Posted on 07/22/2011 7:00:38 PM PDT by markomalley
This week Cenk Uygur lost his spot as interim host of the 6pm slot on MSNBC; since then there has been something of a he said/he said surrounding the reasons behind Uygur’s departure from the cable news network. Last night, Uygur appeared on Countdown with Keith Olbermann, which now appears on the fledgling Current network, for an interview rife with hidden meanings, subtext, and almost Shakespearean tragic tones.
There is a lot to unpack in the following clip, but the core of it centers around the notion of established, mainstream media, and whether or not Uygur was somehow a victim of being “too honest” in his critiques of those with whom he disagreed politically. This is how he has explained it in his own YoungTurks YouTube video, alleging that MSNBC president Phil Griffin relayed to him that people in Washington “did not like his tone,” which led to absurd allegations that somehow the White House was giving programming notes to MSNBC. Both the White House and MSNBC have pushed back rather aggressively on this version of events.
But the most telling part of the interview came at the end of the segment, when Olbermann asked Uygur how he wants his loyal fan base to react to this. Uygur referred to himself in the third person and said:
Look I think the most important message out of all of this isn’t about Cenk Uygur, isn’t about MSNBC, its about the media and the press in general. And, are we going to be honest with our audience, are we going to trade in honesty and truth and information that we are supposed to gather for access.
I couldn’t stand that about the mainstream media before I went there, when I used to tell the Young Turks audience about this was a huge problem. And now that I’ve been inside that machine it turns out that I was totally right our outside perception of it. The problem is they are obsessed with access and we cannot have it. If you say ‘hey listen, I need to have the Democrats on my show going into the election … its not right.
At this point, Olbermann cut off Uygur to end his program on time, perhaps also saving Uygur from saying anything too critical of Olbermann’s former employers that might fall beyond a likely non-disclosure agreement between the Countdown host and MSNBC.
Yes, Uygur prefaced his comments by saying that this “isn’t about MSNBC” but the rest of his comments seems to suggest a pretty indicting (petty?) stance on MSNBC management. Let’s face it, the introductory phrase is pretty damning unto itself. No earnest praise ever came after the opening phrase “I’m not saying that you are ____”; or as many psychology professors will tell you, when someone says “I’m not saying X,” what they are really saying is “X.”
In fairness, Uygur makes a decent point about access, though anyone who works in any media will tell you that there is a fine balance between reporting and access; it is a nuanced economy of coverage that allows other TV anchors to flourish. But to lay the blame of his departure from MSNBC on his “honesty” is self-serving and belies a much bigger fact: his ratings were not strong.
Couple of other small items worth noting: Uygur’s loyal fanbase will likely be delighted to hear Olbermann’s throwaway salutation at the end “we’ll be in touch,” which could indicate that Uygur’s next home is on Current (which makes a ton of sense for both Olbermann, Uygur and Current). Alas for the Young Turk, being on Current means that video of your broadcast product will be very difficult to find on the Internet, as evidenced by this post.
Had a good LOL for about 10 seconds. :-)
His loyal audience?? LOL, who is that, his mother and father?
This clowns’ ratings were lower than Olbermann’s!
I hope we can relinquish Obama to Current TV soon.
It sure seems like a safe place for leftwing egomaniacs.
Sounds like one vermin infested dog urinating on another vermin infested dog. IMHO
More people will read it here than saw it on current tv.
Watching the video will only give him ratings.
His loyal audience was DemocraticUnderground. They loved him over there. What I wouldn’t give for a corner on the anti-depressant DU market right about now. There must be wailing and gnashing of teeth. First Keith Olbermann and now Cenk; what is the DU world coming to?
Uiho is Cenk Uigur...and Uiho cares. And what is an MSNBC?/sarc
...alleging that MSNBC president Phil Griffin relayed to him that people in Washington "did not like his tone," which led to absurd allegations that somehow the White House was giving programming notes to MSNBC... "...its about the media and the press in general. And, are we going to be honest with our audience, are we going to trade in honesty and truth and information that we are supposed to gather for access... The problem is they are obsessed with access and we cannot have it. If you say 'hey listen, I need to have the Democrats on my show going into the election ... it's not right." At this point, Olbermann cut off Uygur to end his program on time...Oh yeah, *that's* the reason Zerolbermann cut him off.
I love youtube and this jerk is the head of, or an important part of a left wing news vlog. He does have a substantial amount of fans. I am not one of them.
Yeah I agree, why elevate the name recognition of these two trolls?
Or, maybe Olberman and Uygur just suck.
I went to mediaite and read the whole story, plus the one where olbie trashes MSNBC. Friggin’ hilarious! Stink and Queef are having a hissy about losing their jobs and being replaced by a total racist buffoon like Al. MSNBC hired Al to shut him up about their all-white lineup, much to the chagrin of their house negro Eugene Robinson. Liberal racism is so obvious.
Al Sharpton gets the spot which means Obama needs the black vote this election more than ever.
Further, Cenk is sunk to the bottom of the Caspian Sea because it was politically expedient. “Access” is a word as meaningless as “praxis” or “the other” but if Cenk wants to believe in such contrived rot to convince himself he are more important than Obama’s election season (get out the black vote,) he is deluding himself.
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