MSNBC Removes Matthews and Olbermann From Election Coverage

Chris Matthews and Keith Olbermann would no longer be seen anchoring Election Night programming on MSNBC, thanks to the political bias between MSNBC and parent company NBC.

After months of accusations of political bias and infighting, MSNBC decided over the weekend that Olbermann and Matthews would no longer anchor its election news coverage.

The pair will be replaced by David Gregory, the NBC newsman and White House correspondent who also hosts a show on MSNBC, spokesmen for both the networks confirmed Monday. Gregory will anchor the remaining primetime telecasts for the coming presidential and vice presidential debates as well as Election Night.

MSNBC’s move to replace Matthews and Olbermann follows a criticism it faced from Fox News and Republicans for being too partisan and liberal in its 2008 election coverage, anchored by the aforementioned two anchors.

Despite their removal from channel’s coverage of the 2008 election, Matthews and Olbermann will remain analysts and commentators. The two will also continue with their own shows, "Countdown," hosted by Keith Olbermann, and "Hardball," hosted by Chris Matthews.

What caused Olbermann’s removal from the programme were the comments he made on the last night of the Republican National Convention (RNC) after the network aired a Sept. 11-themed video prepared by the Republicans. Olbermann criticized MSNBC for showing Republicans’ video that paid tribute to the victims of the September 11 attacks.

In his remarks, Olbermann said the video exploited the memories of the Sept. 11 victims and that the network should not have aired it.

“We would be rightly eviscerated at all quarters, perhaps by the Republican Party itself, for exploiting the memories of the dead, and perhaps even for trying to evoke that pain again. If you reacted to that videotape the way I did, I apologize,” he said of the video.

Despite his left-leaning tendencies, Olbermann’s “Countdown” has a higher television rating than any other show on MSNBC, reaching more than 1 million viewers a night.

According to associate journalism professor Robert Jensen, although Olbermann has right to criticize the current administration, but the problem with him is that he does so by supporting a similar degraded political party.

“Television journalism is a contradiction today, because the reality of commercial television is that it’s ratings-driven. The pressure comes from increasing viewer ratings and decreasing costs. All TV anchors work from a position where they can’t challenge conventional political wisdom,” he said.