Is NBC News, the once-august organization that gave the world such TV giants as Chet Huntley, David Brinkley, John Chancellor, and Tom Brokaw, really going to let its reputation be besmirched, even destroyed, by one little attack-weasel, Chris Matthews? Or maybe make that one attack-weasel, and one trampy fox--Maria Bartiromo. Here's the lede: Matthews should not be moderating the Republican debate next Tuesday. If he does, it's bad for fairness in journalism, and it's bad for NBC's brand.
As every Cable Gamer knows by now, Matthews let 'it rip in DC on Thursday night, slandering George W. Bush and the rest of the Bush adminisration. I believe that The Washington Examiner's dynamic gossip duo, Jeff Dufour and Patrick Gavin, were the ones who got the story first, quoting Matthews saying that the Bush administration has "finally been caught in their criminality." But now every observer and blogger knows all about it. So the question is: What to do about Chris, whose motor-mouth has finally gotten the best of what little remained of his judgment.
Now of course, as a citizen, Matthews is entitled to his opinions, whatever they might be. But at the same time,the rest of us citizens have a right to expect fairness and balance in news-gathering. And it's,uh, certainly fair to say that Matthews has revealed himself, bias-wise. If he is so obviously biased--and nasty in expressing those biases, to the point of libel and slander--then he ought not to be a reporter. And certainly not a presidential debate-moderator.
Although Jossip boldly adds the detail that Chris was sloshed during his rant, the Cable Gamer thinks that he might be taking in more than mere booze.
Everybody knows that Matthews is a drinker, and weirdly proud of it--I have heard him say it on "Hardball"; he likes to brag about his boozing, becuase such tipling (learned from Tip O'Neill?) proves that he is an authentic Irishman, retaining lots of street cred, even if he makes a couple mil a year and lives in Northwest DC, not Northeast Philly. (But boy-o, take it from me, there are better ways to show loyalty to the Old Sod!)
Still, The Cable Gamer believes that while Matthews might well be drinking to excess, there's still a career-move method in his alkie-madness: MSNBC has shifted dramatically to the left, under the leadership of Dan Abrams, and Matthews must feel the need to keep up with the likes of Keith Olbermann.
But of course, it still makes sense that Matthews might well be drinking heavily; I'd be looking for oblivion, too, if I had gotten clobbered earlier this week by Jon Stewart, in one of the of faux news history. (And if Matthews really thinks he won that debate with Stewart, as Dufour & Gavin report, then he REALLY must be seriously far gone, all the way into the land of the pink elephants!)
The Cable Gamer will return to that "Daily Show" confrontation in some future posting, but in the meantime, there's a more pressing media matter: Whether or not NBC wishes to defend its editorial integrity from being chewed out from within. Specifically, NBC and its two corporate children, MSNBC and CNBC, are hosting a Republican presidential debate in Michigan this coming Tuesday, October 9th. And the hosts are Matthews and Bartiromo! (And we'll come back to Bartiromo, the soured-up "money honey," some other time, as well.)
But for the here and now we can ask: Is it right, is it fair, to have Matthews host a debate among Republicans, after he having said that the leader of the party, President Bush, is a criminal? Or at least that 43 is the head of a "revealed" criminal conspiracy?
I don't think so!
Obviously the Republicans should boycott this 10/9 debate. The Republican hopeful who writes a strong letter to NBC announcing his non-attendance will be an immediate hero to rank-and-file Republicans, the ones who know that the MSM deck is stacked against them.
But whether the GOPers do that or not, NBC should have the decency to yank Matthews and replace him with a fair-minded reporter--sorry, not you, David Gregory! When I say "fair," I mean, really fair, assuming that NBC can find such a reporter!!
By contrast, Fox has plenty of opinionated personalities--but it never uses them in such debate situations. Fox has never used Bill O’Reilly or Sean Hannity as debate moderators, because they are clearly commentators--as distinct from news reporters. It wouldn't be fair for Fox to do it, and so Roger Ailes doesn't do it. That's a bit of journalistic scrupulosity that obviously has evaded NBC and its two subsidiaries, MSNBC and CNBC.
So then the question is, What happens next? Will NBC and parent company GE really allow this Matthews travesty to take place? Will they sit on their haunches this weekend, as Matthews gets kicked around, and as all of the NBC media empire suffers from tarnish-by-association? Will NBC really put Matthews on the air on Tuesday? (And will Matthews stay sober in the meantime?)
As an aside, it'll be interesting to see if any group of activists or citizens starts up a boycott against MSNBC/CNBC/NBC/GE. No doubt the Moveon.org crowd is cheering Matthews, and I wouldn't be surprised if lefty billionaire George Soros has given Jeff Zucker and Jeff Immelt nice "attaboys." But such "blue" lefties don't speak for America--in fact, they don't even speak for the overall market.
But speaking of high-finance, Soros isn't the only big player out there. The really big player, which will determine the fate of all these media outfits, is the stock market itself. And the market, as TCG has noted in the past, doesn't think much of GE management, including its media properties--that's why the stock is down by a third from its highs at the beginning of this decade.
And those media properties will only do worse if consumers get the impression that MSNBC, in particular, is a hotbed of undisciplined--and never disciplined--lefty hit men. Such obviously partisanship and ideological-on-the-sleeving is ultimately not good for business. Yes, The Daily Kos loves it, but mainstream advertisers, even if they quietly lean to the left, will always shy away from a raging controversy and an overt confrontation with Middle America.
In fact, a Wall Street-driven reckoning is coming. TCG hears that the new plan is for GE to spin off NBC after the 2008 Beijing Olympics. If so, then it's hard to imagine that a spun off NBC will continue to be run the way that it's been run. The new owners will likely be a lot tougher on Matthews-type media bias. In fact, they probably won't tolerate such left-leaning at all.
So enjoy the party while it lasts, Chris! The Two Jeffs, Zucker and Immelt, are picking up your bar tab now, but they probably won't be there for you in a couple of years.
