Buried 11 paragraphs into an article at MSM house organ Media Bistro in late January was a report that Soledad O’Brien’s morning show was being cancelled by Time-Warner-CNN-HBO for — well, we’ll let Media Bistro explain:
Many staffers were stunned when Feder constantly complained that the viewership of “Early Start” and “Starting Point” was “too ethnic,” based on the high concentration of minority viewers. This common complaint worked itself up through the company, to CNN’s Diversity Committee, and to other staffers, who were mortified that a CNN executive was squabbling over attracting minority viewers.
As Allahpundit of Hot Air quipped, “To think, on the very day that O’Brien was all but accusing Joel Pollak of racism for objecting to Critical Race Theory, CNN honchos might have been having the ‘too ethnic’ conversation in the executive washroom.”
Now the other shoe is about to drop, according to the New York Times, which reports that Soledad is being eased out of CNN all together:
Soledad O’Brien will leave CNN’s morning show in the spring, but she won’t be leaving the cable news channel altogether.
Ms. O’Brien, who is well-known for CNN documentaries like “Black in America,” said Thursday that she will form a production company and continue to supply documentaries to CNN on a nonexclusive basis.
…Because CNN needs something to fill that weekend airtime at 2:30 in the morning on the east coast.
At Big Journalism, John Nolte adds, “That’s what you call a face-saving deal:”
Soledad O’Brien (pictured above during happier times when she still had a future) had an extraordinary opportunity at CNN, and she blew it. How many people are handed their own morning show at a major news network? But instead of doing her job honorably and honestly and with integrity, she abused the opportunity to aggrandize her left-wing agenda and bizarre obsession with identity politics. But even liberals shut her out because no one respects dishonesty.
Robert Stacy McCain writes, “O’Brien is destined to be remembered as the biggest flop in the history of television news.”
I have to disagree. That would mean someone might remember her.
But I do want to wish Ms. O’Brien the best of luck in the Obama economy she worked so hard to force on the rest of us. After all, she sacrificed much for Obama: first her credibility, then her job.
Actually, I’ll remember Soledad for the role she played in one of the great Orwellian moments from the 2008 presidential campaign:
[flashvideo file=http://pjmedia.com/media/video/CNN-Wright-to-Wright-Free-Zone6-7-09-rev-1.flv width=315 height=251 image=http://pjmedia.com/eddriscoll/files/2009/06/cnn-wright-to-wright-free-zone6-7-09-title-cardiii.jpg /]
And as noted at the start of this post, for her abortive attempt a year ago to race bait Joel Pollak of Bretibart.com — which might have worked except for just a few inconvenient details.
Related: Of course, all is not lost at CNN: “Touching: Christiane Amanpour wishes Robert Mugabe a happy birthday.”
Is there a homicidal dictator or power-made kleptocrat who’s not beloved at CNN?
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