Keith's Horrible Boss to Be Canned at MSRNC - Oh & COURIC to CBS?

[UTUSN]

This KAPLAN dude is the one who screamed at OLBERMANN because of his tribute to Peter JENNINGS and anti-smoking, but mostly because that day was the debut of KAPLAN's pet Rita COSBY and KAPLAN thought KO didn't give enough time at the end to balleyhooing Rita. He had stood watching on the set while KO was live, was FUMING, and when he stormed off yelled, "I wouldn't care if you didn't show up for work tomorrow!"

Btw, check out today's "Crock". I can't access it due to copyright protection, but it sounds close to calling the Iraq Attack a phoney "war".

*******QUOTE*******

http://www.nypost.com/gossip/pagesix_u.htm

KATIE TO CBS?

EXPECT CBS to announce that Katie Couric will take over as anchor of "CBS Evening News" any day now. The Los Angeles Times reports, "CBS News President Sean McManus has been doggedly courting Couric to switch networks" and take Dan Rather's old slot. Her $13-million-a-year contract with NBC doesn't expire until May. Sources also say "Good Morning America" co-host Charlie Gibson will get the anchor chair of the late Peter Jennings at ABC's "World News Tonight." And, finally, look for Shelley Ross, the sidelined former exec producer of "GMA" and "Primetime Live," to replace Rick Kaplan as head of anemic MSNBC.

********UNQUOTE*******

[Neil Lisst]

1. Kaplan is a disaster. They need to dump him in the grease.

deep fry him

[UTUSN]

10. & Yet, Wingnuts Consider Him to Be "a Leftist" and CLINTON-lover

*******QUOTE*******

http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=12234

MSNBC, the New Clinton News Network?


By Lowell Ponte
FrontPageMagazine.com | February 18, 2004

.... "Kaplan was born in the Rogers Park section of Chicago," wrote David Margolick in a January 1998 Vanity Fair profile. "His childhood was filled with friends and Democratic politics; Chicago mayor Richard J. Daley and John F. Kennedy were icons in his home.


"He envisioned a life of political activism," Margolick continued, "and joined the 1968 presidential campaign of Senator Eugene McCarthy as an advance man. A week later, when Bobby Kennedy won the California primary, Kaplan prepared to switch sides, and headed to Kennedy's hotel to meet him. He ended up that night alone on a Santa Monica beach, watching the waves, listening to radio reports about Kennedy’s slow death. He contemplated a radically altered future outside politics."


Turning instead to broadcast journalism, Rick Kaplan was a producer for Walter Cronkite in 1977 when Susan Thomases introduced him to the obscure Attorney General of Arkansas named Bill Clinton. ....

During the 1980s Kaplan helped talk Bill Clinton out of giving up politics to take a million-dollar job on Wall Street. After Clinton's much-ridiculed speech at the 1988 Democratic convention in Atlanta, writes Margolick, "it was Kaplan's shoulder Clinton cried on, over Chinese takeout," and Kaplan who persuaded Clinton that his political career was not over. ....

The biggest uncertainty in how Leftist Rick Kaplan will tilt MSNBC comes from his love, verging on worship (remember, he believes in their "near-miraculous" power to heal his daughter), of the Clintons. ....

If this comes to pass, then Joe Scarborough will likely remain on the air until the day following the November election, when a loyalist of the Hillary 2008 campaign will replace him. That's trickle-down politics. That's Rick "Capo" Kaplan, reportedly the new boss of a now-dying private network that once held much promise, MSNBC.


We may soon be changing the nickname on its gravestone to Marxist-Socialist-NBC.
------------------

Mr. Ponte co-hosts a national radio talk show Monday through Friday 6-8 PM Eastern Time (3-5 PM Pacific Time) on the Genesis Communications Network. Internet Audio worldwide is at GCNlive .com. The show's live call-in number is 1-800-259-9231. A professional speaker, he is a former Roving Editor for Reader's Digest.


********UNQUOTE*******

[Norquist Nemesis]

19. Kaplan sure proved this guy wrong!

He's added more "cons" than Faux has newsbunnies!

[Oreo]

2. Good riddance

Maybe they'll can Rita Crosby too. Why she's allowed on tv with her bobbing head and gravely voice I'll never understand.

