Shouldn't the offices of The Nation be quarantined?
Posted on 09/11/2006 7:56:29 AM PDT by abb
NEW YORK Eric Alterman, perhaps the first writer to get a blog on a mainstream national news site, has been dismissed after 10 years by MSNBC.com.
"P.S., I’m Fired," he heads an email to others in the media.
His blog, Altercation, however, will be picked up by the liberal site Media Matters. He will also become a senior fellow there. Alterman has also been a longtime columnist at The Nation magazine. He teaches at City University of New York.
"I was hired before the 1996 launch by both the website and the cable station, and while the latter association ended in 1998, I have been here at MSNBC.com for ten straight years, writing a column until 2002 and Altercation every day, ever since," he writes. "Permit me to point out that with the help of my contributors and co-Altercators, I’ve probably contributed more words to this site than any other person, including full-time staff. Well, ten years is a good run at anything."
Alterman noted that when he started, others, such as Mickey Kaus and Andrew Sullivan, already had popular blogs but they had not yet been adopted by larger news organizations.
"As for MSNBC.com, I want to say that my experience working with my editors, past and present, has been an unbroken and unblemished blessing," he concludes. "It may sound amazing in the context of the online world but until I learned of my dismissal a few weeks ago, I had no idea whatever how many hits this site received. Nobody ever asked me to deal with a topic on Altercation, much less to stay away from one. And of course, all mistakes were my own.
"Whether my termination is, in fact, a product of a political decision at GE/NBC, which according to reports I read and gossip I hear, has lately taken a much firmer hand in guiding the content of both MSNBC and MSNBC.com, I have no way of knowing.... It would surprise no one if this site caused some discomfort at 30 Rock, if and when they happen to notice it. But speculation is not the same thing as evidence, and the good folks MSNBC.com and GE/NBC can, I’m sure, give you good reasons why dumping Altercation is the right thing to do from a business standpoint-- though the natural speculation that arises is a damn good argument against the kind of media concentration that allows a company like GE to own NBC in the first place.
"And few decisions in life have only one inspiration, alas. All I can say for sure is that I remain profoundly grateful for the opportunity they gave me and depart with nothing but feelings of warmth and gratitude for my colleagues who made it possible."
Ping
Who is Eric Alterman?
Low man out I guess
;-)
MSNBC Fired Rat Boy?
Fired by MSNBC. bwhahaha!! The Phil Donahue School of Irrelevant Has-beens has an opening, Eric.
Entirely bereft of talent, Alterman finally...FINALLY...gets handed his hat.
How could it possibly have taken this long?
tee hee
So sweet to see the good doctor's first law of journalism in action.
The non-biased (cough, cough) organization will keep Alterman well-fed though.
could not have happened to a nicer guy.
Shouldn't the offices of The Nation be quarantined?
OK, I'm over it.
Did they fire him for not bathing?
Gee, he does look like a 'rat.
I never could stand that guy! Good riddance........
To quote him from the article "But speculation is not the same thing as evidence"...If he would apply that as a credo, he wouldn't be such a hyperventilating moron.
I never saw or even heard of him. I feel very fortunate.
The Death of MSNBC continues. Even Dan Abrams can't save the network.
I don't know who he is either but from the comments here he will surely show up on PBS.
"Who is Eric Alterman?"
America's answer to Trotsky.
Eric is so stupid, that he shills for a stalinist publication, the Nation. If they had there way, they would erase this vermin just as stalin had trotsky "pickaxed."
So sad,he shall surely be missed. Ha Ha
Other sad news, Perky Katy debuted in 1`st place and is now
in 3`rd place.Ha Ha Ha.
A slobbering lunatic.
