MSNBC: Liberal and Loving It

MSNBC is finally coming out.

For years, the No. 3 cable news network has been experimenting with its politics -- giving a show to Democrat Phil Donahue, then canceling it and giving one to Republican Joe Scarborough, and then another to Tucker Carlson.

But recently, the network has taken on a more consistent tilt. According to today's New York Times, recent moves -- including yesterday's news that Rosie O'Donnell is in discussions about getting her own primetime talk show -- signal a decision by MSNBC executives to actively court viewers on the left.

Ratings-wise, this may be a smart move. Neutrality wasn't doing much for MSNBC, and its only real hit show, Countdown, seems to swell in viewership the more Keith Olbermann hammers on President Bush and Bill O'Reilly.

But self-identifying, or even just being seen, as a liberal network will raise a whole new host of problems. Just think of how the network was pummeled for Chris Matthews's remark about the "criminality" of the Bush Administration. Would he have gotten away with it, to the extent that he did, if MSNBC were already seen as the anti-Bush channel?

Matthews's comment was blown out of proportion because it came days before he was to host a debate of Republican presidential hopefuls. Will that ever happen again? If the Democrats now feel within their rights boycotting debates on Fox News, why shouldn't the Republicans do the same to MSNBC and its personnel? (The most recent Matthews-moderated debate was actually on CNBC). I've said that any biases CNN and MSNBC may have are not the equivalent of those held by Fox News, but this could change that.

Perhaps sensing the fallout potential, MSNBC chief Phil Griffin is cautious in acknowledging the network's embrace of the left. "It happened naturally," he tells the Times. "There isn't a dogma we're putting through."

But Olbermann, as usual, is less circumspect, saying the prospects for MSNBC hosts who won't toe the new party line are dim. "If you go into a burger place, and you go in there for the fish, you might want the fish occasionally but it's probably a mistake. Could you be utterly different politically and succeed in this format? You'd basically be throwing your audience away."