Well, one thing about the Olbermann brouhaha.

[Jackpine Radical]

M$NBC is out of the closet now. The teabaggers and fascists can no longer pretend that there is a "liberal" network anywhere in the country.

[peace frog]

1. Reality is what they believe it to be

Don't bother trying to influence teabaggers with annoying facts - just makes them more firmly entrenched in their baseless beliefs.

[madmax]

3. That did happen to me with a friend of 20 years.

Facts just drove her crazy. I'm not at all upset, perhaps our friendship was never that close or tight to begin with. :shrug:

[Jackpine Radical]

15. Well, of course you're right.

I keep hoping that maybe there are some low-information people out there with no strong ideological commitments who think there is such a thing as "duh libbirl meeedia" because they keep hearing everybody talking about it.

[peace frog]

17. an open-minded teabagger?

Isn't that an oxymoron?

[Jackpine Radical]

27. Yes, but I'm not talking about teabaggers,

just uncommitted, heedless people who drift through life picking up nonsense like the oft-repeated but baseless notion that the media are liberal.

[JerseygirlCT]

29. Exactly! nt

[madmax]

2. In addition to bringing attention to the fact that we're

being held hostage by owners and shareholders of the 'newz' companies. Mergers, etc. In addition to that pesky
'Freedom of Speech' thing that now is equated with $ AND receiving 'permission'. Permission if you're not on the 'right' side.

side note. I hate it when people use air quotes but, when writing I find it useful to avoid any 'misunderstandings' :P

[LawnLover]

4. Oh, come on

How many times does this need to be said? If MSNBC wanted to, they could yank every single one of their liberal anchors off the air—or they could have not taken that slant to begin with. Their only agenda is MAKING MONEY. And that's the reason they went "liberal" in the first place. They saw a market there and exploited it.

This has nothing to do with political agendas and everything to do with two employees (Keith and Griffin) butting heads. It's about power, not politics.

And let's face it, this incident hasn't made us pay LESS attention to Keith and MSNBC, has it?

I'm just so sick of hearing about these conspiracy theories. The paranoia around here is staggering.

Keith will be back on the air in no time. He's one of their cash cows.

[pacalo]

7. If you're sick of hearing it, why did you click on a thread about it?

You even started one today.

Use the "ignore thread" feature if you're "sick of hearing about DUers hashing out their feelings on the subject.

[LawnLover]

12. The one I started was in reaction to

all of the conspiracy theories I've been hearing here. It was a joke.

And I clicked on this thread because SOMEONE has to be the voice of sanity. The bottom line is that the cable news stations—with the exception of Fox—couldn't care less about political ideology. They merely react to what's popular and create drama around it so that they can attract viewers.

There's no conspiracy. Just greed.

[pacalo]

13. Forgive me, but that comes across a little naive. Aren't you aware that right-leaning corporations

have been buying up networks, radio stations, newspapers, & magazines?

Anyone who cares about having progressive choices in the media should be concerned. And people hashing out their feelings & discussing possibilities doesn't nessesarily equate to "conspiracy theories".

[LawnLover]

18. As I've said countless times

I think anyone who doesn't realize that the networks only care about ratings is naive. If it bleeds it leads. If it sells, they go with it. They honestly don't give a shit about left or right ideologies. Only what keeps people glued to the TV.

[nadinbrzezinski]

16. Voice of sanity?

you do know just how much of what you read and hear is controlled by FIVE MEDIA companies... don't you?

Most likely you don't.

by the way who CREATED the canard of the liberal Media? Let's see how good you are with history? Oh and chiefly WHY?

When you figure that out, you perhaps will start to get it.

[LawnLover]

19. The media has been exactly the same for decades

Interested in only ONE thing: the bottom line. How much money they can make.

Go back a hundred years and look at Hearst newspapers. Do you really think anything is different now?

It's about making a buck. Nothing more.

[nadinbrzezinski]

20. Actually you are wrong

and it shows you do not know your history

So I will clue you in...

The canard was created by the NIXON WH... because of Watergate.

And we had a period, that ended in 1996... when the press's goal was to inform. They were ahem, REGULATED.

Oh and the concentration of media is HIGHER than during the Hearst Years. MUCH HIGHER in fact... as in OBSCENELY higher.

[LawnLover]

21. Yellow Journalism

The term originated during the American Gilded Age of the late nineteenth century with the circulation battles between Joseph Pulitzer's New York World and William Randolph Hearst's New York Journal. The battle peaked from 1895 to about 1898, and historical usage often refers specifically to this period. Both papers were accused by critics of sensationalizing the news in order to drive up circulation, although the newspapers did serious reporting as well. The New York Press coined the term "yellow kid journalism" in early 1897 after a then-popular comic strip to describe the down market papers of Pulitzer and Hearst, which both published versions of it during a circulation war.<2> Ervin Wardman, publisher of the sedate New York Herald coined the term.<3>

<snip>

Just two years after Pulitzer took it over, the World became the highest circulation newspaper in New York, aided in part by its strong ties to the Democratic Party.<6> Older publishers, envious of Pulitzer's success, began criticizing the World, harping on its crime stories and stunts while ignoring its more serious reporting — trends which influenced the popular perception of yellow journalism. Charles Dana, editor of the New York Sun, attacked The World and said Pulitzer was "deficient in judgment and in staying power."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow_journalism

Nothing has really changed. I'd say this is a fair assessment of our news today.

[nadinbrzezinski]

23. again concentration was NEVER to this point

http://www.freepress.net/ownership/chart/main

Educate yourself, I am not kidding.

[LawnLover]

24. The concentration may not have been the same

but the effect amounted to pretty much the same thing. Back in the day there were always only two or three newspapers anyone paid any real attention to.

The only difference now is the added bombastic hysteria of the cable news networks.

And I'm not kidding, either.

[nadinbrzezinski]

25. Shhh don't tell anyone

but apart of the paper of record, usually the main city paper... there was also a healthy worker press. That don't exist these days.

Look you want to believe things have never been this good or bad, suit yourself. I KNOW you are wrong... but I could show you all the evidence in the world, it won't matter.

have a good day. life, whatever.

[LawnLover]

30. And by the same token

you want to believe it's worse than ever. Sorry, that's doesn't fly. I've been around for a long, long time. Things have been MUCH worse in this country than they are right now.

[cynatnite]

22. MSNBC is corporate media and is only intersted in making money...

If the other news networks were liberal, MSNBC would probably be exploiting the conservative niche.

I agree with you.

[haifa lootin]

28. Looks like you were right and thankfully I was -wrong-!

On that last point, at least. :D

[lame54]

5. Does that mean Jon Stewart was right?

[pacalo]

8. About MSNBC being fascist & moving to the right? Don't think he mentioned it.

He did compare Keith to Fox News. But that isn't what the OP is about.

[lame54]

10. actually he didn't mention that either

[pacalo]

14. He didn't mention Jon Stewart, nor was his OP trying to make this a "Jon vs. Keith" issue

[fishwax]

6. I don't know -- they're awfully good at pretending, ignoring reality, etc.

[JitterbugPerfume]

9. all you have to do to prove that

is to watch MSNBC before prime time

[woo me with science]

11. Interesting that the Juan Williams firing was all over the Sunday talk shows.

Has anyone seen a word about Olbermann?

[grantcart]

26. So Maddow and all are just pawns.