MSNBC has been known as the place for Progressive politics for years. Not as well known is that Comcast bought them out a few years ago and they have now created a policy to "move away from Progressive politics." Many of you may have noticed the recent loss of Ed Shultz and that has been a catalyst for Progressives. It is not too late to save MSNBC if Progressives actually pay attention. If not, well, losing our voice on cable will be our own fault. Story below the fold.
I grew up with the constant blather about the “liberal media”. Coming from a family largely comprised of Goldwater/Reagan Republicans, Tea Party gun toting anti-tax fanatics and born again Christians taking our country back to Jesus, it was often interesting at holiday dinners. Every family has a closet liberal. My family had 2 and both of us sat quietly rather than be bullied into “not upsetting anyone”. For years I was pummeled into silence by the political views of family, friends, peers and clergy that believed “family values” meant “their values” and the Constitution meant “screw you and it’s all about my rights.”
Don’t get me wrong. With the exception of politics my family rocks. They are all involved in amazing charity work, church activities, and their dedication to the generations of relatives and friends, and good causes is a testament to humanity at its best. Every one of them is smart, funny, fun and genuinely kind. I could not be more blessed than having all of them in my life. They have shaped me, challenged me, forced me to look at their side, and made me who I am. Just don’t be a liberal, a democrat, or a progressive. That is crossing the line.
Years of listening to FOX and then CNN when it turned right, CBS (after Rather), NBC and ABC all tilted right. More and more there was no voice that sounded like mine. Music stations turned to Christian radio hawking the “save your soul for money” train, and right wing hacks took over the airwaves on “liberal bashing”radio. The internet was filled with conspiracy theory, flag-waiving anti Americans, hate everybody sites. I had to change my email 4 times just to get rid of the noxious SPAM flooding my inbox if I looked for “politics” “liberals””Progressives” as keywords.
Then I found MSNBC. At first I watched here and there. Chris Matthews drove me nuts. He was so enamored of his own voice and opinions he never let anyone else talk. Joe Scarborough was a Bill O’Reilly wannnabe and Mika was the Combs to his Hannity. Then I heard the voice of Kieth Olbermann. He was intelligent and he used one of my favorite quotes from a movie so he got my attention just for laughs.
Then I heard Rachel. Her sourcing was spot on. She did not hide her “liberal” side, rather she embraced it and wore it proudly. Over the years I watched the rise of some brilliant liberal “guests” on MSNBC shows. Sometimes I didn’t know their politics but these guests were truthful, didn’t hype the material and they didn’t try to become the story, they just reported it. Slowly I became an MSNBC viewer. I could not abide Chuck Todd and his constant sniping at Obama and anything remotely resembling the progressive body politic, but I discovered that if I never watched the morning shows, I could tolerate some of the other shows in the background. 8pm became the sweet spot to listen. From 8pm to 11pm I could be a “lily-livered bleeding heart liberal” and I could say it out loud.
Then Comcast bought MSNBC. My heart sank. I knew what that meant for my newfound friends on MSNBC. I looked into the images of the pundits and began ticking them off one by one. Comcast would never allow them to stay on the air. But MSNBC had ratings that competed with FOX and left CNN in the dust. How to get rid of the liberals without sacrificing viewers. One by one. Slowly. Using a redirect campaign of "Lean Forward", they could flush out the most popular liberals on the air, pump them up and then take them down. One by one. Comcast could finally silence the last bastion of liberal media once and for all. Oh yeah. AOL bought Huffington Post. Bad. Even worse, Verizon bought AOL, and with it, the Huffington Post. Andrew Brietbart is smiling from his special place in Hell.
Comcast bought the station a few months before Keith was ousted. So far, my predictions for what they would do and the order they would do it is right on track
First to go was Keith. No news is good news for Comcast on that one. Rumors abound that he left because he got a better deal at Al Gore’s feeble attempt at running a news station that turned out to be worse than him running a Presidential campaign. Rumors also abound that Joe Scarborough got his panties in a wad (again) and threw a hissy fit. The showdown between the 2 powerhouses was pre-ordained. Scarborough is a Conservative Comcast dream child and Keith was the pin in the liberal grenade. So the pin got pulled and the slow motion destruction of MSNBC began. Aaron Sorkin could not have written a better plot. Wait…he did…and he got driven off the air too.
