Understanding why "Liberal" MSNBC has gone into the Republican Reputation Rehab business full-time -- why it throws all it's corporate clout behind promoting Never Trump Republican media companies like The Bulwark and The Lincoln Project when it has never done any such thing for any Liberal blogger or podcaster -- is not difficult once you understand the business MSNBC wants to be in versus the business it is actually in.
Did you ever wonder why MSNBC hired Ann Coulter back when they launched in 1996? Why they gave Tucker Carlson his own show back in 2002? Or why, during the height of the Bush administration in 2003, “Liberal” MSNBC hired Joe Scarborough? Gave him his own show. Then moved him to mornings. Then lengthened his show to three hours?
It’s because, ever since Fox News began to take off, CNN and MSNBC have both been desperate to poach Fox News viewers. Which is why Scarborough is at MSNBC. And Nicole Wallace is at MSNBC. It’s why they hired then fired Megyn Kelly. And hired then fired Greta Van Susteren. And hired then fired Hugh Hewitt.
It’s why they ran a whole ad campaign about how “People Might Start Accusing Us of Leaning Too Far Right!”
It’s why CNN hired Scarborough henchman Chris Licht to purge the network of anything that seemed vaguely lefty.
They don’t care about you and me, because there is no place else on the teevee dial for us to go. Of course you could listen to the Professional Left podcast, which is now in its 13th year of continuous service. But we're not on every day, and even if you listened to all [ahem] 730 episodes, you'd still probably want a little variety.
What CNN and MSNBC want is a slice of those Fox viewers, because Fox viewers are different. They are incredibly loyal. They watch Fox like they used to listen to Limbaugh – all day, playing in the background. They are a money machine and a ratings bonanza. And just like the rest of the mainstream media, MSNBC and CNN subscribe to the fantasy that floating around out there, somewhere, is some large number of disaffected Fox viewers looking for an alternative.
This fantasy is somewhat spoiled by the fact that when Fox viewers become disaffected it isn't because Fox has become too suffocatingly deranged for them, but because it's not suffocatingly deranged enough. And, as has been thoroughly documented, when Fox is not nutso enough, those Fox viewers become NewsMax viewers. From Steve Inskeep talking with David Folkenflik on NPR:
INSKEEP: So what's it been like over there? I know you have many sources. What's it like over there now that Tucker Carlson is out?
FOLKENFLIK: Well, you don't even have to talk to sources to notice the biggest fallout. You've seen ratings basically fall off a cliff this week for those who have been substituting for him. It was down, you know, significant chunk. It's down almost 50% in the days since his departure. And you've seen the rise concomitantly of this much smaller right-wing rival, Newsmax. They are playing up the idea that Fox has fired Tucker Carlson because it's gone lib. It's gone woke. It's gone Democrat. And in some ways, you've seen - you know, former Fox host Eric Bolling on Newsmax has seen his ratings go up almost fivefold. All of this is, in a way, weirdly ironic because that dynamic is what led to the panic at Fox News after the 2020 elections that led to Fox being sued for defamation.
Still, driven by the tall tales spun for them by their new Never Trump partners, CNN and MSNBC keep following their Never Trump water witchers and their derp derp dowsing rods deeper and deeper into the media desert on the promise that there must be some underground river of Fox viewers -- some fraction of a fraction of disaffected Republican voters -- who are open to a different kind of shameless pandering.
This also explains why MSNBC is absolutely stuffed with recently-former Republicans like Tim Miller, Charlie Sykes and Tom Nichols. And why the network put its full weight behind boosting Never Trump media like The Bulwark and the Lincoln Project. Because MSNBC wants to catch the drippings of any Fox viewers who might have gotten a little sick of Trump but definitely do not want to get any of that icky “Liberal” goo on them. And who also definitely do not want to be reminded of the past.
To those imaginary future viewers, MSNBC says, not to worry, friend! Here, we’ve never even heard of George Bush. We swear, the closest we will ever come to reminding you of the last catastrophically failed Republican president you backed to the hilt is Nicole Wallace spitting out "Myformerbosswhateveryouthinkofhim" as a single word and then moving quickly on. And that extremely well-documented, eight year, racist primal scream you had during the Obama administration? Well that must have just been a bad dream! Hardly worth mentioning. Don't worry, friend. here you’ll just find wall-to-wall, Reagan-loving, non-partisan patriots such as yourself!"
So here’s the point: Inside the television industry, the fact that Fox News has been a fascist propaganda machine for the last three decades is not a secret.
