this week i talk to my boss, msnbc president phil griffin. >> "office politics" is a hit. i love it. >> yeah. >> it's a franchise. i love franchises that make you stay tuned or tune in. this is one of them. so, congratulations. >> well, thank you so much. we're going to kick off the year with you. here's my question, speaking of the year, big ol' presidential election. when you look at the coverage msnbc is going to have ahead, what's the biggest challenge that comes to mind? what's the first thing you think, wow, this is something i've got to tackle? >> we've got to be unique. we have to be different. we have to be president. we have to break through. everybody's going to cover this. the same conversations at cnn, fox, at abc, at pbs at, you know, every possible outlet. how are we going to break through? how are we going to get through the clutter? i say it's a knife fight every day. how are we going to differentiate ourselves, connect with the audience, grow, take advantage of this political year? how do we take advantage of it? this is a y

. >> i think -- i actually looked back to see what phil griffin said in 2008.e basically said, you know, it's tough to balance because the ratings are so good when you have incendiary figures of one political bias or another commenting during coverage. >> phil griffin, of course the president of msnbc, and just the other day was quoted as saying that pat buchanan, one of the few conservative commentator on that network, is off the air indefinitely because of a book he wrote in which buchanan argues that the growth of minority populations have hurt america and its christian core. griffin saying this is not a proper subject for national dialogue. you mention -- nice sleeting me up for the next question -- keith olbermann, the decision in 2008 to put him out front on primary nights drew considerable consternation. now working at current tv,on the air at current on iowa caucus night. it was a mystery why. on twitter, olbermann said that he referred all questions to al gore, the co-founder of the network. and olberman told "the hollywood reporter," "i was not given

at the time the network's president, phil griffin said he didn't think the content of the book shouldn spoke out this week, saying he's the victim of the hard left among others. joining us now, is author and journalist, liz trata, a fox news contributor. and, liz, does he have a point? is he victimized by the left, pressuring msnbc? >> of course he's being victimized. when phil griffin, the head of msnbc, put out the statement on buchanan, he used that liberal buzz word, appropriate, not appropriate for national dialogue. and, when has he put himself in charge of being the arbiter of freedom of speech in the book is jam-packed with facts, facts, and some opinions, but he has been mercilessly asailed by the sexual lobby, by very left wing, hard left people who were charging him, groups who say he is a racist. and colorofchange.org, founded by van george, in the obama administration still it got too hot for him and he had to be fired and you have come to the point, at a media channel you cannot express your own opinions, the other side has won, don't you think? >> gregg: first of all, i

caucuses were law student stephanie ballard, engineer ivan richart, marketing director phil tuning and pat griffin, who's retired. >> i don't see anybody that's outstanding. there's things i disagree with on some of them. they all seem to be missing something. >> pelley: let me have a somehow show of hands. how many of you would like to have another choice other than the candidates you have before you. two out of five would like somebody else. >> i think the republicans shouldn't be but are looking for an obama-style candidate. someone who comes out of nowhe nowhere, is charismatic, brings everybody to their feet, makes everybody say hallelujah. that's a very rare thing. >> pelley: phil, how about you? why have you not made up your mind? >> i think at one point i was looking for the perfect candidate, one that i could be enthusiastic about. however at this point what i've kind of looked at is who can actually win the general election. >> pelley: stephanie, what issue is at the top of your mind? >> the economy, the size of government, the debt. >> pelley: is the economy at the top of your mind? >>

[applause] msnbc president phil griffin thank you for believing as and letting us do a show that is quirkyothing else that is out there right now we are happy to be part of it. thanks for the troops over there and rachel and everybody who went to have first-hand knowledge of it, how credible they are and what they do to protect all of the so thank you to them and thank you to the academy and to everybody who worked on the show. thanks. [applause] moving on the nominees for outstanding live coverage of a current news story, long form, are. 2010, abc news special event, abc. crisis in haiti, anderson cooper 360, cnn. election night, decision 2010, nbc. [applause] and the emmy goes to anderson cooper 360, crisis in haiti. [applause] >> accepting the emmy, charlie charlie moore, executive producer. >> a woman named bridget. she was 28 years old and she was a journalist teaching a class they say when the walls collapsed on her. a few concrete blocks are used to seal the crips. one more of the city's dead now laid to rest. >> some sort of head injury. she does have a big laceration. we gave her

phil keating tells us how the g.o.p. hopefuls are catering to the huge cuban population in south florida. u.s. special ops forces pulled off another daring mission. jennifer griffinat they did and where they did it. the keystone xl project is apparently not dead yet. jim angle has an update on the effort to get the controversial pipeline approved despite president obama rejection of it last week. you probably heard newt gingrich talk about sal alinsky of the criticism of president. tonight, james rosen tells us who sal was and why it matters. "special report" starts at 6:00 eastern. now back to new york and my colleagues with "the five." ♪ ♪ >> dana: welcome back. we're moving out of politics but staying in washington, d.c. former c.i.a. officer charged in leaking information. charged with disclosing classified information to reporters and lying to the c.i.a. about sensitive material. he faces up to 30 years in prison if convicted. revealing information about waterboarding, allegedly and other harsh interrogation measures. the interesting story about this to me, besides the obama administration, is they have had more profession cushion than other combined. it's i