One of the things that has enabled the conservative blogosphere and Fox news has been the refusal of the MSM to cover stories that might portray a democrat in an unfavorable light.
The Monica Lewinsky case made Matt Drudge because Newsweek when given the chance to cover a story with every element that would attract readers; Sex, Power intrigue, declined.
The same thing happened with the John Edwards story. The MSM continued to ignore it until the National Enquirer caught him with the lady in a hotel.
Consider: If Newsweek does it’s job, how much smaller is Matt Drudge? Does he inspire others? Does an Andrew Breitbart who worked with Drudge get his start?
Let’s say you are a hard left person; what would you today give to have neutralized Matt Drudge and all those who would follow him?
And consider 2000. Do you think an incumbent Al Gore would have lost to George Bush? I think not.
Consider myself and the Weiner business. If the MSM reports do I end up with an Op-ed in the NY Post, or the Lars Larson radio and Fox TV gigs? Would I even get the Instalanche if the MSM makes the points that I did first?
Which brings me to Joe Scarborough again.
This morning I stated that this was an important show for Joe Scarborough. There is a definite connection between the show and Weiner but Joe Scarborough is very familiar with Twitter and would understand the potential problems with Rep. Weiner’s story.
Yet his own dismissal of Andrew Breitbart and association with people such as Joan Walsh of Salon who railed about the Weiner business being all about conservatives attacking teenage girls, and the Huffington Post who confined the story to the NY section, transformed any confrontation with Weiner from simple reporting to act of courage. It would be standing against the people he hangs with at parties and events. It is the type of thing that would make the “no labels” crowd uncomfortable.
Confronted with this choice, #weinergate was not covered in any segment, and his name was mentioned only in passing about “hacking” in general. It didn’t even make the “news you can’t use” segment. (Can you imagine this happening if the congressman in question was Paul Ryan?). No coverage of the lawyering up, no coverage of the alleged hacker offering to submit to investigations and no coverage of Rep Weiner choosing to not answer questions. Nothing.
Normally there would be no damage as only Fox would cover the story and their niche market would never hear about it. Unfortunately for Joe and Company CNN decided no act in a very atypical way for an MSM network.
Congressman Weiner was, to the surprise of even Andrew Breitbart, confronted by a CNN apparently deciding this was a job they would not outsource to Fox (when you are in 3rd place you apparently try harder). The result was classic TV.
The media stars of the left were since the movie all the president’s men, brought up on drams of such confrontations all their lives. All those dreams involved Republicans, but lo and behold when a democrat is the subject it’s still great TV. CNN reporters will look at this and say: Why not me?
This is a disaster for MSNBC. Any MSNBC host this evening who wants to report on this has to show the CNN clip and the left of center viewers who would refuse to turn to FOX to see the story have no such qualms about watching CNN.
Tomorrow morning when this clip is shown on Morning Joe viewers will be wondering why they didn’t hear about this issue on the show. They will remember how many times Congressman Weiner has appeared on the show and will be amazed that they are hearing about this after the fact.
This is an embarrassment and a self-inflicted wound to the credibility of his show.
Why do I care? Two reasons:
1. Morning Joe is the only show on MSNBC that has the possibility of the entry of conservative opinions into their audience. Its fall would likely cause its replacement with a totally liberal show appealing the MBNBC’s niche Market.
2. I genuinely like these people. I’ve met Willie on one occasion and Mike Barnicle on several, they are nice regular guys. The type you would have a beer with and could talk straight with. I suspect Joe and Mika are too. Any parent who sees how Mika reacts around children or sees how she treats her father on the air can’t help but like her. Plus Joe once paid me a complement that was passed on through a 3rd party that was very important to me at the time and an American of Sicilian origin doesn’t forget a favor.
It is painful to watch them do this to their show. I hope they in the future take these words of Robert Stacy McCain to heart:
This story is what we call “news.” No matter how unseemly or inconsequential the story may superficially appear to be, it is entirely legitimate and potentially significant, and it is therefore a dereliction of journalistic duty to ignore or dismiss it.
My appearance on Fox 25 tomorrow precludes me from seeing tomorrow’s show, I sure hope they take what I said to heart but frankly I’m not sanguine.
Update: Poor Joe & Co. John Stewart was all over this. I’d bet real money the only clip they will play if any is the “it’s too big to be him” stuff.
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