Rachel Maddow Stopped Covering Trumps Tweets, And Her Ratings Soared

[TomCADem]

It is reassuring to know that their are still folks looking for old fashioned journalism and in depth interviews, rather than the split screen shoutfests that are common today.

http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/us_58c6c5b3e4b0ed71826e4248

The question of how to cover Donald Trump has confounded many people working in the media industry since his election. There are so many areas of the president’s administration that warrant dissection that his near-daily onslaught of morning tweets started to prove something of a distraction from the potentially larger issues at hand.

So Rachel Maddow, host of MSNBC’s “The Rachel Maddow Show,” made a decision: tune them out.

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

“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,” she added. “It was helpful for us to just stop paying attention to what they were saying.”

[fun n serious]

1. Yep and she stopped having Trump apologist on too.

[Wounded Bear]

10. I think rather that Trump apologists won't come on her show...

[dalton99a]

2. You don't have to regurgigate the bullshit du jour from the Russian reps in the White House.

[Wounded Bear]

3. I think she still mentions them if they are germane to what she is actually covering.

But her focus has been on Trump and his henchmen and what they've been doing, where their money comes from and goes, and has been relatively free from the kind of Squirrel! distractions that most tweets have been.

[uponit7771]

6. +1

[Little Star]

4. I started watching again.......

good thinking Rachel.

[bora13]

5. one way to get into the looking glass groove

understand you have to run twice as fast to keep yourself up to
speed with the crew-crux-cram.

main reason, it is harder to run in shit than on the more solid and better smelling ground of sanity.

[calimary]

12. Superb metaphor, bora13!

Besides, shit is by nature rather slimy. No way to get any traction.

[Leith]

7. I Like the Direction She Has Been Taking

She introduces a topic, goes into the history and facts in a quick but substantive way, relates them to the topic as it currently is, and has an expert guest. The absolute best part is when she describes the subject of the day and asks the expert if she has her facts complete and straight. Except for the occasional minor tweak of an inconsequential detail, the expert agrees that she has it right.

THAT is in-depth journalism. To hell with orange boy's semiliterate tweets.

[Fast Walker 52]

19. during the campaign I stopped watching because she got so repetitive

but it does seem like she's doing great reporting now, though I only see the occasional video and her show once in a few weeks

[Leith]

22. I Stopped Watching During the Campaign Because

MSNBC interrupted a speech Bernie Sanders was giving in support of HRC to cut to orange boy. We sat looking at an empty podium for 10 minutes while the pundits tried to think of stuff to say. I was furious.

[Fast Walker 52]

24. yeah, that too... she was actually pretty awful during the campaign

Definitely anti-Bernie. Way too much attention to Trump and the GOP. So annoying.

[lame54]

8. Colbert still covers them...

And his ratings are climbing

[not fooled]

11. Comedy gold

dump's tweets--the jokes write themselves.

Can't believe I'm saying that about a U.S. president. Even an illegally installed one.

[LiberalLovinLug]

13. He's a comedian, he can't resist

[lame54]

15. But people dont have to watch...

But they sure are choosing to

[LiberalLovinLug]

20. I think late night comedy shows are the perfect place to make fun of his ridiculous tweets

And daytime political talk shows are for a more sober analysis of what is actually happening beyond the tweets.

They each serve a purpose.

[calimary]

14. Well, why not? His is a comedy/entertainment show.

She's an information broker. She DOESN'T run a comedy/entertainment show. Some of the material she covers is laugh-worthy, of course, but that's because she's exposing what a damn pathetic joke it is.

[lame54]

17. The premise of the OP is...

That her ratings are rising because she is ignoring the tweets

Colbert is not and his ratings are rising

Could be Rachel's success is do to something else

[LanternWaste]

26. Your are neither validating nor invalidating any position.

Your are neither validating nor invalidating any position, especially that of the OP.

Two different mechanisms (comedy v news) will neither react in kind under like situations, nor contain the same context for effect.

Keep trying though. Your investment depends on it.

[a kennedy]

18. But Rachel is NOT a "stand up comedian"......and Stephen really isn't either....but

his show really lends itself to his type of delivery. JMHO.

[longship]

9. I've always loved Rachel.

She is as sharp as a tack. Plus, she's a committed geek. Her narratives are wonderful. She understands the history. More need to understand it. Alas, some people still don't want to be bothered with such things. They apparently would prefer the sound bite du jour.

[Hekate]

16. Kick

[William Seger]

21. I predict Maddow will win a Peabody this year

There's really no one else doing what she's doing now to sort through this bizarre Trump Reality Show.

[msongs]

23. maybe DU could try that and see if ratings soar nt

[MarianJack]

25. If we're relying on Comet's integrity, than we're...

...F**KED!

PEACE!