In the frenetic, feisty world of cable news, Fox News had its best year ever in 2009 -- scoring the highest ratings of its 13-year history. That wasn’t surprising. But this was: MSNBC beat CNN for the first time in the prime-time demo. TheWrap recently grilled Phil Griffin, MSNBC’s president, about the dogfight with CNN, why MSNBC “blew” most of the decade, and its well-publicized feud with Fox News -- and why he “won’t forget” it in 2010.
Give me your take on the decade for MSNBC.
We blew it. I think we blew most of it. Only in 2006, 2007 did we start to come into our own.
When cable news started, we did a lot of crime. There was O.J., the Clinton scandal, then the 2000 election, then 9/11. Then things really changed. After 9/11 things got a lot more political. At the end of the decade, we found a voice in Keith Olbermann and Chris Matthews. And Rachel Maddow has been a huge addition. But it took most of it to get a better sense of identity.
We’re coming off [2008] our best year ever. Overall, our numbers are down a little bit, but we expected that after the election. We projected that. And we reached our goals in terms of advertising. And we beat CNN. That was the headline.
Was that one of your goals this year?
In January, when I had my Town Hall meeting, our number-one goal was to beat CNN in prime-time. It was a real achievement. I’m not sure I really believed it when I said it. But we beat them. For the first time.
What do you attribute that to? Was it a case of MSNBC beating CNN? Or CNN falling back? Or both?
I think the success we had in 2008, what happened was, people stayed with us. We had an audience – a real audience – for the first time. I’m not sure we had that before. People were tuning in to see us.
We made the commitment to politics. Keith and Chris were very vocal in their opposition of the war. They were very knowledgeable and people responded to that. I’d say a turning point was the “Mission Accomplished.” You had the administration puffing out their chests, and Keith and Chris immediately jumped on that. "What are you talking about?"
That led to a very strong audience. I supported them in that.
But didn’t their opinionated views also lead to pressure to take them off the election?
Look, honestly, there was a lot of angst at MSNBC this last election. There was a certain amount of … chaos. We brought David Gregory in to anchor our coverage, and we had a great night. I think it was blown out of proportion.
What changes are you planning for 2010?
Our morning and prime-time lineup is strong as it’s ever been. Prime-time and Morning Joe.
