Rachel Maddow Enjoys Mainstream Media Accolades

DAMNED BY PRAISE?

Maddow's Mainstream Media Affection May Prove Damaging







Can a potentially up- and- coming host be destroyed by positive publicity?

That's the situation facing libtalker and MSNBC fill-in Rachel Maddow, who has seen a rapid relative rise propped up by lavish praise from the mainstream media.

Now, even the New York Times is openly speculating that she may replace Chris Matthews on the ratings- challenged cable network:

For clues about who might be next to get a show on MSNBC, viewers need not have looked further than “Countdown” earlier this month. For eight nights beginning just before the Fourth of July, Rachel Maddow, the host of a program on Air America, the liberal talk-radio network, served as a substitute for the vacationing Keith Olbermann.

“At some point, I don’t know when, she should have a show,” said Phil Griffin, hours before he was promoted on Wednesday to president of MSNBC. “She’s on the short list. It’s a very short list. She’s at the top.”

At the moment every slot at night on MSNBC is taken, with David Gregory at 6 handing off to Chris Matthews at 7, and with Dan Abrams at 9 following Mr. Olbermann at 8. But some shuffling could be in the offing; Mr. Matthews’s contract, for example, is up next year.

For her part, Ms. Maddow, who has been a ubiquitous presence as a political analyst on MSNBC this campaign season, said she is ready whenever the call should come. To hasten that process, she recently hired Mr. Olbermann’s agent, Jean Sage.

“They know I would love to do it,” Ms. Maddow, 35, said over a recent lunch below 30 Rockefeller Plaza. “I’m going to let them decide what they want to do about me. I’m saying yes every time they ask me to be on television.”

But positive press attention has been the undoing of many fledgling media stars in the past, especially when one is foolish enough to believe it. Coverage that emphasizes Maddow's relatively humble beginnings contrasts with private industry indications that she's more difficult to work with than is commonly known.

As annoying and frequently unprofessional as Matthews may appear, could a rank amateur really take his place? It would take talent, gravitas, entertainment value, warmth and maturity to step into any full-time cable talk role.

So far, Maddow needs improvement in many of these areas. Moreover, talent is innate: something one is born with that usually can't be developed out of thin air.

Despite praise from the Cult of Olbermann, Maddow's delivery remains stiff, as though she's trying out for an NPR gig.


Other lingering issues:


Despite her lack of talk radio experience beyond Air America, she's developed a reputation internally for resisting necessary coaching. Where did Rachel get the idea she'd mastered the medium? Oh yes, the mainstream media and lefty bloggers.


Within Air America's lineup, she's generally turned in the weakest ratings performance, not an easy feat at a failed network that needs billionaires to keep it afloat. She's been shifted across their lineup several times, finally settling into an relatively unimportant evening slot.


She's demonstrated a lack of commitment to talk radio: the first hour of her "show" is now an MSNBC simulcast that features her as a panelist. In addition, the third hour is often hosted by someone else.


Maddow has been especially unwilling to promote her show in key settings such as industry gatherings, even when they take place in Manhattan. These events are not beneath talk radio's biggest stars, but you won't see Rachel there.


She's so tied to nutty Keith Olbermann that developing an independent personna could be difficult.


Maddow often tries to win arguments through cheap debate tactics and sleazy approaches. She also has a particular habit of hiding extremist rhetoric behind a calm delivery. Unless she comes up with some new tricks, she could easily be defeated by any opponent who spends more than a few minutes studying her style.


She can occasionally be surprisingly naïve or ill- informed, such as the time she inadvertently attacked a key Air America financial backer on the air.


The constant references to her educational background, right down to the stupid "Ask Dr Maddow" segment on the radio program, have frankly grown tiresome. Life experiences are more valuable in the medium than sheltering one's self in an academic setting until age 30.


If it isn't too late to save Maddow from believing her own press, she should keep one thing in mind: Al Franken received many times more fluffy media coverage and it did nothing to boost his own weak ratings performance.


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