A note about the U.S. television news media, for the folks outside the U.S.
I am sure that for a lot of you folks in Europe, and the rest of the world, the U.S. television news media probably seems like a complete mess. So much news, so many opinions. So much chaos. The only thing that seems to bind them in any way is their complete contempt for President Trump.
There is a reason why the world is being presented an anti-Trump narrative by the U.S. television news media - and it really has nothing to do with politics.
I hope to give you a clearer picture of how the US television news media works and maybe give you a different perspective in which to view the current narrative of the US television news media and how it is being presented to the world.
Yes, this post is a bit long but at least it is formatted and I did try to keep it interesting! I would ask that you read the entire post before you comment.
Quick History/Background
There are 5 television broadcast outlets that dominate the U.S. media landscape:
ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, and Fox News (Fox)
ABC, CBS, and NBC are publicly broadcast throughout the country, all you need is a TV and an antenna to receive their broadcast, free of charge.
CNN and Fox are cable networks and are paid subscription channels (cable, satellite, Roku, etc. ) The U.S. has no goverment funded news outlet on the scale of, say, the BBC.
From the early days of televsion ABC, CBS, and NBC (which were collectively called "the Networks") were the major news sources for the U.S. That began to change with the introduction of cable and the launch of CNN in 1980. While the networks are still important players in today's news media, CNN and Fox have supplanted them as the most dominant news sources in the country. There is also one other player - a cable/satellite channel, MSNBC, that competes with CNN and Fox. MSNBC is essentially a cable/satellite extension for NBC, though it operates independently of the network.
Political Bias
It is common knowledge in the U.S. that the 3 networks, as well as CNN and MSNBC, present the news from a liberal/progressive (Left) point of view. Fox presents the news from a conservative (Right) point of view. Consequently, the Left has a 5-1 margin for their viewpoint with regards to the major television news media.
Opinion "news" - How the Narrative is Formed
Every single weekday night, for 4 straight hours (starting at 7pm and ending at 11pm, eastern time), the 3 cable channels - CNN, Fox, and MSNBC - each broadcast nothing but political opinion shows. These shows feature dozens and dozens of talking heads over-analyzing every bit of political minutiae. That equates to 12 hrs per day/60 hrs per week of nothing but pure political opinion (and remember, the Left enjoys a 2-1 margin.)
Here is the lineup :
7-10pm
The First One Hundered Days - Fox
Erin Burnett Upfront - CNN
Hardball with Chris Matthews - MSNBC
8-9pm
The Factor (Bill O'Reilly) - Fox
Anderson Cooper 360 - CNN
All In with Chris Hayes - MSNBC
9-10pm
Tucker Carlson - Fox
Anderson Cooper 360 - CNN (he does 2 hours straight)
The Rachel Maddow Show - MSNBC
10-11pm
Hannity (Sean Hannity) - Fox
CNN Tonight with Don Lemon - CNN
The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell - MSNBC
On a nightly basis, the general consensus of opinion of these shows is this:
CNN, MSNBC: Donald Trump is the worst human being in the entire history of mankind.
Fox: Donald Trump is the not the worst human being in the entire history of mankind.
So, it is 2-1 in favor for the Left's point of view - every single night. (and it has been this way for many years.)
--- Note: Surprisingly, Fox has absolutely dominated CNN and MSNBC in the ratings, both overall and in those specific time slots, for years. This is from just last week:
Top cable news networks in primetime (total viewers): Fox News Channel, MSNBC, CNN, HLN, FBN.
Top cable news programs (total viewers):
1. Fox News Channel’s “The O’Reilly Factor” (Monday, 8 p.m.);
2. Fox News Channel’s “The O’Reilly Factor” (Wednesday, 8 p.m.);
3. Fox News Channel’s “The O’Reilly Factor” (Thursday, 8 p.m.);
4. Fox News Channel’s “The O’Reilly Factor” (Tuesday, 8 p.m.);
5. Fox News Channel’s “Tucker Carlson Tonight” (Tuesday, 9 p.m.) ---
Jeff Zucker is the president of CNN, and as such, he controls the network's narrative. Donald Trump and Jeff Zucker have known each other for years. To say that they vehemently dislike each other is putting it mildly. As recently as Trump's last press conference, he called Zucker out by name and made a sarcastic remark about him.