It's like they're trying to out-missing young white girl each other. It's gone so way out of hand on that subject it's inevitable that they've got to come to their senses eventually.

[Stephanie]

3. I guess I'll keep watching Brian Williams

[Botany]

4. How could anybody hire Cosby after hearing her?

She is an example of everything wrong with the 24/7 cable news
system.



Peroxide and plastic surgery combined with vacuous prattle.

[LondonReign2]

11. Sorry, but that's the best plastic surgery could do?

Time to find a competent surgeon.

[Fridays Child]

36. Vacuous prattle. I love it.

It sounds like a chronic medical condition. And it fits Rita to a tee.

[tinfoilinfor2005]

38. Monica Crowley clone. n/t

[Gidney N Cloyd]

5. Delicious irony...

CBS hiring Couric while "Good Night and Good Luck" is still out.

[Botany]

8. Ed Murrow is spinning in his grave.

[Norquist Nemesis]

6. If CBS signs Couric to replace Rather, I'll never watch!

I can't believe they're even considering it. But then again...maybe I can. :puke:

What do we know about this Shelley Ross? Is she attending the GOP fundraising galas?

[SCDem]

7. Couric's name has come up before with CBS

I think it's just talk. I think most real journalists would laugh if Couric got the job.

[Flying Dream Blues]

18. I think most real journalists are retired or dead. And anyway,

do you think CBS cares what real journalists think? Sad, but true.

I'm not dogging you, I just believe if they're even thinking about Katie Couric, it's just not about journalistic credibility. It's all about $$$$.

[SCDem]

21. I believe you're right about real journalists

but I really don't think CBS is thinking about Couric.

Maybe I still have hope for CBS, because I just think this Couric thing is a rumor as it has been talked about before - like last year.

[Flying Dream Blues]

22. I hope you're right. I really do. KC would mean that the transformation

of journalism to entertainment is complete.

[Czolgosz]

44. That ship sailed long ago . . .

[Clark2008]

27. No. There are real journalists out there.

It's just that all the good ones never act like whores to rise to the top of the corporate media heap.

Either that, or they burn out and change careers, leaving the field to the shills.

I'm not a reporter anymore. Couldn't make ends meet. The job really doesn't pay well at all - worse than teaching - unless you're a shill.

[soothsayer]

13. You and me both!

On edit: never did like local gal katie couric, blech!

[UTUSN]

15. Funny You Should Ask (Shelley ROSS) -

Is the t.v. business ALL like this? Sounds like they are all just equal opportunity screamers.


*******QUOTE*******

http://danielcooper.typepad.com/mediola/2003/10/working_for_a_v.html

Working For A Verbally Abusive Boss
.... Then, Page Six, the gossip page of the New York Post, ran the following item:

GMA Rising

Maybe Turnover is good. "Good Morning America" is closing the ratings gap with "Today" even though it recently lost four key staffers who were unhappy under executive producer Shelly Ross. "People just can't take it anymore," said one source. Two writers left, Joe Reid and Federico Quadrani, as well as veteran news editor Al Wasser and ace segment producer Tom Martin. "We have an enormous number of talented people at 'Good Morning America,' " an ABC spokesman said, "and we couldn't be more proud of the show." ....

The story my source told me was that Joe Reid, who wasn't just a writer, but was the head writer, a central position at GMA, quit on the spot without giving notice.

But the next resignation is the most amazing story I've heard in my career.

I'm not clear on the time frame, but at approximately the same time, the person described to me as the GMA "SENIOR News Writer (who sits in the control room right next to Shelly), after three years, ripped his ID off from around his neck, threw it at Shelly, and QUIT ON THE SPOT ... DURING THE SHOW!"

He threw his ID badge at the executive producer. That's rage. We've all had bad bosses, and some of us have had verbally abusive bosses. But to throw something at your boss? What sort of behavior elicits this kind of loss of control in a person who I would guess is not prone to any sort of violence? After all, he worked in a live control room supervising the scripting of a constantly-changing two-hour daily news program--one that has been engaged in a high-profile ratings battle. So he was cool under pressure.

Another source on my jungle drum network told me, "Shelly Ross is a NOTORIOUS bitch ... EXTREMELY verbally abusive, vindictive, and prone to temper tantrums." ....

