MSNBC is taking Olbermann and Matthews off their election-night hosting duties. Makes sense. I'd prefer to watch them, of course, but insofar as you do want pretend objectivity in your newscasts, you probably want to center that tendency in the anchor. That said, MSNBC is currently third in the rankings, but were beginning to charge forward precisely because they'd switched up their formula and injected a bit of electricity into their newscasts. David Gregory should nip that trend in the bud, and MSNBC will get to keep their "objectivity" at the expense of their relevance. That may not be their preference, but if you read the article, it's pretty clear that parent company NBC is worried that MSNBC's perceived liberalism will reduce their access with Republicans, and they'd rather kneecap their spinoff than impede the network. On the other hand, this move does clarify things hlepfully. MSNBC is not a liberal network. They are a centrist network with two hours of liberal programming in the evenings and three hours of conservative programming in the mornings. Unlike Fox, where Republicanism is an ideology, for MSNBC, liberalism is a business strategy. And not even the only one. In the mornings, conservatism is the business strategy. And on weekends, making sure NBC executives can continue to golf with high-level Republicans is the business strategy. And the liberalism won't be allowed to threaten either one
