MSNBC.com’s Tillinghast ‘Quite Pleased’ That MSNBC Dropped Imus Show

The uproar over Don Imus came close to affecting advertising on MSNBC.com, but the NBCU decision late Wednesday to cancel the “Imus in the Morning” simulcast because of the host’s racist remarks was just in time. Like other MSNBC TV shows, Imus, on the network for more than 10 years, had a subsection on MSNBC.com — bio material, daily show info, quotes and more. Charlie Tillinghast, president of MSNBC.com, told me by email:”We had received some calls from advertisers today about the situation, but with MSNBC TV dropping the Imus show, that has gone away. MSNBC.com has been only tangentially involved in this, but I am quite pleased with the decision to drop the show.” He added, “MSNBC.com did not communicate that fact (about the advertisers) to NBC News, so it played no part in their decision.”
— The “Imus on MSNBC” subsection is being removed now. Some remnants were up when I last checked.
— Traffic was high on the story from the start. Tillinghast: “We ran this story on our cover over the last few days when the competition did not. Because we were running this story as part of news, not just the Imus subsection, the traffic has been high in different parts of the site.”

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