MSNBC Questions Obama on Campaign Promises

The New York Times' Brian Stelter has been looking at how MSNBC's programmes and presenters are now handling their relations with the Obama administration, and more to the point, how they are trying to hold the administration to their campaign promises.  The whole situation seems to have developed from Rachel Maddow's coverage of the passage of the health care reform bill in the House of Representatives, where she called the passage an 'electoral defeat'.

Stelter writes;

The spectacle of Democrats sniping at one another is not new, but having a TV home for it is. MSNBC — sometimes critically called the “home team” for supporters of Mr. Obama — has even hit upon the theme with a promotional tagline, “pushing back on the president,” in commercials for “Hardball,” Chris Matthews’s political hour.

“Our job is not to echo the president’s talking points,” said Phil Griffin, the president of MSNBC. “Our job is to hold whoever’s in power’s feet to the fire.”

But is it good business? MSNBC is projected to take in $365 million in revenue this year, roughly the same amount as last year, when the presidential election bolstered its bottom line. Three years ago, before making a left turn, it had revenue of about $270 million a year. MSNBC’s parent company, NBC Universal, is on the verge of being spun out of General Electric in a deal that would make Comcast its controlling entity.

Read the full article here.