Sunday, April 13, 2008

On Being Chris Matthews

There is an interesting, albeit long, piece from The New York Times on Chris Matthews. I think that the piece is interesting for three reasons. First, the politics within NBC News seems quite divisive and mostly against Matthews, which means his time there (he has one year left on his contract) is limited. Matthews wants to be on the first team though he won't be. He faces threat from those under him, Olbermann and Gregory.

Second, the historicism of Matthews: Matthew is an element of a much different time and possesses a different sense of order, which makes for his comments about women as being awkward to say the least. It is interesting to see how one generation attempts to correct the errors of the past generation and hold the prior generation liable for their sins. I think we judge the news by left/ right etc., i.e. MSNBC or Fox, NPR or Talk Radio; yet, we often forget other important contextual factors such as historical context of the reporters...

Finally, it is interesting how we use Matthews. As the article states, Democrats love him as he stood up against Iraq, the Bush Administration, and other conservatives such as Michelle Malkin; yet, Democrats reject him because his is interpreted as being sexist, anti-Clinton, and a loose-cannon, as well as constantly interjecting himself into the story.

There is some speculation that when his contract expires, he will either move to another network or reenter politics in Pennsylvania. The article suggests the second and Mathews seems to support the conclusion at times.

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