A little birdie at Real Time just sent me this heads up. Set your DVRs.
Agree with him or disagree, Friday television isn’t the same without Maher. Welcome back!
Now do me a teeny tiny favor Real Timers, and stop having Ann Coulter, Christine O’Donnell, and Darrell Issa on.
Oh, but I kid…
Andy Marquis, reporter for RACE22.com, is our guest blogger of the day. He used to consider himself a Republican but not any more. He changed his voter registration to Independent in 2011 and says that’s how it will remain.
Here’s his latest guest post. I don’t agree with everything he said here, such as equating Rachel Maddow with Bill O’Reilly (she relies on facts and is civil and fair to her guests, for example, so apples/oranges), nor do I think for a minute that MSNBC is a liberal network. But just as Current does, it gets kudos for hiring progressives to host their own shows, and that is a vast improvement over other cable stations (bolding mine):
MSNBC Rising
In the past few years, there’s been a shift in the direction NBC’s cable news network, MSNBC, has taken. For one, the network has built an identity which has been missing for years. As a result of the decision to become the anti-FOX, MSNBC’s become more progressive… and their ratings have progressively increased. It’s symbolic of a demographic and ideological shift going on in the United States.
“During the first week post-election, MSNBC’s “The Rachel Maddow Show” at 9 p.m. ET and “The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell” at 10 p.m. ET were both #1 in the A25-54 demo, topping both Fox News Channel and CNN,” a press release from MSNBC stated. “For the week of November 12-16, Maddow was #1 with 480,000 A25-54 while FNC’s “Hannity” was second with 439,000 A25-54 and CNN’s “Piers Morgan Tonight” placed third with 181,000 A25-54. “The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell” at 10 p.m. had 396,000 A25-54. FNC’s “On the Record w/ Greta Van Susteren” was second with 362,000 A25-54 and CNN’s “Anderson Cooper 360” was third with 178,000 A25-54.”
MSNBC’s rise has been building up for some time. For much of its time on air, MSNBC existed as a back marker, even with innovative programs like A Region in Conflict on its air. It was in 2003, during the Iraq war, that MSNBC began phasing in a new nightly news broadcast that would become the hallmark of its lineup, “Countdown with Keith Olbermann”. A couple years later, after the failures following Hurricane Katrina, Olbermann orated an on-air essay, “The City of Louisiana”. Olbermann became more outspoken against the Bush Administration and his show quickly took a left turn and, as it did so, his ratings increased. The writing was on the wall.
MSNBC progressively began its transformation in to the progressive network it currently is, hiring people like Rachel Maddow, Ed Schultz (who would later replace Olbermann), Lawrence O’Donnell, Reverend Al Sharpton and Alex Wagner. They changed their morning strategy, after Don Imus was fired for racially insensitive remarks made towards the Rutgers Women’s Basketball Team. With that came the birth of Morning Joe which has become one of the most influential programs in American public policy.
With a new slogan that debuted in 2010 (“Lean Forward”), a new weekend strategy and a new dayside strategy, MSNBC’s transformation was complete.
That takes us to last week, and several other weeks prior to that. MSNBC has had victories over FOX News Channel in terms of ratings but they’ve been few and far. There’s been no denial, FOX is the heavyweight and nobody can top them. However, Rachel Maddow and Ed Schultz are doing just that, and it speaks volumes about the changing demographics.
Maddow and O’Donnell won the Age 25-54 demographic, or as networks refer to it, “the money demo” but still were behind in overall numbers. FOX’s ratings and the sudden relegation of Hannity and Van Sustren almost look like the Republican Party’s relegated status in American politics. FOX’s audience appears to be genuinely older than MSNBC’s audience. FOX appears to have a problem bringing in a new generation of viewers, kind of like the Republican Party has a problem bringing in a new generation of voters.
See, MSNBC and FOX both speak ideologically to certain sides of the American electorate. Rachel Maddow has quickly become to liberals what Bill O’Reilly is to conservatives. MSNBC eloquently defines the progressive talking points just as FOX defines the conservative talking points.
There are fundamental differences though – differences that favor MSNBC. Shows like “NOW with Alex Wagner” and “The Cycle” are younger, give a voice to both sides in a way shows like “The Five” and “America Live” try to but don’t achieve. Perhaps the viewers are tired of one side being shouted down (as is the case on “The Five”) in the same way as the voters are tired of the lack of civility in Washington, DC.
