Anyone Remember Phil Dononhue's show on MSNBC ?

[JI7]

i didn't really watch it. but from what i remember they cancelled his show around the time of the IRaq war because he was being critical about it. he was getting good ratings also.

anyone remember this and whether this is correct ? if true it would go with the media taking part in the Bush propaganda.

[montanacowboy]

1. It's absolutely true

they cancelled him like Shazam! he was way too liberal and questioning about the big war plans MSNBC had;

Yep, the one voice out there they quashed

[movonne]

2. I sure do...

[islandmkl]

3. he was bein' unamerkun...

[NewJeffCT]

4. He or his producer said

they were told NBC was afraid he'd speak out against the war. His ratings were lousy, but they were the best on MSNBC at the time.

[Rose Siding]

12. That's right. He was beating Matthews' ratings when he got canned.

The Studs Terkel interview was my favorite.

[ladjf]

5. I like Phil. He is an honorable man. But, his political show not only

was boring, Phil didn't seem to be very well informed. I wasn't surprised that the show was canceled.

[Warpy]

6. He was their highest rated host at the time

and they canned him because the White House gang whined that he was fucking up their propaganda plans by telling too much truth.

So GE, good little arms dealers that they are, ordered MSNBC to him so they could make more money selling weapons.

[Freddie Stubbs]

15. Higher than O'Reilly? Than Chung?

During this month, a "sweeps" month in which ratings are watched closely to set advertising rates, "Donahue" averaged 446,000 viewers. O'Reilly drew 2.7 million viewers, up 28 percent from February 2002, according to Nielsen Media Research.

Connie Chung's CNN show that debuted shortly before "Donahue" averaged 985,000 viewers this month, Nielsen said.

http://www.cnn.com/2003/SHOWBIZ/TV/02/25/donahue.ap/index.html

[Warpy]

17. Were O'Reilly and Chung on MSNBC?

I never knew.

[patrice]

7. That show was a reprise of his first show, from the '70s? '80s? . . . a Long time ago.

I always liked him WAY more than Mike Douglas and Donald O'Connor. He always talked about stuff that was much more interesting.

[Earth Bound Misfit]

8. According to an internal MSNBC memo leaked to the press ...

revealed that Mr. Donahue was deemed "a tired, left-wing liberal out of touch with the current marketplace" in an analysis from an outside focus group.
He was also not very marketable. According to the memo, Mr. Donahue represented "a difficult public face for NBC in a time of war. ... He seems to delight in presenting guests who are anti-war, anti-Bush and skeptical of the administration's motives."

--snip--

The analysis warned MSNBC that its flagship show could become "a home for the liberal anti-war agenda at the same time that our competitors are waving the flag at every opportunity."

Source: http://www.goldtalk.com/discuspro/messages/14/9380.html

From a story published Feb 28, 2003 "MSNBC says view fits into 'big tent'" by the :puke: Washington Times :puke:

[TheDebbieDee]

9. I vaguely remember him having a show, but I never watched it!

I couldn't believe, at the time, that any President would be crazy enough to lie about a thing like Iraq having WMDs. After all, if it was a lie, we'd find out about if when there were no WMDs to be found.

This was before I realized how "messianically insane" the entire * admin was.......

And also, before I realized that had they been close to developing any WMDs in Iraq, Israel would have run a pre-emptive bombing strike on the necessary targets there.

[lordsummerisle]

10. I remember it quite well

and the resason for it's cancellation...

[Gabi Hayes]

11. sure...check this

http://www.cooperativeresearch.org/context.jsp?item=afall02msnbccountdowniraq&scale=0#afall02msnbccountdowniraq

Jeff Cohen, the founder of the media watchdog organization Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR) and a former producer for MSNBC talk show host Phil Donahue, loses almost all of his airtime on the network as the Iraq invasion approaches. Cohen, once a frequent guest on MSNBC’s various opinion and commentary shows, will reflect in his 2006 book Cable News Confidential that he argued passionately against invading Iraq, using “every possible argument that might sway mainstream viewers—no real threat, cost, instability.” However, as the run-up to war progresses, he is no longer allowed on the air.

He will write: “There was no room for me after MSNBC launched ‘Countdown: Iraq’—a daily one-hour show that seemed more keen on glamorizing a potential war than scrutinizing or debating it. ‘Countdown: Iraq’ featured retired colonels and generals, sometimes resembling boys with war toys as they used props, maps and glitzy graphics to spin invasion scenarios. They reminded me of pumped-up ex-football players doing pre-game analysis and diagramming plays. It was excruciating to be sidelined at MSNBC, watching so many non-debates in which myth and misinformation were served up unchallenged.” In 2008, Cohen will write: “It was bad enough to be silenced.

Much worse to see that these ex-generals—many working for military corporations—were never in debates, nor asked a tough question by an anchor.” Cohen’s recollections will be bolstered by a 2008 New York Times investigation that documents a systematic, well-organized media manipulation program by the Pentagon that successfully sells the war to the media and the American public by using so-called “independent military analysts” (see April 20, 2008 and Early 2002 and Beyond).






discussed here, sorta

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x3354055

[Freddie Stubbs]

13. No, he was not getting good ratings:

During this month, a "sweeps" month in which ratings are watched closely to set advertising rates, "Donahue" averaged 446,000 viewers. O'Reilly drew 2.7 million viewers, up 28 percent from February 2002, according to Nielsen Media Research.

Connie Chung's CNN show that debuted shortly before "Donahue" averaged 985,000 viewers this month, Nielsen said.

http://www.cnn.com/2003/SHOWBIZ/TV/02/25/donahue.ap/index.html

[JI7]

16. but on MSNBC he was the highest rated show

[Berry Cool]

14. This story has been repeated so many times, Keith Olbermann responded to it on Daily Kos:

Keith's words:

I must say I know most of the people involved in the end of Donahue on MSNBC and I was just back in the company when it happened.

I have the highest respect for Phil's moral force, and the ripeness of his prescience about this war, which exceeded my own.

Having said that, my impression was (and remains), had there been no war, had there been no 9/11, had there been no Bush Administration, the show still would've been cancelled.

Whether it was his fault or management's or a combination thereof, I truly think television-only-type-stuff between them had gotten so bad, that his stance on the war constituted only the last 2% of the decision to take him off the air.

I think I stand as an expert on scenarios in which television-only-type-stuff between talent and management can go bad. And yes, I'm fully aware of the "Fire Him" memo, which I gather was written by one very paranoid part of the company while the regular-tv part had already asked "Who will rid me of this meddlesome host?"

I realize I am disputing a premise held pretty firmly around here, but I am in earnest about this...

(He also addresses the military analysts story)

http://www.dailykos.com/comments/2008/5/14/155011/273/752#c752

[City Lights]

18. I just brought up Phil's name on another thread. nt