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Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Lawrence O'Donnell: Voice of MSNBC Desperation

From David Zurawik, Baltimore Sun critic

I promised myself I was going to waste no more time this year on silly cable news ratings ploys. But I have to say, not since MSNBC's Rachel Maddow, that legendary American journalist, took it upon herself to try and ridicule the news judgment of CNN for covering Michele Bachmann's State of the Union response have I seen anything as ridiculous as MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell attacking Bill O'Reilly, the Fox News program host who dominates the time period in which O'Donnell is now foundering.

Here's the video of O'Donnell's Monday attack. O'Donnell accuses O'Reilly of dishonesty, and then he cites a study about Fox News that he knows full well has been discredited. Read that here, and you decide who is dishonest.


And here's the ever-so-obvious context: O'Donnell is down more than 10 percent in audience from that of the late, newly-marginalized-by-his-move-to-Current-TV Keith Olbermann. All of MSNBC prime-time is sinking in the ratings, and all they seem to know how to do is make partisan attacks on those who are beating them. Last Friday, for example, with the real and monumental news of Egypt on everyone's minds, Fox News doubled MSNBC's audience during the day and in prime time.

Read more here.

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