The rise of MSNBC represents a seismic shift in American television news, and it should not be ignored.
I used to give you slack over your Beaten Down Mommy routine you pander every day in your testosterone heavy parade of guests, but c’mon honey, those gams belong to a “working woman” not a Working Woman. And no, I have no problem with you being in great condition, (god bless and more power to ya), but WHAT THE FUCK DOES IT SAY TO EVERYDAY WOMEN when you’re depicted as a scantily clad cabaret chippie dancing for the amusement of the boss man instead of the the (supposed) seasoned journalist your wiki purports?
Is the submissive “So sorry, you’re so right Joe.” “news reader” really reflect the woman who did this?
I guess the money is good, and “news readers” are a dime a dozen, so you figure you have to go along to get along, but man, I’ve never seen such a contradiction of ethos wrapped up into one woman. I guess you figured out your “value”, but it’s one I wouldn’t recommend to my daughters.
In these day that we’re fighting fights that we all thought were won, having stereotypes like this pop up and be validated by the very women who should be the embodiment of the fight against them is scary and self defeating. I doubt if MB gives a crap what a crazy woman from Indiana thinks, but at least I know I’m not the only one. Reconsider Mika. Think about it. Maybe not all of JoeScars’ misogynistic offhands deserve a twitter and a blush. Try standing up, try speaking from truth and for GODSAKES stop being Den Mommy to a bunch of Hi Karate soaked frat boys.
DISCLAIMER- I have no problem with women being proud of their bodies, of being sexual beings, of any pride situations to health or beauty. I have HONGO problems with female submission, female oppression and even the glossing over of female servitude with the gloss of “sensitivity”. So, Bite Me.
DISCLAIMER TWO: And I’m pissed off she’s Polish. My people are better than this.
I usually glaze over while trying to muddle through the Business section in my L.A. Times, but today my eyes and brain snapped to attention when I saw an article about Ed Schultz… a big article.
What must they be thinking, including such a lengthy piece about a Kenyan liberal French commie socialist TV host like Ed? Why, the very idea gave me the vapors as I reached for my fan and smelling salts and collapsed on my fainting couch!
The article explains how he went from being a Republican (he was until 2000) to a very vocal liberal who consistently stands up for the middle class, unions, and the unemployed. His wife, Wendy, is a psychiatric nurse, and she took him to a homeless shelter on their first date. According to the Times, that “helped open his eyes to progressive causes.”
Here are a few excerpts, starting with why we don’t see more progressives represented in the media:
Part of the problem is that corporate advertisers are leery of buying space on liberal broadcasts that often attack corporate interests, noted Jeff Cohen, an associate professor of journalism at Ithaca College. In 2006, a leaked internal memo from ABC Radio Networks revealed a list of corporations that requested their commercials never be placed on Air America. [...]
Schultz, however, isn’t content with anemic ratings. He’s presenting himself as the one true advocate for the working man. [...]
Ratings suggest the tactic is working. This year through early February, Schultz’s nightly viewership has averaged 608,000, a 60% increase from his ratings during the same period in 2010, according to Nielsen. He’s surpassed Cooper, who airs in the same time slot, though he has more than a million fewer viewers than O’Reilly, who also airs at 8 p.m.
Michael Harrison, the publisher of Talkers, a website and magazine that follows talk radio says that “there’s a rise in ‘liberal’ broadcasting because there are more poor people looking for someone who talks to them.” Or as I like to call them, sane, caring people.
I don’t believe the increase is limited to poor people, but that more Americans are hopping on the bandwagon, thanks to the Occupy movement, for one.
One woman, Kelly Wiedemer, is a 99er (someone who has surpassed 99 weeks of unemployment benefits) who says that Ed was one of the only people she heard talking about long-term unemployment. She speaks for a lot of people, apparently:
“He was our voice,” she said. “He really did make a difference” in getting groups such as the Congressional Black Caucus interested in the 99ers and putting forth legislation to extend benefits.
Hey L.A. Times, how about an article like this about Rachel Maddow, since you’ve previously covered Keith Olbermann and now Ed? She’s one of the brightest, most thorough, astute hosts out there and covers topics that nobody else touches.
