GREAT MOMENTS IN MEDIA – AT 8:55 P.M. ET:   The New York Times reports that MSNBC, the journalistic embarrassment of NBC News, is going on a publicity campaign.  Observe the creativity, the uniqueness, the breathtaking originality:

MSNBC, once the also-ran but now the No. 2 cable news channel, has a new tagline that embraces its progressive political identity.

Number two?  I guess that means CNN has slipped to number three.  Well, that's what happens when you fire a news giant like Rick Sanchez.  (That is a joke.)

The tagline, “Lean Forward,” will be publicly announced Tuesday, opening a planned two-year advertising campaign intended to raise awareness of the channel among viewers, advertisers and distributors.

Lean forward?  That's the new slogan?  Lean forward?  Isn't that when you do when you can't hear the sound from the movie? 

How many committees did it take to come up with "Lean forward"? 

The tagline “defines us and defines our competition,” said Phil Griffin, the president of MSNBC, his implication being that the Fox News Channel, which is No. 1 in cable news and a home for conservatives, is leaning backward. Fox’s best-known tagline is “Fair and Balanced.”

So Phil Griffin really thinks that "Lean forward" defines MSNBC and its competition.  No, if he wants to define his network and its relationship to the competition he might have chosen, "Having the pants beaten off us."

Some of the new MSNBC ads include shots of President Obama on his election night; others, directed by the filmmaker Spike Lee, showcase hosts like Keith Olbermann and Rachel Maddow preparing for their nightly programs; and still others feature quotes like “the future belongs to the fearless.”

My insomnia is now cured.  I am asleep.

October 4, 2010