Maddow's secret to her ratings success.

[kstewart33]

The Wrap:

“We developed sort of an informal, internal mantra… which is that we basically cover them as if they are a silent movie,” Maddow told TheWrap. “I stopped covering the Twitter feed and we started covering only what they do rather than what they say.”

When a Trump surrogate lies, it has consequences for the MSNBC host. “We no longer go to that person for factual information,” Maddow explained. That realization helped Maddow come up with her recent formula that has resulted in ratings success.

“I really feel like it was helpful to me, in terms of trying to come up with what to talk about every day, and serving up information for our audience that is substantive and not manipulated by people at the White House,” Maddow said. “It was helpful for us to just stop paying attention to what they were saying.”

More, including her thoughts about Conway, at: http://www.thewrap.com/rachel-maddow-ratings-surge-trump-twitter-feed-stop/

[Wounded Bear]

1. She's turned up some really, really good stories lately, too...

That has to have helped. We're having a surge in interest of real news and less RW sources.

Rachel is riding that wave, and doing it well.

[TexasProgresive]

2. That's the tack they all need to take

No screen time if you lie. Report the actions not the words since the words tend to be lies and the actions are horrible facts.

[Sherman A1]

3. Precisely

report their deeds not their words.

[Leghorn21]

5. On the other hand, I was interested to watch Page on Chris Hayes last night, because the bogus

smiling, darting eyes, ducking/obfuscating ETC really let me personally experience this lying liar who lies, as opposed to just reading a report about him - ? Is that selfish of me?

[Grammy23]

8. Now THAT was Worth watching.

I was only half listening to this creep (while working on a jigsaw puzzle on my iPad) when I started hearing a lot of language that seemed somewhat confusing by design. Then I looked up to see a guy who looked like he was ready to jump out of his skin. I couldn't help but laugh as Chris kept probing for answers. It was worth watching for sure. Great insight into this guy. Look for it online if you haven't seen it.

[moonscape]

10. That was a remarkable, revealing interview! n/t

[lagomorph777]

15. I noticed - and enjoyed - that too!

What a slimeball - it was visually obvious that he was blowing a BS tornado.

[uponit7771]

16. +1

[PsychoBabble]

4. Rachel has always been smarter than the average bear ...

Maybe even Russian ones, this time ...

[ananda]

6. Very smart woman that Maddow.

Good!

[MatthewStLouis]

7. She is awesome. Yes, don't get distracted by their words, focus on what they do! /nt

[msongs]

9. plus there are so few liberals on tv that she becomes the default show nt

[moreland01]

11. YES!

I have thought since November that the press ought to boycott the press room at the White House all together.

If the administration wants to plant info in the presses mind, they'll get it there. Why attend the pressers just to be spoon-fed a crap sandwich?

Their time is much better spent tracking down the real story. Those are the stories we are all interested in anyway!

[murielm99]

12. I've been saying the same thing.

If they disinvite CNN and the Washington Post, all the rest ought to stay away. Maybe they can send one person, or have someone outside to report that only Fox and Brietbart show up. When Trump retaliates, and he will, report his actions.

Treat him like a little kid on a timeout.

[lagomorph777]

17. It is useful to collect footage of all the lies for later replay.

However, Faux and C-Span have it covered, so it's probably a waste of resources to send an actual stenographer.

[Hekate]

25. Jon Stewart used that technique with great success during the BushCheney years

One clip after another of self contradictoey statements.

[Vinca]

13. Hers is the one show I never, ever miss.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

14. Don't cover the Twitter feed, and don't talk to liars.

What a novel concept!

[dewsgirl]

18. I adore her

[calimary]

22. Welcome to DU, dewsgirl!

Yeah, I love her, too! She's the ratings queen at MSNBC again, so I've read. And well she should be!

Rachel Maddow connects the dots like nobody else I've seen in the air in donkey's years! And I'm old. She spends a long first segment every night, following trails of bread crumbs to lead to yet another in a continuing series of startling and sometimes infuriating exposes or other breaking news.

She's the Queen of Context. And many times, that's exactly what's needed - to understand the point of the story she takes 20 minutes to complete, or the big picture she takes 20 minutes of puzzle pieces to assemble.

A LOT of these stories AREN'T simple. Kinda like life. Life is complicated. The road isn't straight. Most of the time it's got a few twists and turns in it.

[Hekate]

26. +100

[dewsgirl]

29. Thank you, Calimary. Last night, she absolutely killed it.

gave me goosebumps.

[lunatica]

19. I was watching when she announced that was what she was going to do

I've been watching her as much as I can since then. It was definitely the right move on her part. You don't end up getting another regurgitation of the same thing everyone else has said. Me like!

[SpankMe]

20. Rachel is a goddess.

Her intellect and sheer niceness are both off the scale. (High off the scale.)

[calimary]

21. To riff off one line in the first "Godfather" movie...

"you won't be seeing Kellyanne around here no more."

[phylny]

23. My husband and I are now regular viewers.

I try to avoid seeing or hearing 45's voice.

[Cha]

24. Wow.. how refreshing.. thank you, stewart!

[JI7]

27. so she is doing what journalists are expected to do ?

[Motley13]

28. This is connecting the dots "bigly"

https://boingboing.net/2017/03/01/rachel-maddow-connects-the-dot.html