I'd argue that MSNBC isn't the left Fox because it remains with the same neo-liberal views and corporatist posturings, just with some punditry from another party's perspective. The normal news hours are just like CNN's pretty much. But they do benefit in a way from Fox News, in that the presentation of Fox News lets MSNBC seem like a bastion of fair journalism to their base, and MSNBC lets Fox News seem like a bastion of fair journalism to their base, when they're both ad-driven corporate news networks that self-censor for palatable and non-challenging stories that will appease advertisers, corporate boards, CEOs, and establishment figures they desire access to.
High-concept news items, real dissertations on public policy, and investigative political journalism are shuffled typically to "alternative" news sources (NPR being the best of them), established newspapers that benefit from the lack of the same format on content (but lose drastically on sales because of that format), and blogs which are outside of the realm of such concerns anyways, typically. There's a few sweet spots in corporate news (I'd contend that Olbermann is not one for his occasional misogyny, transphobia such as with the Ann Coulter comments, and other instances of privilege, but Maddow certainly is legit and beautiful and fierce) but overall it's a wasteland. An inane, shallow wasteland.
Don't forget that MSNBC fired Phil Donahue from his leading program for his anti-war views, or the way MSNBC ignored *their own rules* in order to exclude Kucinich from their primary debate.
I do like Maddow though. She's a strong progressive voice on the network, which is nice. She has good perspective on social issues and privileges, and while she's not anything revolutionary, she's made some good anti-corporatist statements in the past. Best out of the bunch.
Sometimes I watch Rachel and wonder what the hell she is doing on MSNBC and I say that as a viewer that favors MSNBC to the rest of the cable news channels, though I watch a bit of them all.
High-concept news items, real dissertations on public policy, and investigative political journalism are shuffled typically to "alternative" news sources (NPR being the best of them), established newspapers that benefit from the lack of the same format on content (but lose drastically on sales because of that format), and blogs which are outside of the realm of such concerns anyways, typically. There's a few sweet spots in corporate news (I'd contend that Olbermann is not one for his occasional misogyny, transphobia such as with the Ann Coulter comments, and other instances of privilege, but Maddow certainly is legit and beautiful and fierce) but overall it's a wasteland. An inane, shallow wasteland.
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