MSNBC loses viewers by not being a news network

As of a bit more than a week ago, CNN was beating up on MSNBC and even Fox News in the ratings. The gains came in the wake of the Japanese quake and reactor crisis, coupled with the unrest in Libya.

The big ratings loser was MSNBC, and the problem was especially noticeable during the weekends when MSNBC normally airs a number of prerecorded shows about prisons. It decided to stick to its normal schedule rather than provide live continuing coverage of either major story.

MSNBC president Phil Griffin was evasive about the network's strategy on weekends.

He called MSNBC’s weekend reliance on “Lockup,” its recorded documentary-style program about prisons, a “tricky situation.” He said, “This is our strategy for weekends, and it has worked well for us.” Its audience now “has an expectation” of seeing such programs on Saturday and Sunday nights, he said.

What?

Is he seriously telling us that he, the man in charge of a news network, has not a clue about how to cover the news?

Does Phil Griffin think he's running E! or the Biography Channel? Their viewers might indeed have expected normal programming to resume. A news network's audience would have different expectations. Judging by the ratings, they did, and they had little use for MSNBC's irrelevant canned programming.

I guess Griffin wants to drive home the message that MSNBC isn't a real news network. Well, that narrows down your choices when real news breaks, doesn't it?