Letters to the Editor

The decay of serious journalism and Rachel Maddow's new show The New Republic -- of all places -- laments the loss of "nuance or intellectual rigor" on television as epitomized by MSNBC's troubling decision to give an actual liberal her own show. Glenn Greenwald [2008-08-21]

• That's Dr. Maddow to you, Sacha

  wiki:

  Maddow later obtained a degree in public policy from Stanford University in 1994. She then received a Rhodes Scholarship in 1995 and used it to obtain a D.Phil. in political science from Lincoln College, Oxford University.

  Which immediately--by itself--puts her in the top 1% of political commentators in terms of background and qualifications.

  Zimmerman:

  By all means we should have progressive and conservative commentators and analysts, but is there no room for argument between the two?

  Apparently so:

  "Now she appears on a new roundtable show, “Race for the White House,” hosted by NBC’s David Gregory at 5 p.m. weekdays.

  She sits next to Pat Buchanan, the old Nixon hand and Republican presidential candidate who often tacks to the right of the party. Their rapport is not warm, but at least they don’t yell across the room at each other, as Eleanor Clift and Buchanan do every week on “The McLaughlin Group.”

  Watching them on MSNBC, I’m reminded how many Buchanans are represented in the chattering class, yet how few Maddows there are, tacking to the Democrats’ left. And if you think the party’s nominee is left-wing, you haven’t heard a progressive pundit lately.

  http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/columnists/aaron_barnhart/story/661526-p2.html

  and finally,

  Today MSNBC is No. 3 with a bullet. It’s surging among the 25-to-54-year-olds who have always eluded cable news channels. In this demographic MSNBC is regularly beating CNN in prime time and even starting to challenge Fox News Channel.

  For the record, Fox News continues to swamp MSNBC in total audience. But advertisers will pay richly to reach young viewers, even in small batches. So it did not go unnoticed last month when Maddow guest-anchored “Countdown,” and her rating in the age 25-54 “demo” was higher than Bill O’Reilly’s for the same hour on Fox.

  I think MSNBC's calculation re: Maddow has nothing to do with "post-partisan", "partisan", "balance", or any other political calculation. They simply see a market and are selling into it. Fine by me--Maddow is clearly better than 99% of what's out there now. All that remains to be seen I suppose is whether she can maintain her independence within MSNBC, or whether she will succomb to that culture.

  -- casual_observer
  [Read casual_observer's other letters]
  Permalink Flag Thursday, August 21, 2008 08:36 AM
  Click "Submit Flag" if you feel this post is inappropriate. Explain why below if you wish.

  Cancel