CNN is undeniably the largest and most powerful media voice for the Left, both in this country and worldwide. 100's of millions of people around the world consider CNN to be the de facto news source for the USA and rely on it for the "truth" about America and the world. Which brings me to this quote from Jeff Zucker (and the impetus for this post):
"One of the things I think this administration hasn’t figured out yet is that there’s only one television network that is seen in Beijing, Moscow, Seoul, Tokyo, Pyongyang, Baghdad, Tehran, and Damascus — and that’s CNN. The perception of Donald Trump in capitals around the world is shaped, in many ways, by CNN. Continuing to have an adversarial relationship with that network is a mistake." http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer...nd-future.html
Beginning almost a year before the election, Zucker marshaled his allies in the broadcast media and made a concerted effort to stop Trump from becoming President. They had a 5-1 advantage and threw every thing they had at him - yet he still won.
As a result of being so monumentally wrong (regarding the election outcome), they have now lost their control of the narrative in the USA (they actually lost the narrative about four years ago, but they did not realize it. That is why they still cannot comprehend how they lost the election - refer to my earlier note about ratings) but CNN still controls, to a very large extent, the worldwide narrative. And in their estimation that counts more than the USA.
Consequently, the narrative now being put forth by CNN (and echoed by the other 4) is specifically - and purposefully - targeted to do one thing and one thing only: destroy Donald Trump. This really has nothing to do with what is actually good or bad for the USA (from Zucker's POV.) This is about personally taking Trump down. CNN will continue to push it's anti-Trump narrative to the world. The goal for Zucker is to not only destroy Trump at home in the USA but to also control world opinion.
This is entirely personal for Jeff Zuker.
Conclusion
What we (both the US and the world) are witnessing is not some altruistic fight between good and evil. What we are witnessing is a war between two very, very powerful men - one occupies what could be considered the highest seat of power in the civilized world. The other controls the most powerful media outlet in the world. And they fucking hate each other.
Jeff Zucker is guiding CNN to report negatively on every single bit of news that concerns Trump and his administration - and the other 4 outlets are following suit. This is being done collusively and intentionally. All 5 of them are 100% biased against Trump, make no mistake. They will seek out any perceived impropriety and absolutely run it in the ground and blow it completely out of proportion - whether it is warranted or not. That was what Trump was talking about when he mentioned "tone" in his press conference. And you now know what he meant when he said "The leaks are real, but the news is fake".
Trump, in his recent "attack" on the media, singled out 4 of the 5 major outlets:
He never attacked the entire free press (though all 5 of the major outlets reported it in that manner and pushed that narrative throughout the world) He specifically said that ABC, CBS, NBC, and CNN (along with @Nytimes) were the enemies of the people.
You may ask why he did not attack Fox News. The reason he didn't is this: while Fox News undeniably promotes a more favorable view of Trump, they also ridicule him as they see fit. What they don't do is disparage him 24/7 like the other 5 major outlets do.
So, how is this going to end? You guess is as good as mine. One of the two, at some point, is going to have to give. My bet is on Zucker, but we will see.
"And now you know the rest of the story. Good day."
In the basement of Oribos playing cards with fellow Ebon Knights and Cartel members.
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Originally Posted by Ransath
snip
Very informative post, thank you very much OP you spell it out pretty well. I think the one thing missing in all of this as well is how prevalent for-profit news is here in the US. Whereas "public" news is only really limited to PBS, NPR (and maybe some other small outlets I'm forgetting), every other "news" entity is privately owned and profit based. So you also have some implicit bias vis a vis generating revenue factored into all of this. Generating outrage equals generating viewership which equals more sponsorship and more money.
And remember, we can't have a government news source cause "FASCISM! SOCIALISM! WHATEVERISM" so we're forced to rely on private entities that really only care about their own profits, and not service to the American people. Very important you highlight this as well.
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Originally Posted by Ransath
