MSNBC Ousts Olbermann, Matthews as Anchors of Political Events

Keith Olbermann and Chris Matthews are being removed as anchors of live political events on MSNBC, following growing criticism that the two are too incendiary to serve as unbiased commentators.

They will be replaced by David Gregory, NBC News and White House correspondent and host of a program on MSNBC; Olbermann and Matthews will still be used as analysts, writes The New York Times.

Olbermann has been criticized for being overly enthusiastic in praising the Democrats and vilifying Republicans, while on-air bickering between Olbermann and Matthews has embarrassed NBC News members and, many believe, alienated viewers.

NBC News journalists have said that MSNBC’s shift to the left - including a new show featuring Air America radio host Rachel Maddow - is giving NBC News a reputation for biased news reporting, and Tom Brokaw has said that at times Olbermann and Matthews “went too far,” according to the Washington Post.

“The most disappointing shift is to see the partisan attitude move from prime time into what’s supposed to be straight news programming,” Davidson Goldin, former editorial director of MSNBC and co-founder of the reputation management firm DolceGoldin, is quoted as saying.

MSNBC managed to nearly double its total audience during the conventions compared with the conventions in 2004 - pulling 2.2 million average viewers during the Democratic convention and 1.7 million viewers during the Republican convention - but it wasn’t able to pull out of last place among both broadcast and cable news nets.

MSNBC says the shift will not shrink Olbermann’s influence in any way; it is simply allowing him and Matthews to be more candid in their analysis during live coverage. The move, in fact, is said to come at Olbermann’s urging.