Posted on 08/18/2002 3:58:35 PM PDT by Paul Atreides
"The fall may be the make-or-break time for MSNBC," NEW YORK TIMES TV hotshot Bill Carter is preparing to write in Monday editions.
According to newsroom sources, Carter is set to warn how "future investment and promotion budgets for the channel" may be at risk during the coming months, as the all-news network continues to slump in the ratings, lead by the nearly still-born DONAHUE.
The pressure is coming from the very top of the MSNBCNBCGE tree.
Earlier this year, at a meeting of NBC's top management, Jeffrey Immelt, the chairman of GENERAL ELECTRIC, specifically cited MSNBC as the area of NBC that most needed attention. "He gave the order," a senior NBC executive has told Carter said, "and the order was, 'Fix it."'
As for the ailing DONAHUE, MSNBC prez Erik Sorenson tells Carter: "We're in the silly season. The news is so slow; it's been the summer of kidnappings. That plays more toward [CNN's] Connie [Chung]. Her show is cotton candy. It's all tabloid, all the time."
Sorenson said that come fall DONAHUE will start to take advantage of more hard news developments. "We'll have an election to cover and a war in Iraq," Sorenson said.
Beyond that, look for Donahue to book more celebrities. "He's going to have Oprah on and Harrison Ford and George Clooney," Sorenson said. "I don't honestly expect to have an answer on this until November."
Developing...
The funds of GE and Winders
With all their liberal benders,
Was not enough to stop,
A cable network Flop! BURMA SHAVE? :)
FGS
your point is well taken and interesting, but i have a slightly different view. msnbc does NOT KNOW how to cover a war. they want the threat of war to be around because they can play a con game as good as the major networks. so they say they want a war, but what they really want is to badmouth the administration into delaying the start of the war, or better yet, not having a war. as soon as the war begins, msnbc is toast, because folks will watch fox or (gasp) cnn.
Because commercial journalism is entertainment, and because mass-market entertainment is inherently anticonservative.Just report it, and be done with it. So far, FNC has done that
IMHO the non-liberally biased part of Fox News is mostly commentary. News, as such, is negative and superficial--thus anticonservative.It is a snare and a delusion to think that journalism is not politics; it always has been. Hamilton and Jefferson duked it out in sponsored newspapers, and nobody blinked an eye. Well, they wouldn't--the First Amendment says in so many words that they were within their rights . . .
Journalists claim to be objective, but they never prove it; they couldn't even if it were true because "lack of bias" is an unprovable negative. The journalistic organs use their propaganda power to insinuate that it's unfair to expect to prove the negative. But if you're tempted to cut them some slack on that account, Ann Coulter isn't the first to prove the positive (but she does a really fine job of it, don't you think?).
LOL, what a joke. "We got the war in Iraq, girls being abducted, floods, we can increase our profitability. Doesn't Alterman also write for them, he should be squealing about that comment.
I hope Fox Newswatch gets a hold of that.
Abortion wasn't legal back when dino-phil was conceived. I wonder if his mama would have exercised her "right to choose".
Throw in a few Columbo reruns, and I'm there!
A long time ago someone wrote about the "MEGO effect". That stands forMineAnd that's just what happens when I hear 66% "same old same old" from Democrats and "moderates."
Eyes
Glaze
Over.
I tried to analyze journalism objectively, and this thread is what I came up with.
Why Broadcast Journalism is Unnecessary and Illegitimate. It's the best I could do, and I think the replies (give or take an unfortunate flame war) are illuminating. See in particular, reply #50 on that thread.
Might that be viewed from a different perspective:
The Dim party is the enforcement arm of the Ministry of Information?????? Not a stretch. You almost said as much yourself:
Problem is, what they call news now, is really just their agenda items with their particular spin to shape public opinion.
Thoughts?
FGS
BWAAAAAAAAAAHHHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.