NBC’s decision to remove Keith Olbermann and Chris Matthews from the anchor seats of the MSNBC political programs for this fall’s election, generally regarded as an effort to protect the traditional NBC News brand, lays emphasis on a long-standing difficulty with dividing the brand, a rival executive said on Monday, according to The New York Daily News.

Following weeks of strong criticism regarding the fact that MSNBC’s political coverage was affecting NBC’s well-known image of impartiality, and numerous prickly live moments, the networks announced that David Gregory would replace Keith Olbermann and Chris Matthews to become MSNBC’s chief anchor. Olbermann and Matthews, however, will continue as analysts during the coverage.

“I do think they’ve got a challenge right now figuring out what they are and how much is there a difference between what NBC News is and what MSNBC is,” ABC News President David Westin told reporters yesterday, as cited by The New York Daily News.

In addition to this, Fox News host Bill O’Reilly, who has taken part in a frenzied dispute with Keith Olbermann, said on Saturday night that both networks were subjective and that “NBC is the worst.”

Even former “NBC Nightly News” anchor Tom Brokaw told a panel in Denver that the two analysts had gone too far.

Keith Olbermann, who regularly criticizes President Bush and Republican presidential nominee John McCain, proved too much enthusiasm when he raved about the acceptance speech of Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama.

Chris Matthews, in spite of the fact that he has passed judgment on politicians in both parties, nevertheless praised the Obama speeches and made disapproving comments with regard to Hillary Clinton’s lecture, for which he later apologized.

“NBC has established such a good reputation over the years because of Tim Russert, who made it the place to go for politics,” explained Tyndall, publisher of the Tyndall Report. “This is really a symbolic move,” he added.