“The legacy of Rick Kaplan, who was axed as president of MSNBC with six months to go on his three-year contract, seems to be dwindling to a burnt cinder at the third-rated cable news network,” Lloyd Grove says, pointing to the cancellation of “Live & Direct.”
Clearly, the cable net is trying to differentiate itself, even if that means ceding some ground in the breaking news wars. After reading this post about MSNBC’s disappointing coverage of the North Korea missile launch, an e-mailer writes: “Why the venom on MSNBC? I thought it was pretty clear that the new direction at MSNBC was to differentiate it from CNN and FNC. It appears they did just that. I can’t wait to see the ratings.” To put it another way: Jeff Zucker said he wanted tape, and he got tape…
> Update: 12:43pm: “Differentiating your product does not mean you get out of the news business,” an e-mailer writes. “I’ve been a fairly loyal MSNBC viewer due to Imus and Matthews and Olbermann. But now, I know I can’t count on them to give me important information during dangerous times. A real shame.”
> Update: 12:50pm: Another e-mailer asks: “If MSNBC is no longer covering breaking news in favor of tape, then how can it call itself a cable news channel?” Remember: Steve Capus thinks of MSNBC as a “news and information” channel…
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