Looking Back at When MSNBC Fired Antiwar Phil Donahue, and Amy Goodman Called Out Network on Live TV
In 2003, the legendary television host Phil Donahue was fired from his prime-time MSNBC talk show during the run-up to the U.S. invasion of Iraq. The problem was not Donahue's ratings, but rather his views: an internal MSNBC memo warned Donahue was a "difficult public face for NBC in a time of war," providing "a home for the liberal antiwar agenda at the same time that our competitors are waving the flag at every opportunity." But that wasn't the end of the story: during a live appearance on MSNBC in July 2006, Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman criticized the network for Donahue's firing. Donahue joins Goodman on Democracy Now! to look back at the episode and the lessons it holds for media in a time of war.
Watch the full interview with Phil Donahue: http://www.democracynow.org/2013/3/21/phil_donahue_on_his_2003_firing
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Even if that latter one is just a rumor, I'm glad to see it circulating again. WE NEED THAT VOICE!!!!! We NEED the combative, aggressive, pull-no-punches, in-yer-face response to these schmucks on the Dark Side.
And we need to clear EVERYBODY OFF MSNBC who ran on at the mouth about how great and rewarding and lucrative the Iraq War was gonna be. bill kristol - NEVER AGAIN. He must NEVER show his smug snarky self-congratulating face on MSNBC. And anybody who wants to book him in the booking department - OUT. FIRED!!! OUT!!!! GONE!!!! Get rid of him or her - hell, they can get new jobs on Pox Noise anyway because THAT is where they belong. LOSE bill kristol's contact info - now and forevermore, amen. He DOES NOT get back on. PERIOD!!! END of sentence, END of story. Until and unless he's purportedly correct in his assertions and they prove out - which we all know will NEVER happen. Show me ONE instance in which he's been right. Show me where he's called it correctly, and what he said would happen actually DID happen. He's GONE. And WHOEVER had the laziness and the lack of imagination to keep calling john mccain's office and booking HIM back on all the time, to the point where he became a semi-regular on "Meet the Press". (Actually no. Correct that. He's become a REGULAR on "Meet the Press!"
ENOUGH. Whoever books him all the time - FIRED. OUT!!!!
If I were running things, we'd completely overhaul the morning show. scarborough would be OUT. OUT!!!!!! Sick of him! When Stephanie Miller and company took that slot for a week, it was hilarious, fun, and it WORKED! She might be WUNNNNderful! And screw it - she doesn't want to relocate to NY or DC? Fine. We'll do it out of L.A. They can get people on from NY and DC any ol' time through the magic of TV.
I'd want to bring back Martin Bashir, too. I'd revisit Mrs. Greenspan's show. I don't like the scent of GOP that I keep smelling every time she's on. I don't think she pushed netanyahu NEARLY enough, and her questions were still cautious and soft-ball, from what I saw. Full disclosure here - I've only seen excerpts from her interview with him so I'm not sure how the whole thing went. But from what I saw, she sure pulled her punches and played nice. TOO nice. Maybe this would become Martin Bashir's time slot instead.
I'd put Rachel Maddow in charge of "Meet the Press" because America needs to be better educated and nobody on the air connects the dots better than she does, and put chuck todd on suspension for awhile. I'd direct him to do some long hard thinking about what he believes true journalism to be. If he comes back with a better answer than the one under which he's operated, he's back on. As a talking head but NOT host. Bring him on to crunch some numbers - WITH Steve Kornacki - whom I might consider appointing as chief political correspondent and then chuck todd can work for HIM.
I'd bring back the Young Turks too. As a special Valentine of LUV-LUV-LUV to the Washington GOP who didn't like the way he treated republi-CONS on his show and refused to guest on there. SO FUCKING WHAT??? That's just TOO DAMN BAD. NO loss, in my opinion! Screw 'em. As far as I'm concerned, they were getting the treatment they deserve - and have legitimately EARNED. We don't need 'em anyway. We've got LOTS of credible faces and voices from the liberal/progressive/True-Blue-DEMS to turn to, instead, and in my opinion they've been neglected for FAR too long.
