Today on The Big Story, John Gibson devoted a segment to the EP change at NBC Nightly News and ABC beating it in the ratings. Gibson had on to “analyze” the whole thing someone from….wait for it…the MRC. Why not NewsMax? or TownHall? Would have been the same result. The MRC pundit Rich Noyes jumped through his hoops on how MSNBC being so far to the left caused it to “contaminte the mothership” at NBC. His evidence was that because correspondents at NBC are ” permanent fixtures at MSNBC during the daytime” and MSNBC’s analysts are over at NBC.

First of all who, outside of Norah O’Donnell, is an NBC correspondent who is a permanent fixture at MSNBC these days? Andrea Mitchell was for a short time but that’s apparently ended. But neither O’Donnell or Mitchell has been used as an an example of NBC’s leftward turn. Bill O’Reilly went to great lengths to exonerate Mitchell from that mess when she was on The Factor. Furthermore NBC talent appearing on MSNBC has been going on to one degree or another since its inception. And just now it’s contaminating the mothership? Doubtful.

Second of all, which MSNBC analysts have been appearing on NBC that would count as contamination of NBC to contribute to its “leftward turn”. Dan Abrams? Joe Scarborough? Chris Matthews, maybe. But Matthews has been on NBC for years and years. Remember, Olbermann has not appeared regularly, if at all, on NBC as of this point.

William Arkin came up of course. On this point Noyes, his ideological bent and motives nonwithstanding, scored a bullseye because Arkin is still with NBC apparently when by rights he should have been dropped like the hot potato he now has become.
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Tonight on 360, CNN’s Tom Foreman will host a special called “The Lion In The Village” which looks at Forward Operating Base Marez in the two years since a suicide bomber detonated a bomb in the base’s mess hall…

Even amid the horrors of war, soldiers need a safe place where they can rest, recharge, and prepare for the next battle. In Iraq, the soldiers at Forward Operating Base Marez thought they had just such a place. After all it was the home of the Strykers. But the insurgents had a specialized team of their own, and just days before Christmas, 2004, it went into action. A suicide bomber, carrying out a carefully organized plan, was slipped into the heart of Marez, into the very mess hall where the Americans were awaiting the holiday. What happened next, would change lives, harden military resolve, and launch a manhunt that continues to this day.

The Black Hills Pioneer’s Jaci Conrad Pearson recalls the time two years ago when Pearson’s two year old son was brought on FNC because he was a news junkie…

When the young producer, whose name was Erin received a call from Roger Ailes, Chairman and CEO of the FOX News Network, summoned us upstairs to his office. I kept saying, “What are we supposed to be doing?” And everyone else kept saying, “This has never happened before … I don’t know … I’ve never even seen him before …” They were so psyched that their show’s guest had caught Mr. Ailes’ attention on his office’s big screen. Turned out, Mr. Ailes simply wanted to meet Will and he let him sit at his desk while we chatted a minute. I took a photo op and we were off.

Cable News Daily Ratings for February 28, 2007

P2+ Total Day
FNC – 907,000 viewers
CNN – 479,000 viewers
MSNBC – 316,000 viewers
CNBC – 277,000 viewers
HLN – 282,000 viewers

P2+ Prime Time
FNC – 1,748,000 viewers
CNN – 798,000 viewers
MSNBC – 437,000 viewers
CNBC – 121,000 viewers
HLN – 550,000 viewers

25-54 Total Day
FNC – 260,000 viewers
CNN – 187,000 viewers
MSNBC – 119,000 viewers
CNBC – 122,000 viewers
HLN – 123,000 viewers

25-54 Prime Time
FNC – 414,000 viewers
CNN – 294,000 viewers
MSNBC – 157,000 viewers
CNBC – 51,000 viewers
HLN – 186,000 viewers

Morning programs P2+ (25-54)
FOX & Friends – 760,000 viewers (280,000)
American Morning – 398,000 viewers (171,000)
Imus in the Morning– 381,000 viewers (158,000)
Robin & Co. – 255,000 viewers (124,000)
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Olbermann Watch shuts down!

UPDATE: What will these guys do with themselves?

UPDATE : They claim victory of course. Not that it was deserved…

FishbowlDC reports that FNC’s Dana Klinghoffer has been promoted to Manager of Media Relations…

FishbowlDC notes that James Rosen’s wife gave birth to a baby boy this morning…

The Army Times Kelly Kennedy writes about the fallout at Walter Reed and how it’s impacting a long planned documentary being done by CNN…(via WHAC)

The Pentagon also clamped down on media coverage of any and all Defense Department medical facilities, to include suspending planned projects by CNN and the Discovery Channel, saying in an e-mail to spokespeople: “It will be in most cases not appropriate to engage the media while this review takes place,” referring to an investigation of the problems at Walter Reed.

The Chicago Tribune’s Phil Rosenthal writes about his paper’s court case with FNC over the use of “Red Eye” and FNC’s John Moody taking the stand…

Blacking out “Red Eye” and having Fox News Channel go dark on Chicago area cable systems so RedEye readers aren’t confused was one of the solutions Moody laid out Monday before U.S. District Judge Elaine Bucklo. Other options he offered, should the publisher prevail, included reinstating reruns of “Fox Report with Shepard Smith” in the slot and canceling the show outright.

Chicago Tribune Co. lawyers indicated they want the show renamed.