The New York Times’ Alessandra Stanley writes about the entire cable news race, through the context of MSNBC’s primary coverage from last night.
She summed it up very simply: “Tuesday night, MSNBC tried very hard to be on its best behavior.”
Stanley highlighted a few areas of MSNBC’s coverage, like airing more of Sen. Hillary Clinton‘s speech last night than any other network, and Chris Matthews apologizing for using the term “white males” when describing an exit poll.
But she did note, “On election nights, especially when NBC News veterans like Tim Russert and Tom Brokaw join them, Mr. Matthews and (Keith) Olbermann are insightful and quick-witted.”
But the most creative line comes when she formulates a cable news channel middle school metaphor: “On a slower news day, MSNBC’s anchors show signs of Cable Insecurity Syndrome, trying to outshout their rivals at the better-rated Fox News. In this middle school melodrama, Fox News gives MSNBC wedgies and steals its lunch money, and MSNBC tries to act even tougher. (CNN is the National Merit Scholar who does the work, stays out of trouble, and is reliable but somewhat dull.)”