the Boulder D.A. news conference. Stanley lays the blame for this at the feet of MSNBC’s new GM…
MSNBC stayed on the Ramsey case and ignored the presidential appearance altogether, a decision best explained by the fact that its former on-air legal affairs anchor, Dan Abrams, was recently named general manager.
One of the few GOOD choices MESS-NBC has made since 9/11.
To be fair, the Prez said nothing unexpected.
Comment by Roger — August 30, 2006 @ 9:44 am
Plus, we all know how much Abrams loves the Ramsey case, since he even went back on camera to cover it. Way to let your ego drive your netork further down the tubes Dan.
Comment by Buck — August 30, 2006 @ 9:47 am
I’m surprised they didn’t run the Will Smith or Julia Roberts biography for the umpteenth time. A very substandard network, and their nightly lineup and ratings prove it!
Comment by spiffo — August 30, 2006 @ 12:44 pm
I’m surprised they didn’t just run the Will Smith biography for the 1,000,000th time!
Comment by spiffo — August 30, 2006 @ 2:23 pm
This just shows Abram’s bad judgement. A lot of hubris, but little class. More miscues like this, and his big butts need to be kicked hard. Even better, FIRED!
Comment by RGL — August 30, 2006 @ 2:49 pm
While I’m kinda “ehhh” about the JonBenet story — what good does it do to have three channels running the exact same thing? You had Fox & CNN (when Kyra wasn’t blabbing) run it, so is counter-programming really a bad thing?
Comment by WestCoastBlogger — August 30, 2006 @ 3:28 pm
I agree with WestCoastBlogger, this was good programming. We all knew what Bush was going to say (even us who voted for him will admit), but the event in Boulder was the actual newsmakers telling the what/why/where/when of the Ramsey story - not some alledged experts giving their usually wrong opinion of the case. Thumbs up to MSNBC for a good call.
Comment by Grampa D — August 30, 2006 @ 3:46 pm
Don’t know why this is a surprise. It fits the new MSNBC mold of celebrity gossip/recycled old stories over breaking news.
Half the time when news is breaking, MSNBC is rerunning the jail stories (which A&E/History Channel do much better).
Comment by Scott — August 31, 2006 @ 5:15 am
I agree with Grandpa D and WestCoastBlogger on this one. MSNBC’s biggest problem for 10 years has been defining itself. MSNBC has been the unpredictable network. Now I know that if I’m sick of listening to the President, I can probably look for something more JonBenet or Scott Peterson or Natalie Halloway or O.J. Simpson related on MSNBC. It’s not likely that I would turn to MSNBC, but I’m guessing it is likely for some people. We’ll see if this definition lasts. If it does, they may be able to double their #s in a few years. I doubt they will ever reach FNC or CNN #s with this, but I don’t think that’s the goal; and they will have finally found their nitch. However, if it’s like the last 10 years, they will change direction again before they give this a chance to work.
Comment by erljr — August 31, 2006 @ 2:39 pm
Break out the champagne! I agree with erljr. Dead on - why does everyone have to cover the same stuff, especially when it’s canned junk like a speech?
Comment by Arthur — August 31, 2006 @ 8:15 pm