Thank you Ben, when I read that you’re a fellow non TV news watcher I felt better about the 180 I did years ago when I would start my morning with MSNBCs’ Morning Joe, I was actually addicted to it, then while working I would leave the news on all day. One day the constant race to get the news out about Donald trumps latest abuse, lies about this or that, I stopped in my tracks and turned it off never to go back and I felt the weight of that ball and chain come off, I realized I didn’t need to hear talking heads beat to death the same piece of information all day.
I get the Associated Press, You and others here on SubStack and my Tribel Social Media. Reading your stories have help tremendously to keep me informed so thank you for well written honest truth.
I understand the dilemma here, because media outlets want to have SOME voice from the Republican Party but ultimately, I fall on the side of those saying that the election deniers cannot and should never be given a voice on the airwaves. Really, what they are advocating is a highly dangerous lie, one that has already led to deaths (on January 6, 2021) and which seeks to challenge our centuries-old, peaceful transfer of power in elections.
Who else could they use? How about Ken Buck? Liz Cheney? Adam Kinzinger? Or, any of the other Republicans who are STILL Republicans (and they don't come much more conservative than Cheney), but who still believe in the institutions of our government? There ARE options out there other than election deniers.
If they thought it would help ratings, they'd have Mr. Beast do the NBC Nightly News. Just get your face out there somehow and become the next anchor. Have we really become that un-serious? I don't lament things becomimg more casual, and there's long been many people who don't follow this stuff, or even vote. But now, even the people who follow the news don't know what's going on. I've also stopped watching the news. I'm back to where I was in the 90's reading the paper more than anything.
Ever see The Morning Show? I'm starting to think these media joints actually run like that. Just crazy, ass-cheeks-out business decisions. Is it simply three yes-men sitting in a boardroom like, "Yeah buddy, Ronna Romney McDaniel!"? C'mon. What could they possibly think the upside would be?
NBC News hires partisan Democrat hacks all the time. Chuck Todd and the like are mouthpieces for the DNC. Wouldn’t survive in media on their own. Give me a break.
Thank you, Ben Cohen. You keep somehow reading my mind, ha ha, but in all seriousness, it's odd, and disappointing that such sentiment is not more common.
BTW, I also liked your piece on alt left's rejection of your earlier piece, thank you! There isn't always enough emotional energy to type on the phone.
In the "ai"-confined substack universe that i am fed, you are possibly the most reasonable voice among pundits and opinion writers (I am excluding HCR and Snyder because they are neither of those). Although this year all of my donation budget is going to Biden and running Democrats, your idea can be viable - I used to subscribe to NYT, NPR, the Atlantic and wapo. I quit all of them - even understanding where they are coming from it was impossible for me to exchange my money for their crap. Monetization vs. education, each goal leads in very different directions, via different roads. Even in my software engineering career I had to make moral choices, and it's infinitely easier than for journalism and "news". So...
Thank you, best of luck to you, and all of us. Hopefully we'll all see better days ahead, soon. Keep at it because MSM can not, must not be forgiven for defacing the entire concept and the industry.
"Mark Thompson to run CNN last year in a bid to reverse the network’s tanking numbers. One of Thompson’s brightest ideas was to slash the ludicrous salaries of the network’s biggest stars (although it would be hard to describe Wolf Blitzer as a “star”),"
I didn't know this was happening but it makes me very happy, I have long thought that if CNN went to Wolf Blitzer or Jake Tapper and said "Here's your new contract for the coming year $500k" what exactly are Tapper and Blitzer gonna do about it? The could threaten to leave, but they're not taking millions of dollars worth of audience with them, rotate in a reasonable looking, trained TV Professional from a regional TV nightly news broadcast to fill Tapper or Blitzers seat on a Thursday night (or whenever it is they are on) and within 3 months they'll be the new Jake Tapper or Wolf Blitzer, these people are all eminently replacable, the network makes them the star, not they making the network the star and I don't understand why the networks don't see they have all the leverage here
"The NBC staff who publicly spoke out about the decision to hire McDaniel should be commended for their integrity."
I'll hold my commendations until we see truly "balanced" reporting that isn't slanted toward normalizing Republican crimes and clutching pearls over Biden liking ice cream.
