Making Light :: Aw, bugger :: comments

Aw, bugger

Eric Alterman's been fired by MSNBC. He's going over to MediaMatters....

Aw, bugger -- comment #1 from mcc

Mon, 11 Sep 2006 23:14:47 -0500

It's a little bit hard to tell from the text-- was he fired *because* of this column?

Posted September 11, 2006 11:14 PM by mcc

Aw, bugger -- comment #2 from Dave MB

Mon, 11 Sep 2006 23:32:39 -0500

He says in the text that he reads reports and hears rumors that it's a political decision by GE/NBC, but has no way of knowing whether it's true because he's never had input from above about it. He sort of has to have been fired because of the column, I think, because the column was what he was doing for them.

If there are limits to how much dissent GE/NBC/MSNBC is willing to sponsor, our new hero Keith Olberman is doing a good job of testing them. Of course his ratings are up, and perhaps either Alterman was not making much money for them or there was little way to measure what he was making.

Posted September 11, 2006 11:32 PM by Dave MB

Aw, bugger -- comment #3 from Jon Meltzer

Mon, 11 Sep 2006 23:42:50 -0500

Glenn Reynolds was supposedly fired, too.

Posted September 11, 2006 11:42 PM by Jon Meltzer

Aw, bugger -- comment #4 from Teresa Nielsen Hayden

Tue, 12 Sep 2006 02:07:37 -0500

And so he is.

Posted September 12, 2006 2:07 AM by Teresa Nielsen Hayden

Aw, bugger -- comment #5 from Linkmeister

Tue, 12 Sep 2006 03:02:02 -0500

Both of those guys? At the same time? That's odd. Presumably they're not huge payroll expenses to MSNBC.

Wasn't there some news a while back that Microsoft was bailing out of the collaboration? I wonder if that has something to do with it (if my memory is right and that's accurate).

Posted September 12, 2006 3:02 AM by Linkmeister

Aw, bugger -- comment #6 from Linkmeister

Tue, 12 Sep 2006 03:07:41 -0500

Hmm. I'm not quite right. Here's a January '06 Broadcasting and Cable story about NBC buying out Microsoft's stake in the TV part of MSNBC, but it says the dotcom portion of the partnership is doing well. Neither Reynolds nor Alterman had shows on the network (now there's a dreadful thought: Glenn Reynolds on your TV every afternoon for an hour), so the buyout shouldn't have had an impact on their web columns.

Posted September 12, 2006 3:07 AM by Linkmeister

Aw, bugger -- comment #7 from Rasselas

Tue, 12 Sep 2006 11:17:59 -0500

Maybe his prediliction for being addressed as "Dr." offended GE's sensibilities.

Posted September 12, 2006 11:17 AM by Rasselas

Aw, bugger -- comment #8 from Marilee

Tue, 12 Sep 2006 20:40:40 -0500

And on the other side, Michael Gerson is going to be a new op-ed columnist for the WashPost. The man who wrote some of Bush's "best" speeches will now be in the newspaper.

Posted September 12, 2006 8:40 PM by Marilee

Aw, bugger -- comment #9 from JulieB

Tue, 12 Sep 2006 21:53:08 -0500

I wouldn't read anything political into this right now. I have a background in broadcasting, and TPB can come up with the most idiotic reasons for letting people go. It may be money, or it may be that some executive had a bad lobster at lunch. I've seen more WTF-type reasons than that.

Often things like this fall under the umbrella of "time for a change." I didn't always agree with either of those guys, but they made for interesting reading.

Posted September 12, 2006 9:53 PM by JulieB