the Bari Weiss of tv news "Personal news: why I’m now leaving MSNBC": https://www.arianapekary.net/post/personal-news-why-i-m-now-leaving-msnbc excerpt: July 24th was my last day at MSNBC. I don’t know what I’m going to do next exactly but I simply couldn’t stay there anymore. My colleagues are very smart people with good intentions. The problem is the job itself. It forces skilled journalists to make bad decisions on a daily basis. You may not watch MSNBC but just know that this problem still affects you, too. All the commercial networks function the same – and no doubt that content seeps into your social media feed, one way or the other. It’s possible that I’m more sensitive to the editorial process due to my background in public radio, where no decision I ever witnessed was predicated on how a topic or guest would “rate.” The longer I was at MSNBC, the more I saw such choices — it’s practically baked in to the editorial process – and those decisions affect news content every day. Likewise, it’s taboo to discuss how the ratings scheme distorts content, or it’s simply taken for granted, because everyone in the commercial broadcast news industry is doing the exact same thing. But behind closed doors, industry leaders will admit the damage that’s being done. “We are a cancer and there is no cure,” a successful and insightful TV veteran said to me. “But if you could find a cure, it would change the world.” As it is, this cancer stokes national division, even in the middle of a civil rights crisis. The model blocks diversity of thought and content because the networks have incentive to amplify fringe voices and events, at the expense of others… all because it pumps up the ratings. This cancer risks human lives, even in the middle of a pandemic. The primary focus quickly became what Donald Trump was doing (poorly) to address the crisis, rather than the science itself. As new details have become available about antibodies, a vaccine, or how COVID actually spreads, producers still want to focus on the politics. Important facts or studies get buried. This cancer risks our democracy, even in the middle of a presidential election. Any discussion about the election usually focuses on Donald Trump, not Joe Biden, a repeat offense from 2016 (Trump smothers out all other coverage). Also important is to ensure citizens can vote by mail this year, but I’ve watched that topic get ignored or “killed” numerous times. Context and factual data are often considered too cumbersome for the audience. There may be some truth to that (our education system really should improve the critical thinking skills of Americans) – but another hard truth is that it is the job of journalists to teach and inform, which means they might need to figure out a better way to do that. They could contemplate more creative methods for captivating an audience. Just about anything would improve the current process, which can be pretty rudimentary (think basing today’s content on whatever rated well yesterday, or look to see what’s trending online today). Occasionally, the producers will choose to do a topic or story without regard for how they think it will rate, but that is the exception, not the rule. Due to the simple structure of the industry – the desire to charge more money for commercials, as well as the ratings bonuses that top-tier decision-makers earn – they always relapse into their old profitable programming habits. I understand that the journalistic process is largely subjective and any group of individuals may justify a different set of priorities on any given day. Therefore, it’s particularly notable to me, for one, that nearly every rundown at the network basically is the same, hour after hour. And two, they use this subjective nature of the news to justify economically beneficial decisions. I’ve even heard producers deny their role as journalists. A very capable senior producer once said: “Our viewers don’t really consider us the news. They come to us for comfort.” Again, personally, I don’t think the people need to change. I think the job itself needs to change. There is a better way to do this. I’m not so cynical to think that we are absolutely doomed (though we are on that path). I know we can find a cure. If we can figure how to send a man to the moon, if Alex Trebek can defy the odds with stage 4 pancreatic cancer, and if Harry Reid can actually overcome pancreatic cancer (he’s now cancer free), then we can fix this, too. more at the link
Neither Bari or Ariana were wrong and I think they both showed courage in how they left. I think Bari was doing it more for future profit, and maybe Ariana is as well...but, their general gist of journalism these days, as a whole, is correct. Whether it be MSNBC, FOX, the WaPo, Breitbart, Skip Bayless, ESPN, etc....all are tailored for clicks, views, ratings, etc. Journalism today is a commerce, just like any other big business...just a sad state of affairs when you think about it what it's supposed to be.
You mean . . . if the press keeps saying Trump sucks and Hillary's got a 99% chance of winning, something bad might happen? Sorry I mean Biden
wiki says MSNBC is a news channel: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MSNBC...n news,political commentary on current events.
If you guys are gonna call the media into question, then all our important opinions might be total horsesh!t MAD
Yuuppp.... The press has learned NOTHING from 2016. Obviously Trump is going to dominate the news, and you CANNOT look the other way as a journalist. You must call out the lies, and the corruption. But what the MSM (MSNBC included) gets wrong is a ratings driven agenda with Trump as their one and only entertainer to cover.... and they cover him as an entertainer, as if this was a PGA event and he was the only one playing all 18 holes. It's a problem and it doesn't give any air in the room to discuss actual policy or solutions that would ultimately HELP Democrats in that discussion. Instead the Democrats are only used as a plot device to serve as Trump's villain. The one thing that someone like Tom Steyer should be doing is investing in media to speak to and educate our voters, and independents in a way that is informative, and strips away the Trump show ratings plot devices.
I think what people forget is - who is watching these channels. They know their audiences. People looking for x and y get their news from the internet, not watching cable news channels which cater to older less informed demos.
People looking for X and Y on the internet get cookies about X and Y and enter the same echo chamber as TV.
People watching it are either people having it on the background as sort of a news ticker in the office, or political junkies. You could watch any 30 minutes during the day and it's just repeated throughout the day with the occasional "breaking" story. However they think that Trump news is the news we want which I just don't think is true anymore especially in regards to "Trump says dumb thing". It's telling how they'll advertise at the bottom right hand side that "Trump speaking at 4PM!!" as if I give two sh$t's that he's speaking in the Rose Garden at 4PM. I think MSNBC would be best served to keep their primetime lineup (Joy Reid, Chris Hayes, Rachel, & Lawrence) but give them the freedom to cover whatever they want in the way they want, and during the day having actual global news covered with everything covered throughout the day. Cover Covid from a science basis (I agree we need to remove Trump from that equation in the news) and cover a wider basis ala Vice News. More science, weather, and even some sports & entertainment in short spots when relevant. I would keep that type of MSNBC channel on, but right now it's like you just see a recycled 15 minute block of everything all day long in the context of "what is Trump saying about X..." and covering him live like idiots. They seriously have learned nothing in 4 years. Also people getting 99% of their news from the internet is 99% of the problem with how we got here. Somethings got to be done to get people back to some semblance of relied upon truths and fact.
I agree that it's a problem. But I also believe that these people (including myself) who use the internet to get their news have been driven there by blatant propaganda and traditional news sources are now distrusted and deservingly so, IMO. The news media should be the citizens' tool for accountability. Instead we're left with the 1%, the group we universally feel take advantage of the rest of the world, feeding us the narrative they want us to think. They have way more power than the elected officials we direct our anger at. "It's good to be King." Their goal seems to be to divide us. And it's obviously working.
For-profit news learned that spinning everything through a divisive political lens results in more $. I'd love to hear ideas on a solution.
MSNBC stopped being a news channel when they ran infomercials for Obama. The strange thing is those knuckleheads in charge decide to go after the Donald 24/7, instead of running infomercials for Biden like they did with Obama. They have to know by letting Trump having limitless free ads on their channel will only benefit Trump. I have to admit one thing though, running infomercials for Biden is tough on them. Sleepy Joe has been in politics the day he was born and has zero accomplishments on top of all the gaffes, weird behaviors and cognitive declines. It’s a tough business for MSNBC if they don’t know what they are.
Man who would of thought that free market and journalism fused together would create an environment of click bait. Isn't this what libertarians wanted? I always knew you were a fake libertarian.
