What does MSNBC do now? After Trump completed the Undead factor and retook the White Home? After Comcast introduced plans to spin off the community (together with others) in such haste that its new firm was named “SpinCo”? After Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski went on their present and welcomed our new insect overlords? After its viewers vanished?
Nothing.
Keep the course. The viewers is exhausted and desires a break. It’ll be again — and Resistier than ever. Endure the rankings trough. I imply, clearly it’s a must to fireplace Mr. and Mrs. Scared-Bro. Nonetheless: Proceed their banal however largely benign political espresso klatch present with out them and their insistence all of us be a part of their MSNVichy. No one will keep in mind they have been ever there.
Plus, the subsequent cash is coming from extra fervent opposition to MAGA, not much less. Wasn’t the Scarborough catastrophe (60% of the demo viewers gone in three days) instructive sufficient? Did you not discover CNN going from fact-based criticism of Trump’s insanity to hours of cacophonous shouting, and sinking to no matter is the subsequent degree down from irrelevance? Did the quarter of 1,000,000 canceled Washington Publish subscriptions not inform you one thing? Or the exodus from Twitter/X?
What do you suppose occurred to all these information customers? That they have been raptured?
They’re all nonetheless there ready to spend their money and time on the solely liberal sweet retailer nonetheless open: yours. These different supposed bastions of journalism have left you a close to monopoly. And MSNBC solely exists right this moment as a result of the final time NBC was handed a close to monopoly, your administration ancestors stated, “100 million in income from Olbermann’s liberal present? I guess we’ll take it. If we have to.”
Within the early years of this century, the nice minds at GE (then NBC’s dad or mum) have been attempting to go to the precise of Fox by placing on Tucker Carlson, Michael Savage and Laura Ingraham. They have been thus too busy to note that I used to be placing on Rachel Maddow, Lawrence O’Donnell and Chris Hayes. Whereas they have been attempting to steal Invoice O’Reilly away from Fox or, failing that, to remodel MSNBC right into a literal prison-documentary channel, I stored Rachel from leaping to CNN by giving her $437 out of my very own pocket. And the subsequent factor the company masters knew, we’d spun all of them off into their very own exhibits and MSNBC was profiting a billion a 12 months.
BTW, I’d just like the $437 reimbursed, please.
Era after era of NBC Government Idiots considered politics as nothing greater than a soda model and believed there was some further viewers — undecided or proper wing — that they might add to the current one if solely in addition they provided a unique taste known as “New MSNBC.” The brand new taste invariably seems to be turnip. Apart from, that proper wing dominated you out in 1996. Pursuing it leads to just one factor: the Scarborough-ing of your current viewers.
That doesn’t imply you may’t tweak stuff. Your primetime viewers doesn’t need new faces; it needs consolation meals — so refresh the menu and decor. Scuttle these daytime exhibits (which all the time existed solely to offer NBC Information execs one thing to stare at whereas they pretended to work) and exchange them with the morning method, solely with completely different units and completely different titles. Attempt outsider, massive character hosts like Elie Mystal and Pablo Torre. You can even attempt for a truce together with your prodigal anchor so he’ll be inside the tent peeing out for a change. And now you may lastly do one thing I first urged in 1998: Change the rattling title of the community! Use the acronym “N.E.W.S.” Or “American Information Community.” Or how a few good, self-explanatory “F Trump TV”?
What all this may get you (in addition to the form of income solely a monopoly can present) are non-cash virtues like ethical drive and ethics and journalism and patriotism and liberty. You might now be the final line of protection for the free press and thus the way forward for consultant authorities on this nation. The bullies don’t cease hitting you since you’re good to them. They cease hitting you if you knock them out chilly.
Put that on MSNBC, and all shall be properly.
Keith Olbermann anchored MSNBC’s “Countdown” and breaking information and political protection from 2003 to 2011. “Countdown,” produced with iHeartMedia, is now his each day information and commentary podcast (hearken to it at this hyperlink).
