Sock Puppet Greenwald: Us Neocons Dictate MSNBC’s Programming
Following up on a post from earlier today (as well as Van Helsing’s post), Sock Puppet and updater extraordinaire (plus famous author!) Glenn Greenwald has a hysterical, and long winded, piece out entitled The right dictates MSNBC’s programming decisions. Snort. Chuckle
MSNBC’s announcement that it is replacing Keith Olbermann and Chris Matthews with David Gregory as anchors for its main political events (the upcoming presidential debates and election) vividly illustrates several long-obvious facts. First, nothing changes the behavior of our media corporations more easily than vocal demands and complaints from the Right, which petrify media executives and cause them to snap into line. From today’s New York Times article identifying some of the causes for MSNBC’s decision:
See, now I would follow up with “nothing affects the media more then profit.” When all was said and done, what did Dan Rather in was cBS’s diminishing $$$ returns off his “product,” as pointed out by Bernie Goldberg. But Sock Puppet actually tries to cover that
Second, in response to media criticism that the press is insufficiently substantive and adversarial to political power, the claim is frequently made that media outlets are simply driven by the profit motive, and that their programming choices are nothing more than a by-product of ratings. But in MSNBC’s case, that is plainly untrue. Back in 2003, they actually canceled their highest-rated program, Phil Donahue’s show, for purely ideological reasons — because, at a time when the establishment “liberal media” were systematically amplifying the Government’s pro-war views and excluding anti-war views, that short-lived MSNBC show was one of the only venues in America where one could hear anti-war viewpoints, and NBC’s fear of angering the Government and the Right clearly caused them, first, to impose extreme and unusual restrictions on the show’s content, and then to cancel it altogether.
An interesting viewpoint, which seems to ignore that he was getting waxed in the ratings:
In the 8 p.m. slot, Mr. Donahue’s show averaged 439,000 viewers over the past month, far short of his competitors, Connie Chung on CNN, who had 970,000 viewers, and Bill O’Reilly on Fox News, who dominated the hour with 2.7 million viewers.
and
The difference, an NBC News executive explained, was that Mr. Donahue’s show was extremely expensive to produce, because it involved a studio audience. The network was also disappointed that he was not more competitive with Ms. Chung.
Your serve, Sock Puppet. You’re down two sets
Third, this episode demonstrates what Eric Alterman documented several years ago: that the greatest and most transparent myth in American politics is that the U.S. has a “liberal media.” That is a myth that is maintained, first and foremost, by defining anyone who isn’t Rush Limbaugh as a “liberal.”….
Yes, because we all know how the majority of the media votes Republican and considers themselves Conservative. Seriously, Glenn, while you are writing your massive missive, deflecting away from the central issue of Keith and Chrissy being given the anchor chair heave ho, have you sat back and considered that Keith Olbermann is, in fact, massively biased and leans massively left, as does Chris Matthews?
Most American citizens can see the mega-bias in the media: why can’t you, Glenn?
So, before this starts becoming as long as a Sock Puppet screed, a couple quick points
- We on the right wish we had the power over the media you think we do, Glenn. Heck, we can’t even get Fox to stop their mega-focus on certain stories, such as the Natalie Holloway one
- Our only real power is to not watch the stations, and most of us are already tuned out. Hence MSNBC’s pathetic ratings. I used to enjoy the channel, till they went insane
- We can also boycott products advertised on those stations, but, really, we do not know what those products are, since we aren’t watching in the first place
- If the Left cared about Keith and Chris’ opinions so much, why do their ratings suck?
The rest of Sock Puppets post is simply yammering on with little content, but an attempt to cover himself(s) in glory.
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Posted by William Teach on September 8, 2008 4:28 pm
» Filed Under 1st Amendment, Liberal Media/Bias, News, Psychology, Unhinged
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3 Responses to “Sock Puppet Greenwald: Us Neocons Dictate MSNBC’s Programming”
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I saw Greenwald’s article this morning, and wondered if he could possibly be that delusional.
They didn’t fire Matthews or Olbermann. They only did what was resposible. There’s a difference between reporting, and advocacy or activism. And those two turkies have crossed over completely to the latter.
Yes. It must be a vast right-wing conspiracy.
I saw Greenwald’s article this morning, and wondered if he could possibly be that delusional.
I don’t think the sock puppet is delusional. I believe he knows exactly what he is saying. His actions are classic for those who project their own views on to others. He spews his radical left-wing propaganda by writing how conservatives spew propaganda.
By the way, great bit on Donahue’s show with its low ratings and high expense. Turns out the sock puppet used the link to his Donahue “story” at least one other time, as have other leftists. Maybe it could be another of the sock puppet’s “personalities”.
Shouldn’t that be “delusionals”, Greg? You know, has to be in a plural mode for all of Glenn’s personalities
Glenn should have spent the 30 seconds I did searching the net for a reliable link on Donahue, but, of course, that would have blown Sock Puppet’s narrative, SteveL. I forgot to use the phrase of the day, bat-sh*t crazy for this post, but, hey, it perfectly describes Glenn.