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MSNBC FUTURE IN DOUBT
DrudgeReport.com ^ | August 18, 2002

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...


TOPICS: Front Page News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: boringliberalfluff; fncuberalles; msdnc; msnbc; notenoughblondes; patheticlosers; secaucussyndrome
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To: Paul Atreides
If they were to admit that he had low ratings, it would be to say that landPhil was "too intelligent for the average public."
LOL!

161 posted on 08/19/2002 4:15:46 AM PDT by conservatism_IS_compassion
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To: ladyinred
I studied journalism before the tabloid era, and I see everything I ever learned is not applied to what passes for journalism today. I had never been able to make myself realize that it is considered entertainment today until now.
Most people, unfortunately, do NOT consider it entertainment--they are too busy fantasizing that 75 cents will buy them TRUTH. It won't, you know . . . even in the best case (i.e., reading a book by a conservative author who encourages independent thought) you have to consider what you are NOT being told. What the author doesn't even know, or just doesn't think to--or care to--say.
You have convinced me, and it makes me sad.
The fact that it makes you sad is a warning. By the time you are reading this, you almost certainly are already hunting for ways to disbelieve what you understand to be an uncomfortable truth. It's human nature;
A man convinced against his will
is of the same opinion still.

Old habits of thought die hard. I began to adopt this viewpoint, laboriously, ten years ago--and still I sucker sometimes, and start getting mad at the water for going downhill.


162 posted on 08/19/2002 5:59:04 AM PDT by conservatism_IS_compassion
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To: bert; ForGod'sSake; Mudboy Slim; sultan88; scholar
"Maybe we should FReep General Electric and Microsoft to throw what's there away and build a new channel that han o leftists on the staff and shows no bias.""

HA!!
bert you ol' fox!
If we were to do something like that, why we'll never get rid of 'em!!!
As sure as God made li'l green apples these nitwits will think we're just being coy, are *secretly* in love with 'em. :o)

Let's have some laughs here; &, look closer, parse this article.
Perhaps do a little xlation (for those in Rio Linda) where & when required, shall we?

"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."

They're broke.
The *Sorensons* KNEW what they were doing every step of the way; &, the Limosine Liberals & RINOS behind the scenes responsible for controlling the purse strings listened, followed their advice, & let 'em have a complete run of the show.
The Liberal-Socialists the brainiac-beancounters entrusted to "play to the room" simply ran 'em into the ground.
Bottom line then, is they're broke.
(Took this Liberal-Socialist bunch about 10 years to kill the host, too.)

"The pressure is coming from the very topf the MSNBCNBCGE tree."

HA!!!
Correct me if I'm wrong, buttttt...
Doesn't this description sound like an excellent description of a head-on collision -- between Capitalism & Socialism?
A collision, btw, each & every person involved with the project known as CCRM knew was inevitable.
Was never any more than a question of time, too; & now, the time is close at hand.

People are looking very close these days at what & who they're buying in the way of investments.
Promises of Blue Skies (going unactualized ad infinitum) are now viewed for precisely what they are, & what they've always been; simply bad business.

So in a strange way let me be amoung the first to say, "Thank you, Enron."

"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.'""

*Dad* has spoken & the children must listen.

"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.'"

Is this a textbook case of the "Pot Calling The Kettle Black"; or, "People Living In Glass Houses..."???
(These Liberal-Socialists have actually given us a choice!!) {g}

"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."

Oh...
The ground will be RICH(ER) for [the] seeds of lying, disinformation, spin & all other manner of hijinks to be made available to ol' Phil the Pill, come this Fall?
Izzat right?

SOS, very same MO -- nothing's changed -- a'tall.
This Sorenson asshole just told us what he's scheming for us, come Fall.
Whether they realize it or not, GE stockholders are going to be getting more of the same in answer to their woe(s).
This is RICH!!
*Classic* Liberal-Socialist 'Rat Lamestream mindset -- "as long as the money being lost is not their's..." -- on display for all to behold!!
The Sorenson jamoke's one thick puppy with more than his fair share of real chutzpah, alright.

PREDICTION: Mr. Sorenson's career is kaput, fini, over (at PMSNBC) & sounds as if he might be considered one of the leading suspects in the murder of PMSNBC.

"Beyond that, look for Donahue to book more celebrities. 'He's going to have Oprah on and Harrison Ford and George Clooney,' Sorenson said."