The hiring of Ronna McDaniel may have been a bridge too far, but too many are still unwilling to report that Republicans lie.
I tried to sell a left-of-center talk show this idea last night but the host kindly disagreed. Maybe I’ll have better luck here.
Let’s all agree: NBC made a mistake by hiring RRM. But immediately firing her might not have been the right move. (Sidebar: Does -anyone- get fired from NBC without major drama (see also Deborah Norville, Ann Curry, Conan O’Brien).
Maybe RRM should have become the network’s Permanent Hostage. Keep paying her, but never put her on the air. If she wants out of her contract to take one for another team, she will need to give the ghost of Tim Russert 300,000 reasons why.
RRM is now a martyr. And heaven knows, the R party knows how to use martyrs to their benefit.
NBC Universal laid the foundation of where we are today with Trump. "The Apprentice", it's baller theme song and the shitty Trump org offices reimagined as luxe soundstage sets, helped rebrand a fast food shilling has been into a prominent cultural force. Then the Access Hollywood tape, which should have ended all this, emboldened him more. SNL gave Hillary a cameo, but let Trump host an episode DURING the campaign. Jimmy Fallon's softball interview and hair tussle made the madman seem "relatable". So I really wasn't all too surprised when the suits in the tower made this decision. Much like "Trump is bad for the country but great for CBS" Les Moonves, NBC is dying for a Trump autocracy. News used to be the no-frills social obligation media companies gifted the public in exchange for the privilege of broadcast spectrum usage to deliver ad filled entertainment. News today is the one multi media commodity left that must be consumed live, and can be watched for hours at a time. People rarely DVR the news, they just watch whatever's live or whatever's next. It's an addictive product. Just today, I got a red "breaking news" banner on the WaPo -- I threw on my readers to discover a 90 year old former economist had died. Stop the press!
We DID get two data points out of this whole fiasco:
1. How much a self-own costs.
2. How much money it takes to convince a traitorous Insurrectionist to admit that Biden won, fair and square.
"It’s a long, hard road without much in the way of material wealth, but I promise, it’s worth it."
And I'm glad you're on it and promise I'll stay with you as long as you are.
Thank you Ben, when I read that you’re a fellow non TV news watcher I felt better about the 180 I did years ago when I would start my morning with MSNBCs’ Morning Joe, I was actually addicted to it, then while working I would leave the news on all day. One day the constant race to get the news out about Donald trumps latest abuse, lies about this or that, I stopped in my tracks and turned it off never to go back and I felt the weight of that ball and chain come off, I realized I didn’t need to hear talking heads beat to death the same piece of information all day.
I get the Associated Press, You and others here on SubStack and my Tribel Social Media. Reading your stories have help tremendously to keep me informed so thank you for well written honest truth.
I understand the dilemma here, because media outlets want to have SOME voice from the Republican Party but ultimately, I fall on the side of those saying that the election deniers cannot and should never be given a voice on the airwaves. Really, what they are advocating is a highly dangerous lie, one that has already led to deaths (on January 6, 2021) and which seeks to challenge our centuries-old, peaceful transfer of power in elections.
Who else could they use? How about Ken Buck? Liz Cheney? Adam Kinzinger? Or, any of the other Republicans who are STILL Republicans (and they don't come much more conservative than Cheney), but who still believe in the institutions of our government? There ARE options out there other than election deniers.
☠️👍As is our ‘Justice’ system! donalddump Should be in Custody Right Now Pending Trial!
If they thought it would help ratings, they'd have Mr. Beast do the NBC Nightly News. Just get your face out there somehow and become the next anchor. Have we really become that un-serious? I don't lament things becomimg more casual, and there's long been many people who don't follow this stuff, or even vote. But now, even the people who follow the news don't know what's going on. I've also stopped watching the news. I'm back to where I was in the 90's reading the paper more than anything.
Ever see The Morning Show? I'm starting to think these media joints actually run like that. Just crazy, ass-cheeks-out business decisions. Is it simply three yes-men sitting in a boardroom like, "Yeah buddy, Ronna Romney McDaniel!"? C'mon. What could they possibly think the upside would be?
NBC News hires partisan Democrat hacks all the time. Chuck Todd and the like are mouthpieces for the DNC. Wouldn’t survive in media on their own. Give me a break.
