In the overall scheme of things, the five-week lag between my profile of Rachel Maddow and the New York Times finally paying attention to her with a nice story today ... isn't really that long to wait. And I know Jacques Steinberg had better things to do — like wiping the slime off his clothing — but still, when you wonder who was paying attention to Rachel first, my name's in the URL.
Phil Griffin, the newly minted president of MSNBC, also has noticed Rachel. In an interview I had with him late yesterday, and which I would have posted except my hard drive is down, Griffin confirmed for me that Maddow is indeed the new permanent fill-in anchor for Keith Olbermann on "Countdown," replacing Alison Stewart.
However, the premise of Steinberg's piece, which is that Maddow could step into a prime-time show of her own any day now, seems a little premature to me. Much as I love watching her a guest, as she would be the first to acknowledge, moving to the other side of the desk is easier said than done.
When I asked Olbermann to tell me some things about Maddow for my profile, he told me about her prompter style:
We've batted the idea of her filling in for me, since last year. Finally we got the go-ahead, and she was a little hesitant, largely because she'd never used a teleprompter before. Now, to those who haven't tried it, it's daunting. But, I know from the personal memory of trying it the first time, at CNN in 1982, that you can learn it in 10 minutes. Maybe less.
I volunteered to reassure her by walking her through the prompter after the show one night. She had clearly mastered it by ten minutes, but then started asking questions I really hadn't previously articulated answers for: how do you keep from looking like you're reading? What's your purpose in looking away and reading quotes from the script? And the like.
She came back for two more practice sessions, then did the show. And I don't think she made one prompter mistake, in her first hour using one, live, on national television (I average four or five a night). She's an all-star, and I don't think she has the slightest sense of just how good at this she is. Or maybe she's smart and just not letting herself have that sense!
I agree largely with KO's assessment. Except ... as good as her prompter reading is, she has to learn that it is easier to sound didactic and lecture-y when you're reading your words off a screen than when you're having a conversation with somebody. Judge for yourself. Here she is pinch-hitting earlier this week:
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