YADA YADA YADA YADA YADA YADA YADA YADA YADA YADA YADA YADA YADA YADA YADA YADA YADA YADA YADA YADA YADA YADA Lenin YADA YADA YADA YADA YADA YADA YADA YADA YADA YADA YADA YADA YADA YADA YADA YADA YADA YADA YADA YADA YADA YADA Marx YADA YADA YADA YADA YADA YADA YADA YADA YADA YADA YADA YADA YADA YADA YADA YADA YADA YADA YADA YADA YADA YADA Fidel YADA YADA YADA YADA YADA YADA YADA YADA YADA YADA YADA YADA YADA YADA YADA YADA YADA YADA YADA YADA YADA YADA Chavez YADA YADA YADA YADA YADA YADA YADA YADA YADA YADA YADA YADA YADA YADA YADA YADA YADA YADA YADA YADA YADA YADA The Nation YADA YADA YADA YADA YADA YADA YADA YADA YADA YADA YADA YADA YADA YADA YADA YADA YADA YADA YADA YADA YADA YADA etc.
Eric Alterman picked-up by Media Matters.
Well, are you surprised? ButtBoys always stick together.
Paul Ross will be posting and defending Alterman's material any moment now.
Boo hoo. Poor dying lib media.
In my honest opinion, they are more powerful than ever, are as influential as ever, and now with the right-leaning outlets (internet blogs, talk radio, "Fox News"), they have become even more emboldened than ever... And more shrill
It would be a HUGE mistake to underestimate their reach... Many, many more people get their news from ABCNBCCBSCNN sound-bites and local papers, and hear the quips from Leno and Letterman (who each get about 1.5 - 2.5 million viewers nightly), than from conservative sources...
Just my 2c.
Eric Alterman is the MEANEST, SMARMIEST, CREEPIEST, COCKIEST, SICKENING POS I have ever seen on TV.
I'm afraid you're right. We need to go after them more than ever. With the demise of Rather, Jennings and Brokaw, they merely shed their old skins, like a snake, to try and shed the old negatives.
He's ALSO one of the HISTORIANS that signed that letter to ABC to pull the movie!!! He's a Progressor...uh, Professor at some New York University.
Man oh man....How BAD do you HAVE to be to be FIRED by the WORST of the WORST, MSNBC?????
He was the main reason I had to stop watching C-Span!! Brian had him on ALL the time!! That and Brian Lamb LIED when he said that AFTER the election they would go back to taking random calls instead of Democrat line and Republican line.
Way overdue. That snot needed more than a pink-slip...a first-hand experience with Saddam's little torturers would show the whining rat what real torture was.
"I went on down to da Audubon Zoo and dey all axed f'you,
"Dey all axed f'you,
"I say dey even inquired 'boutcha...
"I went on down to da Audubon Zoo and dey all axed f'you,
"Da monkeys axed, da tigers axed
"And da elephants axed me too."
That's a good reason.
That and Brian Lamb LIED when he said that AFTER the election they would go back to taking random calls instead of Democrat line and Republican line.
Did he really promise that? Maybe it wasn't practical. The psychopathic seminar-callers have been jamming both lines to continuously preach that 9-11 was an "inside job". Yech. At this rate they will have to shut down the call in line altogether.
Alterman must be a friend of yours. Couldn't happen to a nicer guy. You're probably putting him up at your place right now.
I suppose that means we'll be seeing a lot more of Alterman's lies on FR - without a link, of course.
Yes...he promised to go back to open lines after the 96 election.
Was it Alterman (or David Brock) who gave you the bad info about the Fed setting rates on Treasury Bonds? Or maybe you got the bad info from EPI? Tell you what, admit you got the info from a left wing source and I'll stop beating you over the head with your error (well, that error).
Don't forget: we'll be expected to provide substantive responses to his pablum.
Sorry but writing over and over "it's Bush's Fault" about each and every issue that has come up over the last ten years is not worthy of praise, Mr. Alterman.
Alterman must be your tutor.
Typical liberal. Can't even own up to the faxt that he got fired due to his own ineptitude.
If we can manage to slog through the 4,000 word data dump.
Just out of curiousity, did you bother to read that Media Matters press release in its entirety? I never did.
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