Thank you, Ben Cohen. You keep somehow reading my mind, ha ha, but in all seriousness, it's odd, and disappointing that such sentiment is not more common.
BTW, I also liked your piece on alt left's rejection of your earlier piece, thank you! There isn't always enough emotional energy to type on the phone.
In the "ai"-confined substack universe that i am fed, you are possibly the most reasonable voice among pundits and opinion writers (I am excluding HCR and Snyder because they are neither of those). Although this year all of my donation budget is going to Biden and running Democrats, your idea can be viable - I used to subscribe to NYT, NPR, the Atlantic and wapo. I quit all of them - even understanding where they are coming from it was impossible for me to exchange my money for their crap. Monetization vs. education, each goal leads in very different directions, via different roads. Even in my software engineering career I had to make moral choices, and it's infinitely easier than for journalism and "news". So...
Thank you, best of luck to you, and all of us. Hopefully we'll all see better days ahead, soon. Keep at it because MSM can not, must not be forgiven for defacing the entire concept and the industry.
"Mark Thompson to run CNN last year in a bid to reverse the network’s tanking numbers. One of Thompson’s brightest ideas was to slash the ludicrous salaries of the network’s biggest stars (although it would be hard to describe Wolf Blitzer as a “star”),"
I didn't know this was happening but it makes me very happy, I have long thought that if CNN went to Wolf Blitzer or Jake Tapper and said "Here's your new contract for the coming year $500k" what exactly are Tapper and Blitzer gonna do about it? The could threaten to leave, but they're not taking millions of dollars worth of audience with them, rotate in a reasonable looking, trained TV Professional from a regional TV nightly news broadcast to fill Tapper or Blitzers seat on a Thursday night (or whenever it is they are on) and within 3 months they'll be the new Jake Tapper or Wolf Blitzer, these people are all eminently replacable, the network makes them the star, not they making the network the star and I don't understand why the networks don't see they have all the leverage here
"The NBC staff who publicly spoke out about the decision to hire McDaniel should be commended for their integrity."
I'll hold my commendations until we see truly "balanced" reporting that isn't slanted toward normalizing Republican crimes and clutching pearls over Biden liking ice cream.
The hiring of Ronna McDaniel may have been a bridge too far, but too many are still unwilling to report that Republicans lie.
I tried to sell a left-of-center talk show this idea last night but the host kindly disagreed. Maybe I’ll have better luck here.
Let’s all agree: NBC made a mistake by hiring RRM. But immediately firing her might not have been the right move. (Sidebar: Does -anyone- get fired from NBC without major drama (see also Deborah Norville, Ann Curry, Conan O’Brien).
Maybe RRM should have become the network’s Permanent Hostage. Keep paying her, but never put her on the air. If she wants out of her contract to take one for another team, she will need to give the ghost of Tim Russert 300,000 reasons why.
RRM is now a martyr. And heaven knows, the R party knows how to use martyrs to their benefit.
NBC Universal laid the foundation of where we are today with Trump. "The Apprentice", it's baller theme song and the shitty Trump org offices reimagined as luxe soundstage sets, helped rebrand a fast food shilling has been into a prominent cultural force. Then the Access Hollywood tape, which should have ended all this, emboldened him more. SNL gave Hillary a cameo, but let Trump host an episode DURING the campaign. Jimmy Fallon's softball interview and hair tussle made the madman seem "relatable". So I really wasn't all too surprised when the suits in the tower made this decision. Much like "Trump is bad for the country but great for CBS" Les Moonves, NBC is dying for a Trump autocracy. News used to be the no-frills social obligation media companies gifted the public in exchange for the privilege of broadcast spectrum usage to deliver ad filled entertainment. News today is the one multi media commodity left that must be consumed live, and can be watched for hours at a time. People rarely DVR the news, they just watch whatever's live or whatever's next. It's an addictive product. Just today, I got a red "breaking news" banner on the WaPo -- I threw on my readers to discover a 90 year old former economist had died. Stop the press!
Mehdi Hasan has started his own media company: Zeteo.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/markjoyella/2024/02/28/mehdi-hasan-says-his-new-digital-media-company-will-allow-him-to-speak-bluntly-about-the-news/