Whoaaaa...DON'T forget Tim Robbins (& his washed-up has-been *mate* what'sherface), Mr. Sorenson!!!
Those two are *hot* now!
You wouldn't want to miss a *golden* "opportunity"; &, let Connie Chung at CNN capitalize, would you? :o)

"I don't honestly expect to have an answer on this until November."

No, Mr. Sorenson, I don't suppose you will have an *answer* come November, either.
Aside from my contention you ain't gonna be employed come Novemebr?
I'd like to say you're *consistent*, if you're nothing else.
As you've never had "an answer" to anything (meaningful) in your entire life; not, if you're judged by the "product" you *pinch out*? (& you are)
Your lack of "answers," coincidentally, is precisely *why* your cable net's drowning a horrible death, in the dreaded Sea of Red Ink!!
Drowing, Mr. Sorenson, in spite of you (& your cohorts) being given practically UNlimited resources to make this enterprise work??

(psssst: Mr Sorenson, DON'T forget to be *gracious*, now; &, thank your Mass-Com profs who're responsible for your "training.") {hehehe}

"Developing..."

Really, now?

...nawww, sounds mercifully "over" to me.

163 posted on 08/19/2002 7:07:57 AM PDT by Landru
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To: Landru
You are an EXCELLENT marksman, my FRiend. Very fine parsing, indeed!! (But doesn't it bug you that so many people on FR think that the past tense of "lead" is also spelled "lead"?? When, in fact, it is spelled "led". Almost as bad as spelling "lose" as "loose". At least we are gud spelers, huh, Lan?
164 posted on 08/19/2002 7:46:45 AM PDT by sultan88
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To: sultan88
"At least we are gud spelers, huh, Lan?"

Good point, Mr. sultan.
Ashamedly I must admit, I totally missed the gaff, altogether.
The downside of speed-reading combined with the astounding degree of hypocracy, double-talk, thinkspeak & outrageous rationalization as to WHY the PMNBC sewer's now reaping their just deserts was so juicy I was worked-up into a feeding frenzy.

The holes I anxiously anticipated punching through the piece, simply blinded me to the poper spelling; although, I'm not certain I'd recognize "good" grammer if it hit me between the eyes.

In a very, real sense?
I'm a *victim*. :o)

Naturally, I'm (much) more willing to overlook such things when dealing with friends & allies.

...just the *nature* Landru's politics as they apply in the VRWC. ;^)

165 posted on 08/19/2002 8:04:09 AM PDT by Landru
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To: ErnBatavia
yes...even O'Reilly (remember "Inside Edition from whence he emanated?).....these clowns are all tabloid kids; not a journalist (by definition) among 'em....

Inside Edition may have been a tabloid style program, but they did better investigative journalism than a lot of the network magazine shows like 48 Hours. In fact O'Reilly won two Peabody Awards on IE.

166 posted on 08/19/2002 8:53:48 AM PDT by Hugin
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To: T Lady
Thank you much, but I am not now in the service (that was thirty five years ago). We just live overseas for a part of the year.
167 posted on 08/19/2002 9:48:51 AM PDT by JimSEA
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To: ForGod'sSake
if you were a spineless, gutless, unethical, immoral wimp that wanted to become a professional politician, would you go against the media's and coincidentally(?) the Dim's agenda? Right, me neither.
Journalism boasts of its independence and objectivity. But its claim is mooted by the fact that liberal politicians refuse to seperate themselves from journalism. Journalism is liberals in full herd-mentality mode.

168 posted on 08/19/2002 12:47:26 PM PDT by conservatism_IS_compassion
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To: ladyinred
Liberal bias in journalism is the chicken, and Liberalism in politics is the egg. One of them came first, I suppose . . .
169 posted on 08/19/2002 12:53:22 PM PDT by conservatism_IS_compassion
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To: conservatism_IS_compassion
The fact that it makes you sad is a warning. By the time you are reading this, you almost certainly are already hunting for ways to disbelieve what you understand to be an uncomfortable truth. It's human nature;

I didn't mean that in the way you took it though. I meant that to me journalism should be an honorable profession, and should just report the facts with no slant. I was referring to my love for journalism itself, not the current batch of fakers we have out there.

