http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/0225-09.htm
  
MSNBC fired Phil Donahue on Tuesday, abruptly ending the veteran talk show 
host's return to television after six months of poor ratings...

----------------------

And now we receive this news...


Leaked internal report says "Donahue" presented "a difficult public face for 
NBC in a time of war."

The study went on to claim that Donahue presented a "difficult public face for 
NBC in a time of war......He seems to delight in presenting guests who are anti-
war, anti-Bush and skeptical of the administration's motives." The report went 
on to outline a possible nightmare scenario where the show becomes "a home for 
the liberal antiwar agenda at the same time that our competitors are waving the 
flag at every opportunity."


http://www.allyourtv.com/0203season/news/02252003donahue.html

Commentary: The Surrender Of MSNBC

Written by Rick Ellis, Wednesday, February 25th, 2003

While the official announcement wasn't a surprise to anyone working at the 
network, MSNBC officially canceled the primetime show "Donahue" on Tuesday, 
citing disappointing ratings.

And in fact, if you look at the raw ratings numbers, the struggling news 
channel may have a point. Originally conceived as a liberal alternative to the 
popular O'Reilly Factor, the show started slow and never recovered. During this 
month, a "sweeps" period in which ratings are watched closely to set 
advertising rates, "Donahue" averaged 446,000 viewers. O'Reilly drew 2.7 
million viewers, up 28 percent from February 2002, according to Nielsen Media 
Research. 

But as it turns out, the picture isn't as clear as it initially seems.

While "Donahue" does badly trail both O'Reilly and CNN's Connie Chung in the 
ratings, those numbers have improved in recent weeks. So much so that the 
program is the top-rated show on MSNBC, beating even the highly 
promoted "Hardball With Chris Matthews."

Although Donahue didn't know it at the time, his fate was sealed a number of 
weeks ago after NBC News executives received the results of a study 
commissioned to provide guidance on the future of the news channel.

That report--shared with me by an NBC news insider--gives an excruciatingly 
painful assessment of the channel and its programming. Some of recommendations, 
such as dropping the "America's News Channel," have already been implemented. 
But the harshest criticism was leveled at Donahue, whom the authors of the 
study described as "a tired, left-wing liberal out of touch with the current 
marketplace." 

The study went on to claim that Donahue presented a "difficult public face for 
NBC in a time of war......He seems to delight in presenting guests who are anti-
war, anti-Bush and skeptical of the administration's motives." The report went 
on to outline a possible nightmare scenario where the show becomes "a home for 
the liberal antiwar agenda at the same time that our competitors are waving the 
flag at every opportunity."

A source close to Donahue claims that while he wasn't aware of the specific 
study, the tone and outcome aren't surprising. 

"It's not a coincidence that this decision comes the same week that MSNBC 
announces its hired Dick Armey as a commentator and has both Jesse Ventura and 
Michael Savage joining the network as hosts. They're scared, and they decided 
to take the coward's road and slant towards the conservative crowd that watch 
Fox News."

While that assessment may be a bit harsh, it seems clear that MSNBC has 
surrendered quicker than most recent Mike Tyson opponents. Rather than building 
a unique voice, the news channel has opted to become a lesser alternative to 
the Fox News Channel. And that decision was one that even the NBC News study 
recommended against making. 

"The temptation is to chase the audience that is already out there and play to 
what seems to be working at Fox. But there is another road, and if we build our 
unique voices from within, we have a chance to develop a loyal and valuable 
audience."

Well, I guess now we'll never know.

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