Posted on 03/29/2015 5:01:32 PM PDT by RoosterRedux
As he returns to run the NBC News Group, Andy Lack faces one of the same puzzles he tried to solve a decade and a half ago: how to make MSNBC work.
While he was gone, MSNBC changed from traditional news to a political network with a liberal lens. Now that it is mired in a ratings slump, Lack's mandate as chairman will be figuring out if MSNBC needs a complete overhaul or a sharpening of its mission.
The current picture is seriously ugly. Through early March, Chris Hayes' viewership at 8 p.m. on weekdays was down 23 percent from last year, Rachel Maddow was off 24 percent and Lawrence O'Donnell down 26 percent. Among the 25-to-54-year-old demographic that is the basis for advertising sales, the prime-time lineup lost nearly half its audience. Daytime isn't much better.
Fatigue is natural for fans of any presidential administration in its sixth year, and liberals are traditionally less loyal to political talk media than conservatives.
"Like political groups that raise money, they do better when they have something to rail against," said Mark Feldstein, veteran television journalist and professor at the University of Maryland.
Phil Griffin, MSNBC president, has lately sought to broaden MSNBC's outlook by taking on a greater variety of stories, even hiring a food correspondent, and there's been some uptick in the ratings the past few weeks. He changed the daytime lineup, ditching opinionated programs hosted by Ronan Farrow and Joy-Ann Reid and establishing a news-focused bloc with Jose Diaz-Balart, Andrea Mitchell and Thomas Roberts.
(Excerpt) Read more at hosted.ap.org ...
I am shocked, I tell ya...shocked!
I’m starting to think Bill Gates keeps MSNBC going as a way to lower his taxes.
Are you saying I didn’t do a search?
Journalism?
Nah. NBC will continue with LIE, LIE, LIE
and, of course, next week’s possible weather.
Resist, we much!
Where'd I say that?
Logical conclusions add words to statements made. Did you or didn’t you imply that this was an earlier post?
I suggest that MSNBC switch gears, and instead of being objective about the news, maybe they should start to push a hard Left position.
Maybe it would help.
MSNBC belongs to Comcast. Gates has been out maybe a couple years.
I’ve always guessed it’s just a campaign contribution to Dems from Comcast/NBCUniversal, but accountants may be nagging about the opportunity cost.
So if you support this guy, does it make you a Lackie???
If they want their ratings to soar they should surreptitiously help to get Ted Cruz into the White House. Then they can rail to their heart's content!
Part of my CommieCast bill goes to subsidize MSPCP??? This will change.
Did you just make that up? Cause when I Googled it, I got
No results found for "Logical conclusions add words to statements made."
The financial health is largely due to long-term deals with cable and satellite operators to carry MSNBC, made when the network sold itself as a counterbalance to Fox News, said Derek Baine, Kagan analyst. Bad ratings depress advertising prices, and while they would hurt MSNBC's future if they persist, the advertising is not as important as the carriage deals.
A la carte programming will fix this.
I sympathize.
I doubt they sell much advertising dedicated to MSNBC. It’s easy for them to sell a package with Telemundo, Golf Channel, SyFy, The Weather Channel, etc. NBCU even owns a chunk of Hulu.
You can’t fix “suck”. Fold the network. Sell it to Al Jazeera.
MSNBC was launched on July 15, 1996 (snip)
During the day, rolling news coverage continued with The Contributors, a show that featured Ann Coulter and Laura Ingraham...
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