With Rachel Maddow helming "Meet the Press," I'd give her Fridays off - just like Lawrence O'Donnell has. I'd give that Friday night two-hour block to John Fugelsang. Let him host a weekend show of fun - Friday nights, Saturday nights, and Sunday nights. Variety, music, panel discussion, satire, and groom him! Groom him the way Jon Stewart has groomed the likes of Steven Colbert, John Oliver, and Larry Wilmore - who now have pretty terrific shows and on-camera personae in their own right. Give him two hours and let him play, design, program, strategize. And rerun THAT over the weekend. Develop him up to full speed with a much-deserved high profile on TV. Besides, he's easy on the eyes as well as having an appealing personality and being rather brilliant and compelling. I think he has HUGE potential.
And for Olbermann and Donahue, evenings. Prime time. Unless Donahue wants afternoons. For Chris Hayes I'd find something else, cuz I like him and he does good work. I like him a lot but he has no pizazz. And unfortunately, the reality of television and the fight for ratings dictates that's what we need on a Monday-through-Friday schedule, especially in prime time. I'd be looking critically at both "Hardball" and also Alex Wagner's show. She's lovely and does a good job, but she has no pizazz either. I like her, but at the same time I find myself wondering - "how does she rate a full-time weekday show?" Besides, there's TONS of open programming opportunities all through Saturdays and Sundays if we could get rid of the "Lockout"/"Caught on Camera" crap that does not serve and further the liberal agenda.
And frankly, I have the same issue with Amy Goodman. Much as I like HER work, too. She also has no pizazz. She's way too professorial. And that's eloquent and intelligent but it won't get a lot of viewers on TV, where you have to have style and noise and pizazz. I would certainly have her on as a regular talking head, though. She should be enlisted on some of those panel discussions and guest appearances that they're now giving to Ronan Farrow. He's okay, too, I guess, but he too has no pizazz. Just a marquee family name and he photographs well. But that doesn't entitle him automatically to his own weekday show. I have no problem with what's been done there. But I would LOVE to see her enlisted far more frequently on such shows as "Meet the Press."
I'd want programming that takes no prisoners. And since the idiots out there decry "librul media" - which DOES NOT EXIST, then HELL! Let's GIVE 'EM some!!! Up the ASS!!! Every time I hear that bleat from that side, I feel like yelling back - "WHAT 'librul media'? There ISN'T any! You want 'librul media'? You haven't seen ANY such thing. And you don't know what you're talking about. You want 'librul media'? By God I'll SHOW YOU SOME LIBERAL MEDIA! It's about time you really and truly had a chance to see some. And I'm gonna JAM IT DOWN YER THROAT and UP YER ASS.
I think the ratings issues with MSNBC come from tiptoeing around those so-called labels of "librul media" or even "Liberal Media." We do not have a full-on lively, vigorous, and in-yer-face LIBERAL media. If we did, everybody'd know the truth.
his firing was shameful and an exposure of our bullshit 1% Media.
. So Phil welcomed him as a colleague and peer on Phil's show for the full hour to plug the book. From the moment he appeared, there was a strange, deadly snake look in Tweety's snake eyes. Phil was walking around the audience, apparently not sensing anything, while Tweety was motionless, following him only with his eyes. Phil brought up something or other questioning blind, kneejerk jingoism, and Tweety STRUCK! He started out with venom dripping, "You see, THIS is EXACTLY what's wrong with YOU Liberals: You are NEGATIVE about this country, you find NOTHING good about it," and on and on. It took awhile before Phil figured out what was happening. Later, Phil, devastated and spent, was sitting at the table with Tweety and, weaker and weaker, did some of his trademark shoulder shrugging and arm waving. Tweety delivered the coup de grace, "What's THIS (mimicking the movements)??!! What's with the --APE-- movements???!" Days or a week or two later, Phil's cancellation was announced and took effect.