Next to go was Martin Bashir. Intellectual, intelligent, informed, witty, with a British accent and a “foreign” look. He had the unmitigated gall to insult the half-governor – also ran – failed VP candidate – cant’ even manage a tea party realty show hack – FOX and the Republican party use as their Eva Braun. He made a stupid rude statement on air about Palin’s stupid rude statement made on air. FOX and Friends went nuts. CNN went nuts. MSNBC crushed the nuts and served Bashir’s nuts to Sara Palin and the Conservatives. Two down.
Next to go was Ed. Ed had started at the 6pm time slot sandwiched between Matthew’s 5pm and 7 pm tirades. Combined with his radio audience estimated at over 3 million and his pro-union populist politics he was a powerhouse. After Kieth left, Ed moved into the 10pm slot where he became the voice of the working man and focused his audience on Scott Walker and the Kochs. He became so popular he landed the 8pm timeslot for a few months. After Walker survived the recall, Ed got moved to Saturday and Lawrence O’Donnell was moved into the 10pm slot. A Saturday show caused an uproar but Ed had a loyal middle class union blue collar audience that FOX and Comcast just could not crush. The Ed man would not go quietly into the night. How to silence a populist liberal? Put him back on at 5pm when all the people most likely to watch him are still at work. Easy to pull out the ratings card there. No audience means it is the corporately responsible thing to do to cut his show and put in someone that will draw the audience Comcast wants. He also won’t go off on embarrassing tirades against the oligarchy’s pets. Three down.
The rest are easy. Alex, Joy Reid, Rev. Al, Ari Melber, Toure, Kristal Ball, and the entire afternoon lineup. Don’t get me wrong, the afternoon line up has NEVER been good. From Dylan Ratigan to the Young Turks to the 4 people arguing about stuff for an hour shows, there really has been nothing that put MSNBC on the positive side of the ratings for a long time. But MSNBC did worse than just eliminate the afternoon line up and get rid of Ed. They put Chuck Todd in the slot. Two possibilities here. EIther they put him there so we could get rid of him once and for all (a girl can hope) or they deliberately slapped their viewers in the face by putting a pandering Conservative shill into the very spot they fired the guy with 3 million radio progressive/liberal/populist listeners. Nine down.
And then there were four. Odds are Lawrence is next. Larry has a regular habit of being intellectually snippy. He is brilliant and his commentary can sometimes be spot on when he is outraged at some Conservative hogwash being fobbed off on America as actual policy or truth. He can definitely call a spade when he sees one. I personally am not enamored of his style of punditry but his voice is important in the discussion. Recently, Lawrence had the audacity to challenge “Jihad Joe” (as Morning Joe is affectionately called on Crooksandliars.com), over comments about the Trumpkin. He was obviously forced by the MSNBC execs to issue a nauseating apology just to keep Little Joe and Papa Griffin happy. Tick Tock Lawrence.
Chris Hayes is reportedly a good friend of Phil Griffin so he might make it longer than the others. But his audience numbers are weak. He is too intellectual and “vague” for the 8pm slot. Even Keith had trouble ousting O’Reilly in that timeslot so expectations have been low to take over the ratings, but now that CNN has stepped up with their powerhouse, Anderson Cooper, second place is a distant dream. That 8pm slot is too valuable to leave a smart, good-looking, intellectual, liberal there for long. (sound track from Jaws).
Mathews is still one of the darlings over at MSNBC, but he is no spring chicken. Being the oldest of the MSNBC lineup, Comcast eliminating him for “retirement” despite him signing a “long-term contract in 2013” is an easy out for them. MSNBC viewers would not be devastated by his loss because he gives us whiplash with his simultaneous alternate hypothetical views given over the top of anyone else that might have something to say. However, he is the most likely to switch sides and go with the Comcast “right-ward” move since he routinely changes position on just about everything. Conservatives would probably switch over just to watch him shout over any liberal opposition. He is already a premier expert at the favorite tactic of cable channel bullies like, Scarborough, O'Reilly, Hannity blah, blah.(insert name here).
