MSNBC Cancels Guest Anchor's Show After a Controversial Segment

MSNBC executives have canceled the remainder of what would have been a week-long show called "America the Angry" and hosted by Donny Deutsch after a segment on the media was critical of MSNBC's #1 anchor, Keith Olbermann.

The incident led to charges that MSNBC, a unit of NBC Universal, had stifled criticism of itself on its own channel. Deutsch, the chairman of the advertising agency Deutsch Inc., had a prime-time show on MSNBC's sister network CNBC for several years. He was scheduled to anchor the 3 p.m. hour on MSNBC for the full week, and had chosen the theme "America the Angry" because, he said, "I, like most Americans, am very concerned about the anger out there." "I think it's time for, not a red voice or a blue voice, but a passionate purple voice in the middle," he added Wednesday. Tuesday's attention-grabbing segment about the media included clips of Bill O'Reilly, Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck alongside Mr. Olbermann. One of Mr. Deutsch's guests, the radio host Hugh Hewitt, said that Mr. Olbermann and Ed Schultz, another MSNBC host, are "the biggest hate-mongers in television," while Mr. Deutsch stayed above the fray.