MSNBC's Continuing Shuffle to the Left.

[babylonsister]

Since I don't watch faux, I never knew how brainwashed these folks are. This was enlightening to me.


http://www.prospect.org/csnc/blogs/tapped_archive?month=10&year=2010&base_name=msnbcs_continuing_shuffle_to_t

MSNBC's Continuing Shuffle to the Left.

Jon Chait makes a good point in responding to the excellent article in New York magazine on the trials of CNN and MSNBC:

MSNBC, as Sherman reports, is now courting a liberal audience. But (my opinion) you'll never have a liberal equivalent to Fox News that has anything like the same level of success. Conservatives believe that the mainstream news is fundamentally corrupt and untrustworthy. They want a fully closed information ecosystem in which every piece of data they consume is filtered through the perspective of the conservative movement. Very, very few liberals want that. They want their liberal opinion, but they also want straight news, or at the very least news that isn't overtly propagandistic like on Fox. MSNBC has slightly right-of-center programming in the morning with Joe Scarborough, straight news throughout the day, then liberal opinion at night.

I'd add that it isn't just that conservatives want a fully closed information ecosystem, it's also that many of them have come to believe that a fully closed information ecosystem is the only way they can avoid being drowned by liberal propaganda. When you watch Fox, you're told again and again that every mainstream news outlet is hopelessly liberal, and the only way to learn the truth is to stay right here. For conservatives who have had the message of liberal bias hammered into them for the last few decades, it's very persuasive. MSNBC doesn't say anything like that to progressives. It's more, "Here's some programming you might like," as opposed to, "This is the only place you can get the truth."

MSNBC couldn't duplicate Fox's message about the rest of the media if they wanted to -- progressives might have complaints about The New York Times or NPR, but no one would try to convince them that those outlets are nothing more than cauldrons of rightist propaganda. So while their increasing turn to the left may be successful, it is unlikely to produce the kind of loyalty Fox gets. Few progressives are going to decide to only get their news from MSNBC because they can't trust anyone else.

That said, MSNBC has decided to stop beating around the bush and brand itself as the progressive cable network. Look at this spot, part of their new "Lean Forward" branding campaign:

Video at link~

You've got liberal icons like John Kennedy and Martin Luther King, two men getting married, multiple shots of President Obama, and more -- no ambiguity there.

-- Paul Waldman

[Dennis Donovan]

1. They've been "left" since Ed Schultz took the 6pm slot...

With the exception of Scarborough, it's a progressive version of Faux.

The difference is MSNBC's right.:thumbsup:

[NorthCarolina]

2. They are moving left to correspond with mainstream America. eom

[wisteria]

3. It can be over the top, but liberal or not, it doesn't shove its viewpoint down your throat. n/t

[Stinky The Clown]

4. Their ownership is the antithesis of left. Hence, they're stealth. Hence, worse than Fox.

As but one example: Maxine Waters and Charlie Rangel, according to every damned one of their newsreaders, will be going "on trial" in the House.

How much worse does use of the word "trial" instead of "hearing" make them seem to the average person watching?

Fox is obvious in their bias. By portraying themselves as left, but still giving an essentially right wing twist couched in left wing robes, they skew even our side's view of thing.

[babylonsister]

5. So explain KO, Rachel, O'Donnell. The ownership will be very

happy and let this 'liberal bias' continue as long as they make money. imo.

[molly77]

6. I have heard KO refer to Chavez as a dictator

If you agree with the US version of south america and Keith...wonder why Columbia , the only south american country the US really approves of , has a huge migration problem of their people going to Venezuela. Or I should say it is Venezuela's problem.WE seem to like dictators. WE kidnapped Arristed, the democratically elected president of Haiti .He never was allowed back home.

[Stinky The Clown]

7. You answered your own question

This isn't a knock on any of them, by the way.

[Stinky The Clown]

10. They're bait

They keep liberals eyes on the MSNBC air.

[phleshdef]

11. LOL, MSNBC has Dems/liberals hosting every show from 5 o clock onward.

Chris Matthews being only on the Dem half of that. But then there is Ed Schultz, Matthews again, Keith, Rachel then O'Donnell. Thats like 6 solid hours of television including the primetime slots filled by people who generally support the American left. To call that "bait" is just laughable.

[Stinky The Clown]

13. Laugh all you want

Their daytime programming is right wing. Not overtly, but at the basic level.

No one watches their night time programming except liberals. Choir preaching doesn't harm their owners. Even the night timers have avoided certain topics even as the daytimers "reported" those topics in appropriate right wing terms.

So yes. They're bait.

[Dawgs]

15. "daytime programming is right wing"

Their daytime programming is BORING!! It's not right, left, or anything else. It just sucks.

Nobody is watching before five.

[phleshdef]

16. Morning Joe is the ONLY show on MSNBC with a solid right winger in a hosting spot.

Do you realize how stupid and unproveable your argument is here? One could easily turn that around and say that their handful of right leaning hosts are just bait for the "leftist marathon" that starts at 5. That would be a pretty stupid argument to make too, but just as easy, if not easier.

The people at MSNBC are not sitting around thinking "hey lets blast liberals all over primetime and give them 6 solid hours, that will bait them in to watching the morning shows, then we got them where we want them, we can brainwash them into conservatism!".

All your argument shows is that you know very little about MSNBC and very little about how a company like that operates. Pure silliness.

[frazzled]

8. Wait till Comcast gets their hands on it

Unless what MSNBC is doing is fairly profitable to them, I think you're likely to see changes. Or perhaps they will just allow MSNBC to chug on as a form of appeasement, while they busy themselves with their lobbyists.

Jon Chait is wrong about one thing regarding MSNBC: "straight news throughout the day." C'mon, have you really ever watched MSNBC during the day? It's entertainment stories and gossip for the most part, followed by the insufferable Dylan Ratigan. Straight news is one thing they don't really do. Political chitter chatter, the occasional obligatory nod to reporting on a breaking event. But straight news? Not a lot of it. I don't think anybody does straight news anymore. Maybe PBS NewsHour comes close, reporting on things going on around the world or things that aren't just political gossip.

[Exilednight]

17. I agree with you about their "news" coverage. It's horrible ..........

and panders to the lowest form of society. I think part of it is money. Rupert took his vast fortune and put it all into his news empire, he also does a good job of using his local affiliates to support his cable station. This is a lesson that NBC should take to heart and find ways of incorporating their local affiliates to support MSNBC.

The father of cable news, CNN, also had a billionaire as their founder who was willing to dump his vast sums of money into his cable news company. What also helped was the lack of competition in the 24 hour news cycle when they first started out. It allowed them to build a vast news gathering organization. Sadly, CNN is the best at providing actual news, but no one bothers watching because they are the worst at passing off opinion as news.

[denimgirly]

9. NICE Videos -- Like them Both!

Glad to see they are open about it now

[AzDar]

12. Perhaps they've finally figured out that the Left is right.

:patriot:

[old mark]

14. We have had NO real "left" on the MSM for decades...it is about time, and I support them

for it. We should be glad for all we can get, and try for more every day. the Left HAS TO PUSH-or we will drift further to the right...whether Obama likes us or not, we are making the party better.


mark