170 posted on 08/19/2002 9:23:41 PM PDT by ladyinred
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To: Landru
My God Lan, you do run on so ; )

...a head-on collision -- between Capitalism & Socialism?

A train wreck in the making? It WILL be interesting to see just how much longer the stockholders will put up with this foolishness. I'm betting the golden parachutes will go the way of the dinosaur also. The "little" people are beginning to get pi$$ed at executives augering a company into the ground, and STILL ending up with a whopping Swiss bank account.

Was never any more than a question of time, too; & now, the time is close at hand.

Can't happen soon enough to suit me.

FGS

171 posted on 08/19/2002 9:55:27 PM PDT by ForGod'sSake
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To: goldstategop; Howlin; Amelia
MSNBC fired Alan Keyes and hoped the liberal Phil Donahue would work magic for them but they keep hemorrhaging viewers.

How many viewers did Keyes have, as compared to Donahue? (Sounds like Donahue, even though he's lost a lot, has more than Keyes ever did...but I could be wrong about that since I'm just going from a vague memory of the numbers.)

172 posted on 08/19/2002 10:01:29 PM PDT by DaughterOfAnIwoJimaVet
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To: deport
Oops - I meant to ping you to my 172. You know everything. :)
173 posted on 08/19/2002 10:02:27 PM PDT by DaughterOfAnIwoJimaVet
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To: conservatism_IS_compassion
But its claim is mooted by the fact that liberal politicians refuse to seperate themselves from journalism.

This incestuous relationship makes me want to puke somethimes. It got to the point I actually could not stomach the socialist lovefest they try to pass off as investigatory journalism. For the Dims, slow pitch soft ball's finest hour.

The media created the forum that gave the Dims the vehicle to scramble the brains of the body politic. They've been making omelets ever since.

FGS

174 posted on 08/19/2002 10:38:03 PM PDT by ForGod'sSake
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To: DaughterOfAnIwoJimaVet
200,000.
175 posted on 08/20/2002 6:24:29 AM PDT by Howlin
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To: DaughterOfAnIwoJimaVet
Donahue's interview with Studs Terkel last night was absolutely the most disgusting thing I have EVER seen on TV.

As soon as the transcript is up on MSNBC, I am going to post it as a thread.

Terkel kept referring to Bush as a "boy"......and Phil just DROOLED over him. All I kept thinking was thank God not many people were seeing it.

176 posted on 08/20/2002 6:29:54 AM PDT by Howlin
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To: csvset
led by the nearly still-born DONAHUE.

LOL!! Phil's show was destined to be a spectacular flop from the moment of "conception."

My wish is that drowning man Phil ends up sinking his attempted rescuers. LOL!

177 posted on 08/20/2002 6:39:58 AM PDT by RooRoobird14
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To: DaughterOfAnIwoJimaVet

178 posted on 08/20/2002 7:35:49 AM PDT by deport
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To: ForGod'sSake
"My God Lan, you do run on so ; )"

Yea...guess I do, at that.

Of course, FGS, stirring the proverbial pot's my *specialty*.
Only this issue is an extremely complex one, indeed; more, than a simple case of wooden spoon in a darby-iron pot.

It's no secret exposing & subsequently flogging this Lamestream's a labor of love, for me. :o)

"A train wreck in the making? It WILL be interesting to see just how much longer the stockholders will put up with this foolishness."

In the making?
The wreck's ocurring all 'round us; has been happening for some time, too.
Got to remember these outfits are never going to tell the truth; &, least of all the truth as it applies to their internal politics/financials/popularilty et al.

We must always rely on our common sense & knowledge that these guys cannot rewrite the laws of economics, physics, or human nature!
They can't; &, they never could, either.
No matter WHAT they *said* they "were," what it is thet claimed we were "seeing," or, what the *day's* "reality" was going to be.
They were, are, & always will be *The* consummate liars.

"The 'little' people are beginning to get pi$$ed at executives augering a company into the ground, and STILL ending up with a whopping Swiss bank account."

The "little people" are the stockholders.
What they do or don't get pissed-off at with respect to their interests is none of my business.
It's THEIR money being wasted, after all.
My interest(s) are in seeing these people *reacting* to basic principles of our Capitalist system.
Keep in mind the idiots at these shake-n-bake cable nets did everything in their power to TOPPLE Capitalism, replace it with their form of Socialism & do so using other people's money!
The "little people" expected a "return" on their investments; so, if they're feeling "pissed-off" now?
It's becuase they're becoming aware of the *fact* they've been royally snookered.
When [that] happens they dump their stock & the stock's value goes south post-haste.
*That* makes the bean-counter bugger's eyes water, alright; gets their attention with tough, hard questions asked enmasse.