Then there was only one. Enjoy Rachel while we still have her. MSNBC and Conservative blogs are already floating negative propaganda about Rachel claiming no one watches her. She is being fattened for the corporate axe. The overwhelmingly ditzy-ready-to-make-shit-up-for-ratings Megyn Kelly is now opposite the carefully researched-fact-checked-verified-verbally-confirmed-before-I-put-it-on-the-air Rachel. Being LGBT, female, liberal, smart, and honest is not what Comcast wants. Not when her counterpart doubles down when she is caught in a lie and yells “persecution because I am a Christian” when called on it. Rachel has the ridiculous idea that when she screws up, gets a fact wrong, or misstates something she should IMMEDIATELY issue a retraction or correction and apologize to her viewers so they are clear what the truth is. Rachel last negotiated her contract in August 2011 ‘for a few years" so we will have to see if Comcast re-ups her. Watch and wait. She is by far the most beloved of the MSNBC cast, and her loss will be devastating to anyone that believes we still stand for something.
ADDITION: Thank you to the many people that commented and suggested further material. Several articles suggest that Rachel will be ousting Chris Hayes in the 8pm slot. (Additional sources have been added below) This is a triple whammy for Progressives. 1. One of our pundits will oust another. 2. It will leave us with no recognizable voice at 9pm against Hannity just before the election season begins. 3. it will force Rachel to stand up against O'Reilly and Cooper's ratings, and beat them, or Comcast will be in the clear to cut her for ratings. What is even more disturbing, the same sources suggest MSNBC has re-hired the Right wing programming guru that gave us Tucker Colson, Laura Ingraham, Michael Savage, Oliver North and the entire 1990's version of MSNBC that made it the most despised station on cable and put him in charge. That is how far Comcast is willing to go if we don't stand for something. Included in this version is a phone number and the address to write to MSNBC. Don't just express your outrage and opinions here, make them count and send them to Andrew Lack, Phil Griffin and Comcast.
Sources:
Fox Newswww.foxnews.com
The Ed Showwww.facebook.com
fox news tv schedule
Hannity | Sean Hannity | Fox Newswww.foxnews.com
The O'Reilly Factor | Bill O'Reilly | Fox Newswww.foxnews.com
IN Q2, CNN IS #1 ON WEEKENDS RANKS A SOLID #2 IN WEEKDAY CABLE NEWS, WITH DOUBLE DIGIT GROWTH ACROSS THE BOARD – CNN Press Room - CNN.com Blogscnnpressroom.blogs.cnn.com
TV Schedule - CNN - CNN.comwww.cnn.com
Ed Schultz - Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaen.wikipedia.org
The Ed Schultz Show - Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaen.wikipedia.org
History of MSNBC: 2008–present - Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaen.wikipedia.org
Good riddance to MSNBC’s Martin Bashir - The Washington Post. www.washingtonpost.com
Andrew Breitbart Deathwww.huffingtonpost.com
MSNBC Cancels Three Shows As Ed Schultz, Other Hosts Depart www.huffingtonpost.com
Progressive news and media coverage on Crooks and Liarscrooksandliars.com
Additional Sources:
http://freebeacon.com/...
http://crooksandliars.com/...
http://www.politicususa.com/...
http://www.theatlantic.com/...
http://www.salon.com/...
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/...
http://fair.org/... (this one is included because it has the address and phone number to call MSNBC. The article is from 1999 and that is EXACTLY what Lack has been hired to do...bring MSNBC Back to the days of Oliver North)
CORRECTION: AN EARLIER VERSION OF THIS PIECE STATED MURDOCH BOUGHT THE NEW YORK TIMES. MURDOCH PURCHASED THE NEW YORK POST AND WALL STREET JOURNAL, NOT THE NEW YORK TIMES. SORRY FOR THE ERROR.