So why, during the depths of the Trump administration, with Fox News riding shotgun for Trump during his every act of overt fascism and treason, do we find MSNBC's Katy Tur was still insisting that there were all these good people at Fox doing the Lord's work.
Why, after 20 years of proving itself every day to be nothing but Right wing propaganda machine, it took Tucker Carlson rising to the defense of the January 6th coup attempt to finally convince life-long Conservative hacks to finally head for the exits at Fox (and directly into other prime media gigs) as they were headed out the door they were still defending the Brett Baier and "news side" of Fox and shining beacons of journalistic integrity. And that, maybe, if the "fever" breaks, Fox could return to being the bastion of integrity it was during the pre-Trump years.
Y'know...
The reason for the pretense is that CNN and MSNBC business models rest on the fantasy that there exists some underground river of fed-up Fox viewers who could be had if the networks could figure out the right formula for creating a hospitable enough environment for them. A formula based on flattering those imaginary future former-Fox viewers by telling them that, we know that Fox wasn't all bad. And that you, dear, sweet, imaginary future former-Fox viewers, probably watched Fox for the "news" and not all that naughtbad stuff.
Which means this formula depends on erasing the past and putting Liberal voices in the corner.
The co-dependent Never Trump business model is that they and they alone can lead CNN and MSNBC to the promised land, but that the networks must be vewy, vewy quiet so as not to scare off these jumpy, imaginary future former-Fox viewers. There must be no mention of anyone's past -- which works out great for everyone. The Never Trumpers must be allowed to lean hard on the Both Sides Do It lie, because these jumpy, imaginary future former-Fox viewers will bolt if they get any hint that only Republicans are being blamed for Republican atrocities. And the Never Trumper must be constantly praised and showered with money because obviously they have been the only ones brave enough to stand up to Trump,
Even if they only decided to stand up to Trump five minutes ago after promoting him, voting for him, uncritically supporting him, doing his filthy bidding while he was president, supporting his re-election and on and on and on.
And all of this makes the rest of the mainstream and political media happy because now that the Inconvenient Past is once again off-limits (except in the case of mouthy Liberal bloggers that no one pays attention to anyway) and the Both Sides Do It lie is back in fashion (except in the case of the aforementioned irrelevant mouthy Liberal bloggers), the coast is now clear for them to return to garbage horse-race coverage, the Voice From Nowhere, and Both Siderism, all day, every day.
Like this:
wtf. "Why it matters: The controversial video and Hochman's dismissal are the latest instances of internal disorder inside the DeSantis campaign"; not, you know, a GOP crawling with neo-nazis? This is not political journalism fit for a democracy. "https://t.co/RTR0aXnI1g
— Rick Perlstein (@rickperlstein) July 26, 2023
If you'd like to hear more about this dynamic, and how far back the media rot goes (Spoiler: 1969) we just did a whole No Fair Remembering Stuff episode on it which you can find here.
Meanwhile...
5 comments:
EXCELLENT! JUST EXCELLENT.
The audience for this type of political entertainment is older, predominantly Republican, and shrinking, so the pie is getting smaller. Chris Licht went to the bosses at CNN and said I can increase ratings by going to the right and get some Fox viewers. Of course Fox viewers would rather die than watch CNN, which is unspoken. But CNN had to try something! So Licht got a big payday for a while and then got canned. He'll write a book while he is riding out his contract. He'll then go on MSNBC to talk about the book and Morning Joe will give him a chair at the table.
Yes, Nicole Wallace hosts a nightly rave for NeverTrumpers. But we watch at least some of almost every episode while we eat dinner because, in spite of the aforementioned, because that's when we eat dinner, and because she states more clearly than almost anyone in major media the danger of Republicans to the country and the world.
She says things every night that you'd get instantly fired from NPR for.
Great post, DG!
how far back the media rot goes (Spoiler: 1969)
Really? I do not, for one, do podcasts very much, but it sounds like I need to make an exception for that episode at least, because that's two years earlier than I would have figured*, and I don't know the correlation in any more detail than the reign of Crookbacked Dick (pigbastchard of the world) having begun then.
because that's when we eat dinner, and because she states more clearly than almost anyone in major media the danger of Republicans to the country and the world.
The words "almost anyone" are doing a lot of heavy lifting there. Like, they're having to lift the people who are on around the time we eat dinner, like Ari Melber, Joy Reid, and Chris Hayes.
* You know about the Powell Memo, of course. You probably even mentioned it in the episode.
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