Posted on 08/24/2021 9:02:38 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
It seems the Afghanistan fiasco has the liberal news audience fleeing the story.
There is a lot of consternation both on the left and in the media circles (yes, yes — I know) over how the press has become willing to be critical of President Biden regarding how big of a mess the withdrawal from Afghanistan has become. So much so that some in the press are saying that the whole disaster is actually being overhyped.
This was a position Brian Stelter took, suggesting that too much emphasis was being placed on the debacle. On his Sunday edition, he had Matthew Dowd as a guest to agree and say that the media coverage has been way over the top. This, while Stelter’s CNN colleague Clarissa Ward — who has been on the ground in Kabul and delivering gripping accounts of what was transpiring at the airport — has described this event as the most gripping story she has ever covered. Between Dowd’s preening and Ward’s testimonials, it is not difficult to see where the heart of the story lands.
These desperate attempts to rationalize and explain away the harrowing events have had a ripple effect on viewers, as well, it appears. The ratings on the Sunday news programs this week reflect a unique dichotomy, even by the slanted standards of that day of the week.
Is this some sort of odd avoidance of Biden's fiasco?
Fox takes the top 14 positions in the Sunday ratings, Brian Stelter can barely reach 20th, and MSNBC does not appear in the top-30 at all.
pic.twitter.com/xX9YA4yuoq— Brad Slager – Focused On Lasers (@MartiniShark) August 24, 2021
Fox dominating is no surprise, but there is a bit of a shift with that network taking the top FOURTEEN slots on that day. Then there is MSNBC, which did not even crack the top-30?! While the network is traditionally soft on that day, for it to slide even further than normal indicates an issue within the audience. At a time when a global story is unfolding nearly hourly, it would seem a time to see the audience share increase.
Speaking of Stelter, he continues to operate well below the levels his show Reliable Sources had been earlier in the year. His return here of over 850,000 viewers is a bit better than he has done in recent weeks, but it was doubled by his direct competition. On FoxNews, Howie Kurtz has his own media analysis program, and his program Media Buzz regularly does twice the ratings of Stelter.
A contributing factor here is that MSNBC has been downplaying the Afghan crisis throughout the week. It truly has been a case of news avoidance on the story. Throughout last week, the network’s main news page has barely addressed the extraction disaster. On Friday, the network appeared to be primarily focused on the drama surrounding the game show “Jeopardy.”
Anyone want to tip off MSNBC on news out of Afghanistan? The front page has no mention of it – they are focused on the host of 'Jeopardy'.
It barely shows in the Top Stories, BUT they did have a blurb Wed:
"The awkward Trumpy truth about Afghanistan's likely new Taliban leader"
pic.twitter.com/yNbzkwLcpu— Brad Slager – Focused On Lasers (@MartiniShark) August 20, 2021
What would appear to be happening is those looking to learn of new developments in the story are going elsewhere to find them.
You should see the cognitive dissonance on the Twittsewer.
Those not around for the Clinton era probably were never told that the media closed ranks and went out of their way to ignore the Monica Lewinsky story or any other story that was negative towards the Clintons.
What put Drudge on the map was that he practically single-handedly broke the embargo and got the story out. So much so that the media at the time was chagrined and started running with it - but still trying to downplay what had happened as a nothing burger. (They even started a PAC called “MoveOn.org” which lives on to this day - to “move on” from the Lewinsky story)
That they defend Biden like this, as he single handedly destroys America, doesn’t surprise me at all.
Arguably THE most epic blunder, ever, by a US president in living memory, and now they just want it to “go away”, before it even starts most likely. Yeah, no, that isn’t how this works. That isn’t how any of this works. These people are f&@$king monsters.
Who cares. I get my info from here and OAN. For
Uncensored stuff, I go to 4chan/pol. Yeah, you have to wade through the junk, but everything breaks there
And they are pissed as hell that they can’t gaslight the public on this story. That is clearly what Joe’s brief and awkward statements attempted to do.
He lies about Everything.
As I recall, ‘The National Enquirer’ first broke the story regarding Anklepants and Monica but thanks to it’s ‘reputation’, everyone simply ignored it.
And remember how the media reacted when Breitbart broke the story of Anthony Weiner and his sexcapades? The media twisted themselves into knots to cover for Weiner and tried to destroy Andrew...until it became so obvious what a weenie Weiner was that the media could not longer cover.
“They even started a PAC called “MoveOn.org” which lives on to this day - to “move on” from the Lewinsky story.”
Very good point. Starting in 1978 the media downplayed Pope John Paul II’s events which always had one or two million fans. Big crowds in big cities around the world were ignored by US Media and sadly, prevented a lot of people from growing spiritually. In 1917 Our Lady talked about how the Errors of Russia would be exported if people did not admit mistakes and say the rosary. Well, the Errors of Russia are here: the press is not using its power to embarrass vicious leaders and is using its power to embarrass ethical leaders.
If t President Trump had done that, he’d have been impeached five times over by now.
But because it’s Biden, the whole thing is being overhyped.
What rank hypocrisy.
Anyone who watches msdnc should be considered a domestic enemy of the US Constitution and treated as such.
It would be helpful to see the Sunday morning broadcast news shows in comparison, but I know they are listed apart from cable news.
.
And yet, Gropin’ Joe’s approval numbers have crumbled. MSLSD & Google must not be doing their job.
Tucker and Hanitty used to get 6 million daily viewers.
Now ALL of cable “news” is down the toilet. Fox was/is complicit in the election theft, I hope they go bankrupt. /spit.
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