Editing MSNBC (section)

====Obama era====
Some Democratic Party supporters, including former Pennsylvania governor [[Ed Rendell]] and Bill Clinton advisor [[Lanny Davis]],<ref>{{Cite news |last=Rothstein  |first=Betsy |date=May 5, 2008 |title=Clinton confidant dismisses MSNBC as no longer fair and balanced |work=[[The Hill (newspaper)|The Hill]] |url=http://thehill.com/in-the-know/clinton-confidant-dismisses-msnbc-as-no-longer-fair-and-balanced-2008-05-05.html |url-status=dead |access-date=April 18, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081208111648/http://thehill.com/in-the-know/clinton-confidant-dismisses-msnbc-as-no-longer-fair-and-balanced-2008-05-05.html |archive-date=December 8, 2008}}</ref> criticized MSNBC during and after the [[Democratic Party (United States) presidential primaries, 2008|2008 Democratic Party primaries]] as covering [[Barack Obama]] more favorably than [[Hillary Clinton]]. Rendell said, "MSNBC was the official network of the Obama campaign," and called their coverage "absolutely embarrassing".<ref name="Rendell">{{Cite news |last=Calderone |first=Michael |date=August 24, 2008 |title=Rendell: Obama coverage was embarrassing |work=[[Politico]] |url=http://www.politico.com/blogs/michaelcalderone/0808/Rendell_Obama_coverage_was_embarrassing.html |access-date=August 24, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080826230626/http://www.politico.com/blogs/michaelcalderone/0808/Rendell_Obama_coverage_was_embarrassing.html |archive-date=August 26, 2008}}</ref><ref name="TNR">{{Cite magazine |last=Chotiner |first=Isaac |date=May 27, 2008 |title=Dangerous Liaison |magazine=[[The New Republic]] |url=http://www.tnr.com/politics/story.html?id=b48a6936-fb3c-42b0-83c1-f91d1cb3a3dc |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081216081623/http://www.tnr.com/politics/story.html?id=b48a6936-fb3c-42b0-83c1-f91d1cb3a3dc |archive-date=December 16, 2008}}</ref> Rendell later became an on-air contributor to MSNBC.<ref>{{Cite news |date=January 25, 2011 |title=Ed Rendell Signs Deal With NBC |work=[[HuffPost]] |agency=[[Associated Press]] |url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/25/ed-rendell-signing-deal-w_n_813519.html |url-status=dead |access-date=November 5, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140304213044/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/25/ed-rendell-signing-deal-w_n_813519.html |archive-date=March 4, 2014}}</ref>

A study done by the [[Project for Excellence in Journalism]] showed that MSNBC had less negative coverage of Obama (14 percent of stories versus 29 percent in the press overall) and more negative stories about Republican presidential candidate [[John McCain]] (73 percent of its coverage versus 57 percent in the press overall).<ref>{{Cite web |date=October 29, 2008 |title=The Color of News |url=http://www.journalism.org/node/13436 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100805023153/http://www.journalism.org/node/13436 |archive-date=August 5, 2010 |access-date=July 30, 2010 |website=[[Project for Excellence in Journalism]] |publisher=[[Pew Research Center]]}}</ref> MSNBC's on-air slogan during the week of the 2008 presidential election, "The Power of Change", was criticized for being too similar to Obama's campaign slogan of "Hope and Change".<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/10/business/media/10msnbc.html | title=MSNBC's Tag for Now: 'The Power of Change' | last1=Stelter | first1=Brian |author-link1=Brian Stelter | work=[[The New York Times]] | date=November 10, 2008 | access-date=November 13, 2008 | archive-date=April 17, 2009 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090417114121/http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/10/business/media/10msnbc.html | url-status=live }}</ref> After the election, conservative talk show host [[John Ziegler (talk show host)|John Ziegler]] made a documentary entitled ''Media Malpractice.... How Obama Got Elected'', which was very critical of the media's role, especially MSNBC's, in the election. While promoting the documentary, he had an on-air dispute with MSNBC news anchor [[Contessa Brewer]] about how the media, especially MSNBC, had portrayed Sarah Palin.<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Barrett |first=Annie |date=June 10, 2009 |title=Contessa Brewer vs. John Ziegler re: Sarah Palin – 'Cut the mic, please' |url=http://popwatch.ew.com/2009/06/10/contessa-brewer-vs-john-ziegler-cut-the-mic/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091016140530/http://popwatch.ew.com/2009/06/10/contessa-brewer-vs-john-ziegler-cut-the-mic/ |archive-date=October 16, 2009 |access-date=November 1, 2009 |magazine=[[Entertainment Weekly]]}}</ref>

During MSNBC's coverage of the Potomac primary, MSNBC's Chris Matthews said, "I have to tell you, you know, it's part of reporting this case, this election, the feeling most people get when they hear Barack Obama's speech. My, I felt this thrill going up my leg. I mean, I don't have that too often." This led Fox News to assert that both he and MSNBC were biased toward Obama.<ref>{{Cite interview |last=Goldberg |first=Bernie |interviewer=[[Sean Hannity]] |title=Bernie Goldberg on 'Love Affair' Between Obama and Media – Hannity |url=http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,483568,00.html |access-date=February 23, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130724190016/http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,483568,00.html |archive-date=July 24, 2013 |url-status=dead |publisher=[[Fox News]] |date=January 27, 2009}}</ref>