That said, it was gratifying to see a major newspaper shine the spotlight on Ed today.
Ed and I follow each other on Twitter. I suggest following him at @EdShow and @WeGotEd. The Ed Show handle is his TV show account, and We Got Ed seems to be used for his radio show tweets. You can also use #EdShow or @EdShow to tweet during his TV show where they air as many tweets as they can in real time, then recycle them once or twice. I’ve had a few of mine appear, and many, many of my Twitter pals’; it’s a nice way to get your voice out there.
You can read the whole Times piece here.
I’ve been posting about media bias for years, and unfortunately, I have been proved correct, thankyouverymuch. Apparently, Democrats aren’t as entertaining as right wing nut jobs Republicans, or to put it another way, they don’t pull in the Sunday morning ratings.
You’d think that since there is a Democratic president and a slightly Dem heavy Senate, there would be a few more Democratic guests on cable news [sic] shows. Nah. When GW Bush was in the White House, there were GOP guests galore. When President Obama was elected, there should have been an increase in Democratic ones, but no such luck.
This seems pretty typical:
Please link over to Think Progress for more:
According to a new analysis of shows like Meet the Press from Roll Call, Republican lawmakers appeared nearly twice as often as Democratic ones last year, and held a smaller advantage in previous years:
In 2009 and 2010, Republican Members held a small advantage over Democratic Members in appearances on these programs, getting 52 percent of the invites in both years. [...]
But in 2011, the GOP lawmakers captured 64 percent of the Congressional appearances on the five shows that Roll Call tracks, and every network featured more Republican lawmakers than Democrats. Of 330 Congressional appearances tallied by Roll Call last year, 210 went to Republicans and only 120 went to Democrats — fewer if you subtract the eight appearances made by Sen. Joe Lieberman, a Connecticut Independent who caucuses with Democrats.
And we wonder why so many voters are uninformed and/or misinformed. Unfair and unbalanced.
As I say in every Media Bias Sunday post, librul media my ass.
If you’re enviably young, you don’t know who Norman Lear is. Norman Lear is “an American television writer and producer who produced such 1970s sitcoms as All in the Family, Sanford and Son, One Day at a Time, The Jeffersons, Good Times and Maude. As a political activist, he founded the civil liberties advocacy organization People For the American Way in 1981 and has supported First Amendment rights and liberal causes.”
And along those very “civil liberties” and “First Amendment” lines, he also wrote a good op-ed for the L.A. Times:
One of the most encouraging things to happen in 2011 was the birth of the Occupy Wall Street movement, which is giving the entire country the chance for a “born again American” moment. In calling attention to the country’s widening chasm between rich and poor, the Occupiers have unleashed decades of pent-up patriotic outrage against the systematic violation of our nation’s core principles by the “say good-bye to the middle class” alliance of the neocons, theocons and corporate America.
To those many millions of Americans whose guts tell them the Occupy movement is on to something but aren’t the sort to camp out or protest in the street, I say find another way to let your voice be heard in the new year. Work with others who share your passion for equal opportunity and equal justice for all Americans, and find ways to channel outrage into productive action. I’m betting you’ll find, as I have over my nearly four score plus 10, that you’ll form some of the most rewarding relationships and have some of the most meaningful experiences of your life.
The Occupy Movement has been an inspiration to me personally, and clearly to millions around the world. Their influence has even been felt in D.C., the president has heard them, and they are giving many of us renewed hope.
Of course, not everyone can camp out, participate in mic checks, or march, but as Norman Lear suggested, there are other ways to contribute, or as he says, “channel outrage into productive action.” After all, what good is outrage if you can’t find a positive use for it? Be creative.
If nothing else, participate in one of my BLUNT videos and let your voice be heard. Make a difference in your own unique way. Occupy Something.
Totally Off Topic Side Bar Dopey Fun fact: Norman Lear’s TV shows would most often carry a front credit, “Developed by Norman Lear,” and way, way back in my other life as an actress, many very talented people in my improv comedy group appeared regularly on his shows. In that other life, I wanted in so badly that I expressed my frustration by hand-painting a tank top, “Underdeveloped by Norman Lear” … for the two obvious reasons.
And yes, there is a happy ending: Although I remained underdeveloped by Lear (and otherwise), I did finally manage to make it on to one of his shows.
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