MSNBC goes liberal
November 10th 2007 10:38
According to the NY Times, MSNBC admits that it is now leaning to the political left:
This doesn't come as a surprise to me. After Keith Olbermann had a little success, I saw that the other personalities on the network started spending more time talking about the evils of Bush and the Republicans. They were clearly on the anti-Bush and anti-GOP bandwagon. I'm glad they opted to come clean about it.
I figured I would be upset by MSNBC's admission. I'm no fan of Keith Olbermann, Chris Matthews, or Dan Abrams, and, as a conservative, I can't watch much of MSNBC without yelling at my television. However, I really think this is a good move for MSNBC. Rupert Murdoch and Roger Ailes seemed to have made a decision to target a particular niche (conservatives) with Fox News. It has worked like gangbusters. Fox News overwhelmingly beats the other cable networks in ratings night in and night out. It saw an underserved market niche and filled it. MSNBC, apparently, is trying to be a counterbalance to Fox News. Surely, there is some kind of market for a network that unabashedly caters to liberals. Will it work? We shall see. If MSNBC can do it without being completely negative, I think they have a chance to pull it off. However, if their sole purpose is to bash Bush and bash Republicans, I believe it will get tiresome -- even to liberals. If MSNBC can mix in some stories about successes resulting from "progressive" policies in an honest, straightforward way, it will go a lot further than if it purely serves as an anti-Republican network. Also, it should avoid the appearance of being the mouthpiece of the Democrats. Fox News (probably rightly so) is often viewed as the mouthpiece of the GOP. That's not a good place to be. Even if a news network has a bias, it should still be willing to call out "friendly" politicians when they do wrong. Otherwise, it risks losing credibility even amongst its own targeted audience.
I will still tune in to MSNBC as much as I ever have (i.e., as much as I can stand). I already knew that they were slanted to the liberal side. It was obvious to the average viewer. The fact that they owned up to it reflects an honesty and transparency that is rarely displayed in the media these days. I may not like their slanted viewpoint or agree with it, but I can respect their acknowledgement of it. Because of that, I wish MSNBC well.
Riding a ratings wave from “Countdown With Keith Olbermann,” a program that takes strong issue with the Bush administration, MSNBC is increasingly seeking to showcase its nighttime lineup as a welcome haven for viewers of a similar mind.
MSNBC already presents a three-hour block of nighttime talk — Chris Matthews’s “Hardball” at 7, Mr. Olbermann at 8, and “Live With Dan Abrams” at 9 — in which the White House takes a regular beating. The one early-evening program on MSNBC that is often most sympathetic to the administration, “Tucker” with Tucker Carlson at 6 p.m., is in real danger of being canceled
This doesn't come as a surprise to me. After Keith Olbermann had a little success, I saw that the other personalities on the network started spending more time talking about the evils of Bush and the Republicans. They were clearly on the anti-Bush and anti-GOP bandwagon. I'm glad they opted to come clean about it.
I figured I would be upset by MSNBC's admission. I'm no fan of Keith Olbermann, Chris Matthews, or Dan Abrams, and, as a conservative, I can't watch much of MSNBC without yelling at my television. However, I really think this is a good move for MSNBC. Rupert Murdoch and Roger Ailes seemed to have made a decision to target a particular niche (conservatives) with Fox News. It has worked like gangbusters. Fox News overwhelmingly beats the other cable networks in ratings night in and night out. It saw an underserved market niche and filled it. MSNBC, apparently, is trying to be a counterbalance to Fox News. Surely, there is some kind of market for a network that unabashedly caters to liberals. Will it work? We shall see. If MSNBC can do it without being completely negative, I think they have a chance to pull it off. However, if their sole purpose is to bash Bush and bash Republicans, I believe it will get tiresome -- even to liberals. If MSNBC can mix in some stories about successes resulting from "progressive" policies in an honest, straightforward way, it will go a lot further than if it purely serves as an anti-Republican network. Also, it should avoid the appearance of being the mouthpiece of the Democrats. Fox News (probably rightly so) is often viewed as the mouthpiece of the GOP. That's not a good place to be. Even if a news network has a bias, it should still be willing to call out "friendly" politicians when they do wrong. Otherwise, it risks losing credibility even amongst its own targeted audience.
I will still tune in to MSNBC as much as I ever have (i.e., as much as I can stand). I already knew that they were slanted to the liberal side. It was obvious to the average viewer. The fact that they owned up to it reflects an honesty and transparency that is rarely displayed in the media these days. I may not like their slanted viewpoint or agree with it, but I can respect their acknowledgement of it. Because of that, I wish MSNBC well.
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Comment by Ahmed
Video Gamer Kids
Little Green Foosballs
PolyKicks
News should not try and take a bias, Fox taking a delibrate conservative bias is no better than MSNBC taking a liberal bias. They should all try to be fair and represent stories - not put spin on them.
Comment by PopulistConservative
Angry Electorate
You're correct about blogs. The left really has done well on blogs. The right has done better on talk radio. It seems like the media is splintering into a lot of individual echochambers. That's probably not healthy, but I don't mind it so much. Again, as long as I understand the biases of each medium, I'm okay with it. And I do try to read viewpoints from all sides. It helps me keep an open mind (to a certain degree) and helps me to better realize what I stand for and what I don't stand for.