Now had these sycophant Liberal-Socialists *like* the clown I quoted in the article gotten away with their scheme?
The whole question of P&Ls, stockholders, dividends et al would've been rendered quite moot.
Don't kid yourself, either; had they succeeded in their li' 'coup?
They had all sorts of "plans" at the ready to launch one after the other; &, all designed to further entrench their scheme while placing themselves at the top of the heap.

"Can't happen soon enough to suit me."

Then *be* giddy, my friend; as the *change* is well under way.

..."revel in your time."

179 posted on 08/20/2002 8:08:41 AM PDT by Landru
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To: ladyinred; ForGod'sSake
to me journalism should be an honorable profession, and should just report the facts with no slant. I was referring to my love for journalism itself, not the current batch of fakers we have out there.
Then you still think that freedom can allow you buy "the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth". Were that so, we wouldn't need jurors; for seventy five cents and a trip to the convenience store we could just get to the bottom of things. Much cheaper than trials . . .

No, freedom is exactly the right to loudly disagree with those who are rich and/or powerful. The worst feature of journalism today is its pravda--its ersatz "truth" which is really nothing more than a self-interested PR-driven consensus. It is the PR which generates the cash flow of journalism--people feel good about themselves for being "in the know" by reading or hearing journalism. That effect would be subverted by a lack of consensus among journalists, so journalistic organs define journalism by adherence to its consensus.

That is why Rush Limbaugh "is not a journalist." All he does is report, tell you the truth as he understands the truth--but he's "not a journalist" because he is outside the the consensus by which journalism defines the truth. Socialists argue by definition a lot. They're called "liberals" in the U.S. not because socialism has anything to do with liberty but because in the U.S. we-the-people were in love with liberty.

If ever you hear a "liberal" say that "society should" do some particular thing (e.g., provide medicine), try pointing out that society (we-the-people, including phamaceutical companies and insurance companies and charities) actually does quite a bit of that. Push the issue of a distinction between "society" and government hard enough, and the "liberal" will make clear that s/he defines "society" to mean nothing other than government.

If you understand that the socialist defines society to mean government, you can see that the coined word "socialism" should really be "governmentism". The fact that "governmentism" is essentially a synonym for "tyranny" explains why the PR-savy "governmentist" would find a touchy-feely word to conceal that nexus. The dictionary definition of "socialism"--something about "government ownership of the means of production" has nothing to do with the root-word "social" unless it be through the assumption of "democracy."

It is, accordingly, no accident that socialists prattle about democracy as if that were a magic incantation, notwithstanding (nay, in aggressive denial of) the fact that democracy is not the form of any real existing large government. It is also noteworthy that concern about voter fraud is beneath them. Voter fraud itself seems not to bother them, but concern about it sure does . . .

We-the-people in the U.S. saw thru the con which the label "socialism" really is (without necessarily being able to articulate it as above), and so the PR-savy U.S. socialists systematically applied the popular label "liberal" to their governmentist nostrums. If you read the WWII clasic The Road to Serfdom, you must understand the word "liberal" in the British sense, what Americans now call either "conservative" or "libertarian." This is explained in the foreword to the 1956 edition of Serfdom.

The upshot has been to discredit (at least in political context) the words "liberalism" and "society"/"social". The lefties have had to move from one warm-and-fuzzy word to another, but in the process they have subverted the language so that American "conservatives" have difficulty articulating the arguments against leftism which they intuit or understand. For example, if I mention that I favor "progress" you might become suspicious of me since that's used as a leftist codeword. American conservatives, however, are "conservative" precisely of the ability of we-the-people (a.k.a. society) to double our standard of living every couple of generations. Conservative, that is, not only of liberty but of its blessings, including progress for our posterity.

Mass-marketing/PR is a source of considerable destructive political power in America. Mass-marketing/PR have much to answer for, and the conceit of "journalistic objectivity" seems to be the root of PR.


180 posted on 08/20/2002 8:19:32 AM PDT by conservatism_IS_compassion
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