Conservatives and the Media

[Ray From Cleveland]

NO news outlet, ANYWHERE, can "make money" on news. It isn't possible.and no one's ever done it. I just explained that to you.

MSNBC does not do "news". It does News Theater just as Fox and CNN do. NBC (the main network, on the air) does do news, but when it does it makes no "profit". There's no way to make a profit from simply reporting neutral facts. That's because there's no emotion to mine. Which means, if you're watching CBS report neutral news and the channel suddenly goes off the air, you just switch to ABC and get the same thing, because it's raw info. Again, what makes profit for News Theater, as opposed to actual News, is mining emotions. And that means inserting soap opera. That's what MSNBC does, following the Fox model, to its discredit, down the same hole for the same reason --- because it makes money.

I don't care how many of these operations put the word "news" in their name or on their screen --- what they're doing, at least in prime time where the audience is, where any TV channel makes its money --- is not news. It's people analyzing the news there already is, injecting soap opera anywhere and everywhere they can.

NPR doesn't do that, since it has no incentive to make a profit or maximize audience. Moreover NPR is Radio, not TV, which is an entirely different meduim, and a far more worthy one for legitimate information dissemination. Anyway NPR if it has a lean at all, leans right, not left. But that's got nothing to do with the economics of news so it's irrelevant to this point.

Just because you think you are the sole judge as to what is and is not news does not negate the fact that all news outlets (whether you consider them news or not) are profitable. Tell me, why would somebody have a news station if it did not create a profit?

The truth is they are all news outlets. Most lean left and one leans right. Yet leftists claim one news outlet and AM radio are just unfair to them.

I'm not aware of anywhere our Constitution says the government "should" do anything. Invalid question.

Maybe you should read more than the first two paragraphs. Need help? I'l be glad to paste the powers of Congress where it states what our federal government is to provide.

"Nobody ever leaves"? Do yourself a favor, go get a passport and go see the world. Anywhere. You'll be amazed. And inevitably, regardless what country you're going to OR what country you're coming from, you'll find somebody doing something better, more originally, more efficiently, more comprehensively, than you do. It's absurd to suggest that's not the case unless we all think we're some kind of gods.

Did you leave the US? If not, why?

People are dying to get into this country, and I do mean dying. They try to get here in makeshift rafts, In airplane crates marked as goods, In the back of tractor-trailers in 100 degree weather, crawling across the deserts, one or two times hiding in the landing gear compartment of jetliners, and yes, many do perish in their attempts.

Yes, we are Gods, because this is the greatest country in the world. If it were not, we would not have to spend billions to keep undesirables out. Furthermore is nobody who complain about our country ever leaves. Why is that? Yes, we do have our faults, but this country gives people the ability to become anything they desire, and you can't say that with all these other so much better countries you speak of.

 

[Pogo]

Just because you think you are the sole judge as to what is and is not news does not negate the fact that all news outlets (whether you consider them news or not) are profitable.

That's not a fact -- news is NOT profitable. A news (as in TV media) operation cannot pay for itself --- not via news.

Again --- in the earlier days of alphabet network news those newscasts were ALWAYS done at a loss, being subsidized by the sitcoms that followed them. Without the latter the former would have had no funding.

In the present daze of News Theater what genuine news exists on them (always dayparts e.g. Shem Smith) is all subsidized by the table-banging O'Hannitys in prime time --- who are in that time slot for exactly that reason.

And over at NPR where we started this, their news is subsidized partly by fed funding and mostly by listener donations, through the stations that carry it. Again, without the latter there is no former.

Tell me, why would somebody have a news station if it did not create a profit?

Can't be done.
What can be done at a profit is a News Theater station. Which I've repeatedly distinguished from "news".

CNN, when it first started, was the only source that provided news 24/7. That was a brand-new idea at the time, before which everybody just had to wait for the evening. Their angle was gathering viewership throughout the rest of the dayparts.

As for the old alphabets, and the idea of incorporating news into anybody's broadcast at all, which never turned a profit and never expected to --- the FCC requires licensees to use their license at least in part in service to the public -- us --- who OWN the airwaves. Exactly how a licensee should do that is not quantified so regular news broadcasts are a big way to satisfy that requirement.. ALL of them understood it wasn't going to make money but was going to look real good when it came time to renew the license. But because CBS owns the Walter Cronkite news and it also owns the Beverly Hillbillies --- once again the latter makes the former possible.

Did you leave the US? If not, why?

I've left the US many times, yes. Lived in France for a while. Went to my ancestral home in Ireland another time. Travel is exhilarating. It opens eyes and horizons.

People are dying to get into this country, and I do mean dying. They try to get here in makeshift rafts, In airplane crates marked as goods, In the back of tractor-trailers in 100 degree weather, crawling across the deserts, one or two times hiding in the landing gear compartment of jetliners, and yes, many do perish in their attempts.

Yes, we are Gods, because this is the greatest country in the world. If it were not, we would not have to spend billions to keep undesirables out. Furthermore is nobody who complain about our country ever leaves. Why is that? Yes, we do have our faults, but this country gives people the ability to become anything they desire, and you can't say that with all these other so much better countries you speak of.

zzzzzz snort ... whaat?

OK you're out of gas and rambling. I'm out.

 

[Dragonlady]

We just bitch slapped you people AND the media and Hillary, Bill, Obama, the DNC, Soros, and your $1.2 billion dollar campaign war chest. That's gonna leave a mark

No you didn't bitch slap anyone. You managed to get elected a man who is blundering about, violating every code of decency your country claims it stands for, and you're cheering his destruction of your country's checks and balances, like you're participating in a pro wrestling match.