Okay, I may stir some serious shit here . . . the MSNBC evening prime time line up . . . . .

[Stinky The Clown]

. . . . . is it, at its core, actual journalism or just another shiny thing?

That should not be taken as a slam to any of the personalities involved. The question goes to MSNBC ownership and management. Is their intent to bring actual news with a leftward bent or to simply fill an unfilled void?

I will start this off with my own personal views:

Olbermann/Maddow/et al are beside the point. They are simply the people hired to do a job and in doing the job are mostly doing what they appear to be doing, which is representing truthful, insightful, honest news. And they demonstrate every day that facts have a leftward bent.

NBC Universal is just another big, wealthy, powerful news and entertainment organization that is solely interested in their own interests. It is little changed from the right wing days of Jack Welch. They keep a leash on their personalities; a long leash, but one they can yank on fast if they need to. (Witness the lack of reportage on the recent Kos/Scarborough kerfluffle.)

I see MSNBC as being worse than Fox because their bias is hidden, allowing them to be more subtle, and quite possibly more effective, in catapulting the propaganda of interest to them.

In this forum, my first point bears repeating: Olbermann/Maddow/et al are beside the point.

Comments?

[Ohio Joe]

1. The "news" is not worth jack shit on any channel

It has been that way for a long time.

[RockaFowler]

3. You got that right

I don't want commentary - I want the NEWS

[bulloney]

29. You've got that right. The way the 'news' has reported on the current heat wave,

you'd think we've never had 90-degree heat in July. These idiots will spend 5-10 minutes of a 30 minute newscast telling you that people are uncomfortable when they're outside. You should drink fluids, avoid strenuous activity, yada, yada, yada. Well, no kidding?

Are we that stupid that we need 24/7 'news' to remind us about hot weather? How much journalism is involved with that kind of reporting?

[spanone]

2. the chuck choad show just interviewed maria bartiromo

who said Obama should 'keep the bu$h* tax cuts'

who the fuck is she to speak on anything? her bias is well documented on the mourning ho show.

i think keith & rachel do little to offset the major bullshit they have all day long.

[CTyankee]

4. Maria is such a skank. She talks blithely about "cutting entitlements"

as a way to fiscal strength. No one ever says to her "Just whose entitlements do you want to see cut?"

Keep talking, Maria. Dig that hole you're in deeper...

[Skidmore]

7. This was actually a valuable comment. Finally someone put on the record

a statement to explain why busisnesses and big money, in spite of record profits, are not investing in jobs here. The wealthy will not invest unless they are excused from paying taxes. Period. They need to be called on this destruction of the nation's economy.

[spanone]

12. and she blames the Obama administration for this.

[Liberal In Texas]

5. Aside from those occasional 5 minute news breaks, it's not news it's opinion.

And yes, NBC is a corporate entity interested in the bottom line and saw a need not being filled and thought that if they filled that need they would make money. If MSNBC stops making the money they think it should, it'll change in a heartbeat.

[Stinky The Clown]

6. What do you think will happen if they manage to sell it to Comcast?

[Liberal In Texas]

8. No idea.

Another reason not to allow consolidation.

[Liberal In Texas]

9. On second thought, I'll guess.

If they have a money making property, they'll leave it alone. The bottom line is all that counts. Even Randi Rhodes now works for a RW company. They don't care about the politics as much as they care about $.

[The_Commonist]

10. It's just another shiny thing.

And it seems like all they ever do is bitch Sarah Palin and Michael Steele and other repuglicans.
No ideas or solutions offered.
They're only there to sell advertising, exploiting a demographic that may not watch more "conservative" programming.

I really do like Keith and Rachel, and agree with their perspectives on things, but frankly they are just as much a "part of the problem" as Glenn or Sean.
They are just as much a part of the Corporatist agenda as Fox and Friends.
Their purpose is to get you to zone out in front of the tube, put your eyeballs in front of the ads, and rile you up so you feel the need to anesthetize with the latest do-dads from their sponsors.

[Berry Cool]

17. Oh, bullshit.

You can bet that Keith and Rachel care about more than keeping your eyeballs in front of the ads.

Really?? Is THAT why Rachel went to Afghanistan? Because she wanted to peddle more Cialis?

[Stinky The Clown]

20. I said, in the OP, three time: thi sis not about Olbermann, Maddow, et al.

Please don't make it about them. That could cause my thread to start to flame and get locked. I don't want that to happen, so please stop, okay?

[The_Commonist]

23. Keith and Rachel might care...

...but their owners don't.
Their corporate masters pay them to bring in the eyeballs.
If they ever did anything that their owners and advertisers really didn't like, they'd be gone in a heartbeat.

Again, I like Keith and Rachel, but they serve at the pleasure of the stockholders and management of GE.
If they didn't sell lots of Cialis, management would find someone who could...

[TheKentuckian]

11. It's mostly not news but punditry and punditry that seldom steps

outside the accepted discourse box. Rachel does more news, Keith has a longer leash and can push the accepted discourse envelope a bit more.

There isn't two hours of hard news most days if you combine all the networks together and filter through a 24 hour time frame.

[alcibiades_mystery]

13. It's a brand that appeals to another demographic

And that's all it is.

It's the teevee political show version of Hot Topic. And DUers are the "edgy" kids with the mass produced grunge tee-shirts. It's embarrassing, to say the least.

[Berry Cool]

18. Speak for yourself.

Others do live their politics.

[asjr]

14. "News" isn't news anymore. News

is whatever the media decide it is. I am sorry Lebron has decided to go to Miami. Maybe he is going there to pick up tarballs when they arrive.

[Name removed]

15. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Orsino]

16. Shiny thing. Not the other thing.

MSNBC is designed to fill MSNBC airtime, while being as nonthreatening as possible to MSNBC owners.

[Radical Activist]

19. Olbermann is an entertainer meant to get ratings from liberals.

He's the bait. He's good for business.

And you're absolutely correct that they operate within certain boundaries. I appreciate Olbermann, but he's a company man who knows his limits. He won't step out of bounds like Phil Donahue did.

Personally, I think its only a matter of time before Maddow steps out of line and gets the axe. She's too good.

MSNBC does have a bias that reflects the interests of their corporate owners. No one should ever believe that watching MSNBC during the day makes them an informed person or gives them an accurate worldview.

[Stinky The Clown]

21. I agree with you about Maddow.

Olbermann will stay in line. She's young, a rising star, and has her whole life ahead of her. Olbermann's close to signing on with AARP.

[Cal33]

24. Olbermann is about 50. He still has a long way to go, if he

nts to.

[Stinky The Clown]

25. Being quite a bit older than him, I can tell you . . . . .

. . . . that at 50, you start weighing "Safe" against "Ambition". The timing is different for each of us, to be sure. But we all face it. He is, indeed, closer to AARP than not.

Rachel is still very much in the hunt.And I can tell you I am totally enamored of her.

[kgnu_fan]

22. If personality is bigger than truth and fact, then it is not "News" or "journalism"

[earth mom]

26. Olbermann and Maddow are the crumbs thrown out to get some liberals watching

the shit they call news.

Olbermann and Maddow are very good-but even they have been TOLD to tone it down on many occassions.

Maddow had a "lunch date" with Obama not too long ago after she went off about the oil gusher in the gulf.

What does that tell you?

[Name removed]

27. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[SoCalDem]

28. Ratigan is the only bonafied shit-stirrer they have

and who knows how long they will let him rant against corporations