NPR host and former CBSNews.com Public Eye editor Matthew Felling writes a nearly 3,000-word article in the new issue of the American Journalism Review about MSNBC’s Morning Joe. Felling calls the show, which he has co-hosted, “the loosest yet most comprehensive three hours in morning television today — going so far, to some, as to set the agenda for the day’s news.”
Felling also writes about Joe Scarborough‘s previous show, Scarborough Country. “It was terrible. We did the best we could do,” Scarborough tells Felling. “We fought hard to have more news in our broadcast, to have war and media and pop culture, but it was such a frenzied pace that you couldn’t sit back and dig deeply enough to get a newsmaker to open up. That’s one of the reasons I jumped at the chance to replace Imus.”
Felling uses a Jerry Maguire analogy to describe Scarborough’s zeal in pursuing the morning show position. Felling writes that Scarborough photoshopped a promotional poster of an ad for him as morning show host, brought it to Kinko’s and had it delivered to NBC SVP Phil Griffin.
“Given the chance to wing it for three hours of topical conversation, Scarborough started talking with the two fellows on set before the red light went on, and continued on uninterrupted into an on-air chat about the morning’s news,” Felling writes.
• Related: Politico’s Anne Schroeder Mullins writes about the morning grind on Morning Joe.