********UNQUOTE*******

[calimary]

34. Wasn't she the same Shelley Ross who was news chief of the

then-fledgeling Air America?

If so, her maiden name was Shelley Lewis (she married a guy named Dennis Ross) and I briefly worked for her. Interesting lady (she said, somewhat sarcastically). She replaced a guy who hired me at NBC radio, and then got kicked sideways for various office-politics-type reasons. She never was all that fond of me, for reasons I still don't understand, some 20 years later. She never communicated with me except to nitpick my writing a little bit. And when my contract wasn't renewed, she neither gave me ANY indication beforehand that I was about to be canned, NOR any reason why I wasn't picked up after she came out to drop the bomb on me in person. Seemed to be the type of person DEEPLY into office politics and schmoozing the exact perfect people you need to shmooze and suck up to, to get yourself ahead. Seemed VERY taken with whatever was perceived to be hip at the moment. Little things that were annoying to me. I didn't have much rapport with her, nor she with me.

I think what did me in with her, initially, was when she first took over, she queried everybody, individually, about their loyalty and how they felt toward their old boss and how they felt about her replacing him. I played the honesty card, and told her I was sorry to see him go because he'd been very good to me and supportive of me, but that those feelings had no bearing on the fact that she was now the boss - I was committed to A) being a team player and to B) recognizing and honoring her authority. Guess that wasn't what she wanted to hear. Almost everybody else around me was VERY hostile to our old boss, and never hesitated to gossip about him behind his back. This was a guy who, while perhaps not being the best management type in the entire world, still went around the country recruiting the best and brightest local radio talent and bringing them to New York to the big leagues at NBC to start a new network, and make them stars and pay them more money with better exposure than they'd ever dreamed of having. It was the biggest career break I had ever had, and I was grateful for it. I'd been treated like shit by the management at the local station this guy had rescued me from, and I was grateful for that, also. So I wound up not among the new "in" crowd in Shelley's mind, I guess. Everybody else hated him and stabbed him in the back and said the shittiest things about him all the time, and many of them celebrated openly when he was reassigned. I wasn't very happy that day, because I had liked him a lot, and didn't think he deserved it.

Shelley Lewis was a lowly newsroom producer who got a few lucky breaks and maneuvered within them very shrewdly to climb higher and higher and higher. When I found out she was running Good Morning, America, I was utterly floored. FLOORED.

I'm still AMAZED that she got as far as she did. And I must say I'm also impressed. That girl sure can move up. But then again, I was always 3,000 miles away from the center ring at NBC in New York, and never saw her in action in the newsroom on the average day. Maybe she was hot stuff, but I never saw it, and the lukewarm way she treated me almost from the beginning led me to feel the same way toward her.

Shelley Ross. Okay, fine. Whatever. Hope she doesn't fuck with Keith Olbermann. I will say this - if she gets to sit in the big chair, Ron Reagan will probably move up into a position of gerater prominence. She was tight with him, as I recall, and cronies of hers who were tight with him also did well. That wouldn't be bad, actually. Unless she arrives, perceiving that conservatives are somehow "hip." Then we'll just have more of them jammed up the ass. If that's the case, it wouldn't surprise me to see her recruit somebody like ann coulter for a primetime slot, just to shake things up and make some noise. She liked that kind of stuff.

[erpowers]

9. Glad Kaplan Gone Happy For Couric

I am glad Kaplan is gone. He has made too many ridiculous comments about liberal to have kept his job this long. I am extremely upset about his comment that liberals do not watch tv or listen to the radio. It seems like this guy spent too much time reading Ann Coulter (she claims that liberal do not read) or he believed her a little too much.

Even though I have problems with the Today Show I am happy that Couric is going to be moving to CBS. I will be watching CBS at least at first. This might be a chance for Couric to do some serious reporting. Maybe she will do a good job by doing some hard reporting that informs people of what is going on with the Bush Administration.

[UTUSN]

16. Isn't COURIC's Sister a Democratic Office Holder?

And yet, we've always just wanted a LEVEL PLAYING FIELD, not a Faux-like Dem-talking-points-media. What we've objected to is the wingnut SLANT -----instead of--------a level playing field.

