Opinion: Analyzing the Griffin/Abrams/Bassalik news…
There’s going to be a lot of buzz about what today’s news means and what it doesn’t mean. Some will say, aha Abrams has been demoted…he couldn’t do the job…it’s a no confidence vote. I don’t see it that way. You could see that things were going to turn out this way just as a matter of circumstance. The signs were all there.
First of all, MSNBC doesn’t need a GM in 30 Rock. Note that new hire Shannon High-Bassalik’s title is not GM. It needed one in Secaucus because that was a different location. But with NBC News and MSNBC under one roof, a GM, while not quite to the level of gratuitous, certainly isn’t mandatory. Second, if you had noticed the media articles the past couple of months, particularly since Abrams started his nightly show, the number of quotes you read from Phil Griffin pertaining to MSNBC increased significantly (and noticeably). Third, Abrams can’t run MSNBC and have a show and still function effectively. Fourth, MSNBC needs a show to run at 9. Scarborough is committed to Morning Joe. Abrams already had a show running. To kill it at this point and start over with someone else is not productive.
While all this seems like a lot of news, on the face of it not much changes for MSNBC in the near term. The same vision and the same direction which existed during Abrams’ GM term and was reflected on what one would see when they tuned in to MSNBC will still exist when Griffin assumes a more hands on role.
The $64,000 question, and the one that is probably the most important but paridoxically the least thought about, is what does the hiring of Shannon High-Bassalik say about the longtime NBC News staffers who could have done the same job but were passed over for outsider High-Bassalik? This is the second time in a row now that NBC News has gone the unconventional route and not promoted from within its own staff ranks. The first time was going outside and bringing Abrams in as GM. Just how many people at NBC are reading today’s news and wondering if this was a no-confidence vote…? It seems like it to me.
“The first time was going outside and bringing Abrams in as GM”
Wasn’t he working at MSNBC before he got the GM job, or am I mistaken?
Comment by Anonymous — September 24, 2007 @ 3:02 pm
I’m talking about going outside NBC News Division’s hierarchy. Abrams was not part of the Exec staff of VPs, Producers, Directors, etc. He was talent.
Comment by Spud — September 24, 2007 @ 3:05 pm
Ah, gotcha.
Comment by Anonymous — September 24, 2007 @ 3:39 pm
The good - Dan Abrams permanently in the evening show
line up. This is not surprising.
The bad - Joe Scarborough getting the morning show.
Considering his numbers, this is startling.
Comment by Cella — September 24, 2007 @ 4:32 pm
This is the disassembling of MSNBC. Predictable consequence of the “Imus Debacle” which turns out was a career bending decision.
Comment by channelxrfr — September 24, 2007 @ 5:24 pm
Isn’t this kind of like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic?
Comment by Carol — September 24, 2007 @ 5:42 pm
So Scarborough is comitted to Morning Joe Huh?
He should be comitted period if he think’s he has got a pinch of what Imus had in that spot.
Comment by JAB — September 24, 2007 @ 6:37 pm
So Joe’s out of work when MJ gets cancelled - smart move by Abrams before he got canned.
Comment by moonbeam — September 24, 2007 @ 6:44 pm
I wonder if Abrams is taking a pay cut.
Comment by Ira — September 24, 2007 @ 8:00 pm
Any way you look at it, the ratings are way down since April. MSNBC doesn’t exist on my tv channel selections.
Comment by Anne B — September 24, 2007 @ 8:49 pm
This makes sense, the MSNBC move is going to get going into high gear within the next 2-3 weeks.
Comment by Nobody — September 24, 2007 @ 9:48 pm
I don’t see what happened to Abrams as a demotion - Abrams was an innocent bystander in the Imus debacle, and obviously likes the on-air side of the business better. Arranging to inherit a show at the 9 PM spot was a good soft landing.
The more obvious demotion/firing would be Capus, but he has to be kept on for a year or two, or doing something with him will be seen as an acknowledgement that the big bosses made a mistake. After seeing Capus in action, there should be a handy reason to tidy him away at the appropriate time.
Comment by David Why — September 25, 2007 @ 7:31 am