I don't think
Ernie S. understands the implications of what he wrote.
I think he does. The ratings mean those espousing loony lib BS get paid less than those who don't. It may even mean those espousing that loony lib BS will need to change their ways, find a sugar daddy or close their doors. Stay tuned.
Air America's sugar daddy, Gloria Wise Boys & Girls Club, kept them on the air for a couple of months. Al Gore's millions from "carbon credits couldn't keep Current TV alive. There's just no market for left leaning news. The majority of Democrat voters chose to remain blissfully ignorant of politics as long as their EBT cards are recharged every month.
News isn't "marketed". It's not something that can be "sold".
Emotion is what sells. Nobody knows that better than a rich tycoon who got that way by selling gossip tabloids around the world. His name is Rupert Murdoch. Same shit, different medium. What he markets via Fox and similar outlets isn't "news" -- it's News Theater. It's talking heads talking
about the news, rather than reporting it (which again, is waaay cheaper). It's gossipers talking about
people and their evil ways (emotion) rather than policy (intellect). It is in effect no different than a Hollywood gossip show (like Bill O'Reilly came from) except that they use politicians as fodder instead of movie stars.
I don't know who Gloria Wise is but that roster AirAmerica once had on the air before its organization collapsed, is still on the air today. They sell ad time like everybody else. In fact the local station here is owned by ClearChannel, which also owns another station that carries the Limblob and Hannity fare -- same owner in the same market, "telling" us two different things. If that doesn't illustrate that the objective is all about whatever will ensnare eyeballs (or in radio, ears) and not about the ideological content, I can't help ya. If either one thought they had an opportunity to switch tomorrow to country music or sports, they'd do without a second thought.
In the same way, if either Fox or MSNBC thought they could profit more by taking on the "side" the other one is on, you'd see that shift in a New York studio minute. MSNBC used to be a right-leaning channel, with shows by Pat Buchanan, Ann Coulter, Tucker Carlson et al. It apparently didn't work.
This idea that a commercial TV enterprise somehow represents an ideological "side" is a lotta hooey. That's just the marketing angle. It's all about the money and always has been. Money in commercial broadcasting means selling commercials, and that's done by drawing the
attention (<< that word again) of the gullible. All you have to do is target the most gullible, pull their strings and play them. Obviously some are better at pulling those strings than others. That's a dubious honor at best.
Perhaps this term is most revealing -- when we describe what's on the broadcast dial in Asheville or Mobile (or San Francisco or Cincinnati etc), they don't call the areas "communities", even though that's what they are. They call them "
markets".
That says it all about how commercial broadcasting sees itself. They make, in this term at least, no bones about what their real objective and purpose is. Neither should we.