[Fla Dem]

24. Yes she was, but died in 2001

Emily Couric, Virginia State Senator, Dies of Pancreatic Cancer

Article date: 2001/10/19

Virginia State Sen. Emily Couric, sister of NBC News anchor Katie Couric, died yesterday of pancreatic cancer. She was 54 years old.

Couric was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in July 2000 and dropped out of the race for lieutenant governor of Virginia at that time, according to news reports. She continued her work in the Virginia Senate while being treated for her cancer, serving a total of six years.
Couric supported a law enacted last year requiring insurance companies to pay for colon cancer screening. Katie Couric’s husband died of colon cancer in 1998.

http://www.cancer.org/docroot/NWS/content/NWS_1_1x_Emily_Couric_Virginia_State_Senator_Dies_of_Pancreatic_Cancer.asp

[EFerrari]

12. Good news! KO is the best host on MSNBC. And Rita Cosby

needs to find a line of work where she can excel. :eyes:

[mzteris]

14. who can stand listening

to her? She makes me feel all icky. Her and Diane Rehm (or however you spell it.....) Yech.

[ohio_liberal]

20. Diane Rehm suffers from spasmodic dysphonia

Same as Robert Kennedy Jr.

[mzteris]

23. I've never heard of that

and I'm sorry for her, but I still can't stand listening to her. Maybe she should switch to print journalism.

[renate]

32. I've never heard of that either

so I Googled it, and it describes Rita Cosby to a T:
Spasmodic dysphonia (SD), a focal form of dystonia, is a neurological voice disorder that involves involuntary "spasms" of the vocal cords causing interruptions of speech and affecting the voice quality. SD can cause the voice to break up or to have a tight, strained, or strangled quality.
http://www.dysphonia.org/

And I guess this is my bias showing, but although I wondered whether Robert Kennedy Jr had a sore throat (until I noticed that it lasted for months or years), with him it's not so bad, because he knows what he's talking about, so his being on the radio actually makes sense. The voice quality is distracting, sure, but the thing is, he's still very much worth listening to.

But what--honestly, now, with no snarkiness intended--does Rita bring to TV that anybody else reporting on white-bread National Enquirer-type stories couldn't also bring?

[ohio_liberal]

39. I couldn't say if she has it too or not

There are different types of this disorder. What RFK and Diane Rehm have gives them a sort of querelous quality to the voice, like someone on the verge of crying or, you know how some people as they get older have a shaky voice? Rita Cosby sounds to me like she's smoked way too much, her voice is so husky.

I've read that Botox injections can help with it, make it not so noticeable, but is extremely unpleasant.

[patdem]

37. I love Diane Rehm, I listen to her every day on NPR..I hope the reight

wing does not take her off. She interviews people who do not like bush* unlike Talk of the Nation, he hesitates and um's ah's and uh's whenever he has to ask anything anti bush*

[Fla Dem]

25. Latest ratings (Wed 11/30) show KO leading all MSNBC hosts...Rita beating

Scarborough. Both dogs.

Thursday, Dec 01
The Scoreboard: Wednesday, Nov. 30
Total viewers:

Total day: FNC: 1,082,000 / CNN: 456,000 / MSNBC: 264,000 / HLN: 223,000 / CNBC: 171,000

Primetime: FNC: 2,240,000 / CNN: 824,000 / MSNBC: 433,000 / HLN: 470,000 / CNBC: 86,000

25-54 demographic:

Total day: FNC: 316,000 / CNN: 128,000 / MSNBC: 90,000 / HLN: 94,000 / CNBC: 46,000

Primetime: FNC: 532,000 / CNN: 224,000 / MSNBC: 159,000 / HLN: 180,000 / CNBC: 46,000

The hourlies:

7pm: Shep: 1,516,000 / Blitzer: 482,000 / Hardball: 481,000 / Showbiz: 143,000 / On The Money: 123,000

8pm: O'Reilly: 2,748,000 / Zahn: 661,000 / Olbermann: 569,000 / Grace: 673,000 / Made in the USA: 83,000

9pm: H&C: 1,936,000 / King: 1,177,000 / Rita: 396,000 / Prime News: 363,000 / Mad Money repeat: 73,000

10pm: Greta: 1,999,00 / Cooper: 635,000 / Scarborough: 335,000 / Grace repeat: 375,000 / Deutsch: 101,000

11pm: O'Reilly repeat: 1,216,000 / Cooper: 540,000 / Situation: 277,000 / Showbiz repeat: 163,000 / Made in the USA: 82,000

http://www.mediabistro.com/tvnewser/ratings/

[EFerrari]

31. I told KO's producer about 6 months ago that they

have to find a better way to track their audience because they just didn't know how big it was. :)

[ohio_liberal]

17. Oh Joy!

I really want to see cute and bubbly when watching the evening news.

