Brian Stelter, the pudgy New York Times media reporter can’t hide his love for MSNBC. Even when ostensibly writing yesterday about a new contract for Greta Van Susteren over at Fox News, he quickly turns it into yet another fawning piece on The Stalker and the much anticipated (I’m sure!) rise of Larry O’Donnell to host at 10pm. I guess Larry will somehow add to the ratings juggernaut that is MSNBC. 

[MSNBC] has made ratings progress in recent years because of the combination of Mr. Olbermann at 8 p.m. and Rachel Maddow at 9 p.m.With the addition of Mr. O’Donnell, MSNBC will have three liberal hosts in prime time, further cementing the channel’s ideological identity.

Really?! Ratings progress? Keith’s ratings this year have been a disaster. I guess Stelter could be referring to MSNBC’s ratings five years ago when some shows on local public access channels literally had more viewers. About the only real success Keith’s show has had this year was when Larry filled in for him.

Larry, acting as a sub-host, had been besting America’s Worst Person in the World when it comes to the ratings. Just take a look at a week when Larry filled in a couple months ago:

• Olbermann hosted for one day (3/18). His Nielson rating was .8 with approximately 746,000 households tuning in.

• Larry averaged a .9 with 794,000 households.

What’s more, Larry had to compete with American Idol, House, and Survivor on his nights.

I guess this is what Stelter was referring to when he said:

Mr. O’Donnell is said to have impressed MSNBC executives when he filled in for Mr. Olbermann in March.

Then at the end, Stelter cheerfully reports on his hero’s tweets:

“Countdown” is “The New Show Factory,” Mr. Olbermann remarked on Twitter on Tuesday, adding, “I’m happily looking for another new sub!”

Who is Brian Stelter?

We do know that he has been a big fan of Brian Williams since his days on MSNBC. From a USA Today piece by Peter Johnson on 7/10/2006:

Williams, who writes a daily blog at NBC, makes no apologies for praising Stelter, who grew up watching Williams on MSNBC and has dreams of a career in TV news.

On the same subject, on 11/20/2006, The New York Times reported:

Growing up in Damascus, Md., Mr. Stelter watched the news addictively. He recalls watching Mr. Williams, who was then at MSNBC. He finally got to meet Mr. Williams last year when he came to New York to attend a memorial service for Mr. Jennings. Mr. Williams invited him to sit in on his broadcast’s 2:30 p.m. editorial meeting, and the two talked privately for a half-hour.

What about his politics? There are a few clues in the form of a screencap from Stelter’s old Facebook page. He lists memberships in 46 different Facebook groups – things like Towerlighters and Jon Stewart Fan Club. Two of them give us a look into his beliefs:

• “Don’t Blame Me… I Voted for Kerry”
• “What’s Wrong with the World? George W. Bush”

So we know where Stelter is coming from. That’s fine. But he still needs to get his facts straight when talking about “ratings progress.”