The statement MSNBC's top exec. would take back 'if he could

MSNBC President Phil Griffin infamously stated over the summer that MSNBC is "not the place" for breaking news.

That's for CNN. MSNBC is the place for political discussion and progressive politics.

Griffin's boss, however, a woman named Patricia Fili-Krushnel who chairs NBCUniversal News Group, thinks Griffin didn't actually mean to say that. Or, at least shouldn't have.

Asked by The Hollywood Reporter about MSNBC's decline in ratings since the 2012 election ended, Fili-Krushnel said:

Phil Griffin and I have talked a lot about how it's a balancing act: Viewers are coming for MSNBC's personalities, and CNN definitely gets the bump during breaking news. But we have to play in both spaces. When Phil was quoted as saying we don't do breaking news, I know if he could have [taken it back], he would have.

@eScarry