Why in the hell is MSNBC, aside from Keith/Rachel, NOT spelling it out re "teabaggers?"

[Echo In Light]

Earlier as I 'clicked' through channels I paused at MSNBC as they (some woman hosting) were discussing the Town Hall 'protests,' yet neither her, nor another pundit she interviewed on the subject, came right out and explained exactly WHO and which right-wing orgs are behind staging these pseudo demonstrations.

Why the intentional disconnect between presentation of content? Yes, I realize which MAJOR defen$e contractor owns NBC, and hence why 'truth' is carefully managed, and they're hoping to cash in on both sides of the fence ... but this business of specifically providing disinfo scripts to their daytime pundits to continue poisoning the public mind with LIES while allowing their other programming to actually REPORT THE FACTUAL, OBJECTIVE TRUTH on this matter is a bizarre disservice to democracy.

:wtf:

[babylonsister]

1. From MM-you're right, it's pathetic...

http://mediamatters.org/blog/200908070030

Better cable news, please

August 07, 2009 2:49 pm ET by Jamison Foser


For the past several hours, the journalists -- anchors and guests -- on MSNBC have been talking about health care town halls, and protests, and angry people, without ever once, as far as I've noticed, actually discussing a single fact about health care, or proposed reforms.

At one point, anchor Savannah Guthrie said criticism of the staged protests ignores the fact that people have legitimate concerns about health care reforms. What are those concerns? Guthrie didn't say. Why are they legitimate? Guthrie didn't say.

At another, an MSNBC anchor interviewed New York Times reporter Jeff Zeleny; the entire conversation was about the White House's preferred messaging about the town halls -- not a word of substance about health care.

Another segment featured two guests: former Democratic Congressman David Bonior, and a Republican strategist -- I think it was Todd Harris. The entire conversation was about town hall meetings, and who is yelling louder, and what can be done to keep people from yelling, and who has yelled at what events in the past -- literally not a word about, you know, health care. (The guests didn't cover themselves in glory, either, playing along with the inside-baseball lets-focus-on-process-rather-than-policy nonsense.)

This is madness. Madness.

There is absolutely no value in spending hour after hour saying "So, people are angry, aren't they?" "Yep, they sure are." "But the protests are being organized by interest groups." "But they have valid concerns! And they're angry!"

Nothing good comes of this. Tell us what the concerns are. Tells us if they are based in fact. Tell us the truth about health care, and about proposed reforms.

[hedgehog]

2. I think Rachel Maddow put her finger on it last night when she pointed out that

real journalism is more than a simple matter of pointing a camera back and forth and presenting he said/she said as if it's a ping pong match. Real journalism involves work.

[Echo In Light]

3. Oh, don't be fooled, the other side is working diligently in wanting the public to believe lies

Specifically, that these TH disruptions are indicative of genuine public concern.

[PVnRT]

4. Why aren't they drawing the parallels between these lunatics and Germany's brownshirts?

They're practically the same thing.

[Birthmark]

5. The media doing what they do.

They have no interest in fact. They're only concerned about the "score." As long as there are two sides (and only two sides), the media are content. They have long ago ceased to be journalists. They are no more than play-by-play sportscasters.

[spanone]

6. it's pretty obvious to me. the media is the problem.

[Liberalynn]

7. How can you expect anything different from the MSM

When every other commercial is from Big Pharma or an Insurance Company?

That's the real crux of the issue right there.

[Echo In Light]

9. I'm amazed that the owners are allowing factual reporting at all

...that's what's odd about it. It isn't as though it's a big umbrella, and what we're dealing w/is two different editorial perspectives. No. This is flat out lying/disinfo/propaganda that favors vested interests, vs the actual reporting of irrefutable facts on the same matter, at different times of the day.

MSNBC...it's now like a conflict of interests within a conflict of interests.

[City Lights]

8. I sent them three emails yesterday over this.

All three contained proof that the disruptions are not spontaneous happenings by regular folks (they were stories I found here at DU). All asked why they continue to perpetuate the myth that these are being carried out by average Americans wanting to voice their opinion when they have all the proof they need that these are clearly coordinated, staged happenings. I asked why they continue to further the lies the GOP is spewing.

Apparently, based on your observations this morning, my emails fell on deaf ears yesterday. :-(

[Berry Cool]

10. Actually, I have to be fair and give NBC credit.

I was in a bar last night that had NBC Nightly News on with closed captions, and it was clear that one of the top stories was about the teabagger protests. They did not present them as 100% genuine or with a completely even hand; they did point out that the protests were being centrally organized and orchestrated. So, what they were saying was that while the "anger" behind the protests was real, the protests themselves were part of a staged and organized movement, rather than spontaneous grassroots uprisings.

What I wished for was a bit more detail about what the "anger" behind the protests is really about: i.e., the racism that fuels it, and the disinformation that is helping to fuel the anger.

[Echo In Light]

11. Right-wing propagandist Manu, of The Politico was on C-SPAN's WJ today

...repeatedly insisting that the "truth" re the 'outrage' of the town hall disruptions is somewhere in the middle between the what Dems and Repubs are claiming.

Bull. Fucking. Shit.

This apple polisher represents everything that sucks about the so called 'moderate' position; ALWAYS in deference to the Right, ALWAYS trivializing the anti-Right/corporate perspective.

[unc70]

12. Targeted Marketing at its most obvious; market segments easy to describe

From what I see, MSNBC is trying to tailor its product mix to serve micro-markets that are profitable. Depending on the time of day, it must compete against different types of alternatives, both TV and non-TV.

Keith and now Rachel appeal to a small but growing audience including many of us that rarely sees the broadcast evening news, is not served by Fox or CNN, but would still watch news on TV rather than typical broadcast fare or nothing at all. There is likely a large audience overlap with The Daily Show and Colbert Report.

Most of each weekday, MSNBC seems focused on the inside=the-Beltway "game" and the corresponding Wall Street stories (with CNBC reversing the focus to WS first, DC second). Almost always, MSNBC is promoting a pro corporation, pro-GE. pro-Wall Street, pro-Establishment position which is usually presented in terms of "politics" rather than "government", "people", "general welfare", "ethics", "law", or anything else.

"Morning Joe" is primarily directed and focused on just one small market, those politically active living inside the Beltway. Within its first 10 minutes are nearly all the talking points from the RW for the day, served up as conventional wisdom. During the last campaign, we let them define what were important issues and who was a "viable" candidate (raised the most money), which candidates were "acceptable", and tell us that what had happened in a debate was not what we had just seen and heard (with our lying eyes and ears).

The rest of the day, MSNBC tries to be the non-Fox political channel, with some coverage of large non-political stories. CNN seems to have gone off the deep end and is all atwitter with their technology toys and not whatever story is being presented. Giant screens with on-screen interactive maps, etc., "virtual" reporting, email feedback, and now twits -- maybe they are trying to be relevant to a younger audience. but they mostly just look clueless. Leave the tech toys to the geeks. Maybe not real geeks with live chickens.

[nc4bo]

13. Doesn't GE also make tons of medical/surgical/hospital equipment too?

Lots of profits to be made there too. So many conflicts of interest, so little time.

Why M$NBCGE isn't/won't is of no surprise to me and I often wonder why they bother to carry KO and Rachel (Ed too)at all.

[Echo In Light]

14. Thanks for pointing that out!