Lionel backs me up: Where was MSNBC during Mumbai?
Air America personality Lionel was watching MSNBC on Thanksgiving and he had exactly the same experience that I had when I tuned in on Friday. It was like nothing was going on in the world -- nothing that deserved to pre-empt a "Lockup: Raw" Turkey Day marathon.
Look, I want MSNBC to succeed. But you have to lose this ridiculous prison filler and be news 24/7. I don't care if it's the best of Dan Abrams. ... What could have possibly been the reason not to blow off the Folsom Prison Hour for live coverage of a terrorist attack?
Here's the problem: MSN is a network that has been through countless restructurings and reductions. And by this point, it's really starting to show. As long as all hands are on board, it does OK -- not to bring up Wednesday again, but I thought the network handled it appropriately, before anyone knew the situation would get so out of hand. But once it did get out of hand and the story got even bigger, that's when MSNBC went MIA.
Like me, Lionel has become a big fan of not just the evening shows but "Morning Joe," the improbably successful Don Imus replacement. (Mika Brzezenski, hot news anchor? Go figure.) But all that gutting ordered by upper management took its toll last week. All that good will was sorely tested by the indifference of MSNBC to the suffering and death in India.
Not only can MSNBC do better ... it must.
