When MSNBC fired Phil Donahue for airing his anti-war views

The pioneering TV host Phil Donahue, who revolutionized daytime television by tackling major social and political issues in front of a studio audience, has died at the age of 88. The Phil Donahue Show, later renamed Donahue, ran from the 1960s through to 1996, and the affable host won 20 Emmy Awards and received a Peabody Award throughout his career. In 2003, Donahue was fired from his primetime MSNBC talk show for airing antiwar voices during the run-up to the U.S. invasion of Iraq, when most of the corporate media was cheerleading the Bush administration’s drive for war. Donahue spoke with Democracy Now! about his firing in 2013, describing it as a decision “from far above” in the network. “They were terrified of the antiwar voice,” he said. Donahue is survived by his wife Marlo Thomas, his four children and his grandchildren.

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JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And in breaking news, the pioneering TV host Phil Donahue has died at the age of 88. The Phil Donahue Show, later renamed Donahue, ran from the 1960s through to 1996 and tackled major social and political issues, including women’s rights, child abuse in the Catholic Church, prisons and racism. Among his notable interview subjects was Nelson Mandela, whom he spoke with shortly after his release from a South African prison in 1990. Over his career, Donahue won 20 Emmy Awards and received a Peabody Award.

AMY GOODMAN: In 2003, Phil Donahue was fired from his primetime MSNBC talk show during the run-up to the U.S. invasion of Iraq. It was the most popular talk show on MSNBC at the time. The problem wasn’t Phil’s ratings, but rather his views. An internal MSNBC memo warned Donahue was a, quote, “difficult public face for NBC in a time of war,” providing a, quote, “home for the liberal antiwar agenda at the same time that our competitors are waving the flag at every opportunity,” unquote. In 2013, we spoke to Phil Donahue about his firing.

PHIL DONAHUE: I think what happened to me, the biggest lesson, I think, is the — how corporate media shapes our opinions and our coverage. This was a decision — my decision — the decision to release me came from far above. This was not an assistant program director who decided to separate me from MSNBC. They were terrified of the antiwar voice. And that is not an overstatement. Antiwar voices were not popular. And if you’re General Electric, you certainly don’t want an antiwar voice on a cable channel that you own; Donald Rumsfeld is your biggest customer. So, by the way, I had to have two conservatives on for every liberal. I could have Richard Perle on alone, but I couldn’t have Dennis Kucinich on alone. I was considered two liberals. It really is funny almost, when you look back on how — how the management was just frozen by the antiwar voice. We were scolds. We weren’t patriotic. American people disagreed with us. And we weren’t good for business.

AMY GOODMAN: That was the groundbreaking TV host and journalist Phil Donahue. Following his firing, Phil went on to co-directed the documentary Body of War, that told the story of the U.S. Iraq War veteran Tomas Young, who was paralyzed after being shot in Iraq and came home to become an antiwar activist. Phil Donahue died on Sunday at the age of 88. He’s survived by his wife Marlo Thomas, his four children and his grandchildren. Our condolences to the whole Thomas-Donahue family. Phil Donahue, the pioneering TV talk show host.