[Richardo]

26. .

:(

[Lex]

28. Should we expect Shelly Ross to be a better boss for Keith?

I hope so.

It really made me mad to hear he got crap about his tribute to Jennings, about not smoking, and about not promo'ing that creepy Rita Crosby. :grr:

[UTUSN]

30. Probably Not (ROSS). See Post #15 n/t

[Nothing Without Hope]

29. Keith Olbermann's show is the TOP-RATED at MSNBC - Kaplan has

worked AGAINST the network's interest to promote the agenda of his GOP masters.

Link re my statement about KO rating:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=315x28738
thread title (KOEB Group 12/1): Nov ratings: Countdown/KO is the highest-ranked show on MSNBC!

[flordehinojos]

33. just as with the democratic party, the t.v. stations need new life.

couric, gibson, lauer, et al, they are all passe as far as i am concerned--(even al roker whom i used to like but not anymore).

[Vinca]

35. Is Kaplan responsible for axing Ron Reagan?

I can't stand Rita Crowley, but the show was pretty good for a weekday show in the middle of the day. I'm going to miss Ron.

[tinfoilinfor2005]

40. I will miss Ron too.

He has a knack of cutting through the bull and hitting the problem right on the head. And he does it in a pleasant way, with a that little glint in his eye. Great sense of humor and very intelligent. I predict that once he finds his niche, he will go to the top.

[calimary]

41. Yeah, me, too.

He has done a lot to rehabilitate the Reagan name, at least for me. I've found it comforting that, with the old man now gone, it's the younger Ron's voice, AND the younger Ron's politics, that are the most vocal speakers for the family now - along with those of his sister, too. They're both to be deeply appreciated for this. It will reassure me that the Reagan name finally has SOME sense and compassion and intelligence attached to it.

[Eric J in MN]

42. How is Ron Reagan gone from MSNBC?

Did they cancel "Connected Coast to Coast?"

Will he not be appearing as a guest anymore?

[UTUSN]

43. "Connected" Is Axed. To Be Replaced by Mr & Mrs Connie CHUNG

Perhaps Ron will continue guesting on other shows the way Bill PRESS and BUCHANAN do.

I still don't get why the CHUNG-POVICH show on WEEKENDS necessitates the axing of the WEEKDAY shows.

[Lex]

45. Ugh. They are loathesome.

:puke:

[calimary]

46. The only good part of that is that republi-CON twinky monica crowley

got canned, too. Unfortunately, I've seen her on since, as a guest, but then again, I've seen Ron Reagan doing guest spots, too.

Just love the idea of Maury and Connie on (she said, voice dripping in sarcasm - I don't know how to render that sarcasm symbol yet). Connie didn't work on CNN. She didn't work on CBS. She really didn't work anywhere for very long. She was here anchoring locally for a long time - on channel 2. I didn't like her then, either (the ever delightful paula zahn came from there, too). Connie leaves me completely cold. I always wondered what the big deal was about Connie Chung. I never saw the appeal or the star quality or anything. She was utterly ho-hum. Photographs pretty well, but otherwise, completely forgettable.

[Vinca]

49. I'd rather stick pins in my eyes than watch Connie Chung. nt

[JerseygirlCT]

47. Is his show gone now? I thought I just saw it the other day? nt

[UTUSN]

50. The Switcheroo Takes Place Later This Month n/t

[Cleita]

48. I'm hoping that Keith's new boss is more unbiased, however,

I doubt it. As for Katie Couric, 'there goes the neighborhood' comes to mind. CBS news was the only news I still watched because of Dan Rather. Although, I watched less after Dan left, I can't watch it at all now with Katie Couric in Dan's place. Couric was once a good news person, but she has completely sold out in recent years as a media whore.