The Rachel Maddow Show Review

Conventional wisdom argues that Rachel Maddow should not be a cable news show host success. She is a gay woman. She's liberal and not a centrist. Her hair is not higher than her IQ. Her mentor, MSNB's Keith Olbermann, and PBS Bill Moyer's are just about the only other two news show host that lean as far left as she. Yet she has defied the odds.
An anchor as defined by the Museum of Broadcast Communications website acts as a mediator between what happens in the world to the rest of the world. Amidst a sea of pseudo-news and news parody programs, Maddow brings refreshing humor while maintaining professionalism to her reporting. She has reprised the role of a traditional anchor.
Maddow has made it clear that her agenda is liberal, and not to be tainted by any particular political party. In a Washington Post article she was quoted as saying, "I am a liberal. I'm not a partisan, not a Democratic Party hack. I'm not trying to advance anybody's agenda."
Maddow's reports fit the standards set by Edward Murrow and demands for "scripts like Murrow's - simple, clear and memorable. Listen to his radio reports from World War II and you won't hear any of the hype or ‘journalese' that infects so much broadcast writing today. He used alliteration and analogies sparingly but effectively, not just to be clever" as elucidated upon in the article "What Would Murrow Do?" in the American Journalism Review.
Maddow uses humor to remain relevant to a wide range of viewers. For example, she shows this when she introduces the topic of Barack Obama's stimulus plan.
She said, "the Barack Obama presidency is one month old today. Yes, it has been a month since Aretha Franklin‘s incredible bejeweled inaugural hat. The president celebrated his one month in office by-doing another day‘s work. He met with the U.S. Conference of Mayors to talk about the stimulus money headed their way and to give them fair warning: ‘No spending shenanigans.'"
Maddow is successful in maintaining a nonpartisan stance as evidenced when she describes what President Obama has accomplished since being sworn in office.
She reported, "It‘s not like we‘re not keeping our eyes on the fine print, and the Obama administration‘s month-old record is definitely imperfect. We still do not have a commerce secretary...the Obama Justice Department announced that they would continue the Bush administration‘s position that prisoners at the U.S. military prison in Afghanistan at Bagram Air Base, they said that those prisoners should not have the right to challenge their imprisonment in a real court - that is a big deal. It is news as of tonight and it is a disappointment."
Her refusal to succumb to the usual trappings of female sexuality as a ploy to play with the big boys makes her a pioneer of sorts. In the Washington Post article, she is quoted as saying, "I know I don't look like everybody else on television. I'm not that pretty. Women on television are over-the-top, beauty-pageant gorgeous. That's not the grounds on which I am competing."
As a result, it has allowed her to gain a loyal following from those who admire her candor and courage.