- Joined
- Jan 25, 2013
- Messages
- 37,044
- Reaction score
- 17,950
- Gender
- Male
- Political Leaning
- Undisclosed
It's possible that I'm more sensitive to the editorial process due to my background in public radio, where no decision I ever witnessed was predicated on how a topic or guest would "rate." The longer I was at MSNBC, the more I saw such choices - it's practically baked in to the editorial process - and those decisions affect news content every day. Likewise, it's taboo to discuss how the ratings scheme distorts content, or it's simply taken for granted, because everyone in the commercial broadcast news industry is doing the exact same thing.
...
As it is, this cancer stokes national division, even in the middle of a civil rights crisis. The model blocks diversity of thought and content because the networks have incentive to amplify fringe voices and events, at the expense of others ... all because it pumps up the ratings.
Personal news: why I’m now leaving MSNBC
"I understand that the journalistic process is largely subjective and any group of individuals may justify a different set of priorities on any given day. Therefore, it's particularly notable to me, for one, that nearly every rundown at the network basically is the same, hour after hour. And two, they use this subjective nature of the news to justify economically beneficial decisions. I've even heard producers deny their role as journalists. A very capable senior producer once said: "Our viewers don't really consider us the news. They come to us for comfort." "
First Bari Weiss at the NYT and now Ariana Pekary (a Producer, Lawrence O'Donnell) at MSNBC.
Well, yeah. No kidding journalism is dead.