Internecine strife, hurt feelings, jealousy, tears: no, it’s not a daytime soap opera but rather all in day’s work over at the cable channel nobody watches, MSNBC. It seems that someone named Donnie Deutsch — whose claim to fame is what, exactly? — who’s been anchoring a week-long afternoon series called “America the Angry,” drew the wrath of the station’s resident angry person, Keith Olbermann, by displaying an image of the Howard Beale of our time as part of a general examination of the media’s role in fostering a climate of, well, anger.
Just so you can sort them out, here’s Beale (Peter Finch) from the classic movie, Network:
And here’s Olbermann. Even their own mothers couldn’t tell them apart:
So let the fun begin! From the New York Times:
A weeklong anchoring stint on MSNBC by Donny Deutsch ended abruptly on Wednesday, and four people briefed on the decision said the cancellation stemmed from an unflattering mention of that channel’s No. 1 anchor, Keith Olbermann, a day earlier.
Mr. Deutsch had labeled his hour on MSNBC “America the Angry,” and Mr. Olbermann was shown briefly in a series of clips of media figures during a segment that pondered what role the media plays in fomenting the public’s anger. The four people briefed on MSNBC’s decision said Mr. Olbermann’s anger about the segment prompted the cancellation of the weeklong “America the Angry” series.
Mr. Deutsch would not confirm that, but he said Wednesday afternoon that “for whatever reason they decided they didn’t want to go with it the rest of the week.”
Turns out that even though the most famous graduate of Cornell Cow College — that would be Olbermann, not the fictional Beale — isn’t part of the management team, what he says, or feels, goes:
Mr. Olbermann’s detractors have repeatedly claimed in the past that he has refused to host his show on occasions when he was unhappy with management.
An MSNBC executive privately denied the claim that Mr. Olbermann, who is not a part of the channel’s management, influenced the decision to bench Mr. Deutsch, but would not say so publicly.
In a reply to an e-mail message from The New York Times, Mr. Olbermann said: “Your account is entirely untrue. Your e-mail is the first I am hearing of any of this. What I know of what happened is this: Phil Griffin phoned me yesterday enraged at what was on that show and I didn’t disagree with him.” Mr. Griffin is the president of MSNBC.
This little tempest in a teapot comes on the heels of Salon editrix Joan Walsh’s embarrassing appearance on Morning Joe, in which she amazingly claimed she didn’t know of any extreme voices on the left — as assertion that was met with incredulous laughter from hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski, although out of fear of the Great Olbermann (apparently, the Lord Voldemort of MSNBC) they didn’t dare to utter his name.
MSNBC seemed to confirm that the segment about the media’s role in instigating anger was troubling. “The segment did not go unnoticed and we’re dealing with it internally,” said Jeremy Gaines, an MSNBC spokesman.
The segment in question also included clips of Bill O’Reilly, Rush Limbaugh, and Glenn Beck. One of the guests, the radio host Hugh Hewitt, said that Mr. Olbermann and another MSNBC host, Ed Schultz, are “the biggest hate-mongers in television.”
And therein, Ms. Walsh, lies the answer Joe and Mika couldn’t give you:
The people who were briefed would not speak on the record because they feared retaliation by the network and because they were not authorized to speak about the matter.
Some of the people said the decision suggests that criticism of MSNBC is not allowed on MSNBC, potentially a troubling development. Both CNN and the Fox News Channel show media criticism programs each weekend.
And so another venture in the wonderfully Stalinist, insular and completely unhinged world of MSNBC bites the dust. As Henry Kissinger said about the Iran-Iraq War — although his words apply equally well to Donnny Deutsch and Olbermann — “It’s too bad they both can’t lose.”
Your thoughts, observations and general amusement welcome here.