Ernie : One thing I can count on from an Apple marketeer is 100% objective analysis of Bill Gates and Microsoft. Well, OK, I have my issues with MS also, but setting that aside, I do remember, vaguely or not, the launch of MSNBC, and at the time the expressed ambition was to make the network an industry leader. Now look at it, a laughing stock. I passed along a study some months ago, maybe a year or more ago, about how MSNBC had gone from a Fox-like mix, but reversed ( 65 - 35 L instead of R ) to what it is now, 90-10 Bolshevik, and ratings in the tank. Back in the beginning MSNBC , while still lagging, was nonetheless competitive. Why did the network allow its ratings to slide so horribly ? Why, too, has Gates been so unconcerned ? After all, if you or I or most of us, had our very own TV channel, would we let it fall apart ? Would anyone ? Well, "religion" can cloud one's judgement. Look at the 3 major networks, each headed by true believers in The Holy Church of Political Correctness, and their slides keep on keepin' on, no end in sight. So that seems to explain part of it. But what about rational market theory ? The irrationality at CBS, NBC, ABC, MSNBC, and also ( but not as bad ) CNN persists, year after year. Where is the correction ? What does this say about rational market theory ? Billy ======================================================= In a message dated 9/28/2010 1:01:43 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time, [email protected] writes:
Hi Billy, On Sep 28, 2010, at 12:15 PM, [email protected]_ (mailto:[email protected]) wrote: Question : Is Bill Gates so completely off his rocker, or so completely now devoted to becoming the next Mother Theresa, that he simply doesn't care what happens at MSNBC ? For someone who once was cozy with Newt, how could Gates have let his TV network self-destruct by becoming a Left-wing looney-bin channel ? Just thought I'd ask Billy Um, what made you think Bill Gates ever cared about MSNBC? It was a weird business deal that let them use the name, nothing that Microsoft ever had a major stake in. I could point out that Microsoft has never really cared about what products their name appeared on, or that Bill Gates doesn't even care that Microsoft itself is self-destructting, but that would be rude. :-) E ========================================================= posted on Hot Air Sept 27 More people are getting their news about the upcoming election from cable television than any other source, and from Fox News more than any other cable channel, according to a _POLITICO/George Washington University Battleground Poll_ (http://www.politico.com/polls/politico-george-washington-university-battleground-poll.html) released Monday. The poll found that 81 percent of those polled get their news about the midterm elections from cable channels, like Fox News, CNN, MSNBC, or their websites, compared with 71 percent from national network news channels, such as ABC, NBC or CBS, and their websites. Among cable news channels, Fox was the clear winner, with 42 percent of respondents saying it is their main source, compared with 30 percent who cited CNN and 12 percent who rely on MSNBC. How did it get to this state? After all, NBC had a long history in television news, starting decades before CNN and even longer than Fox. Its partnership with Microsoft should have given the cable news network a distinct advantage in the New Media world. Their roster of news anchors, present and future, should have immediately challenged CNN for primacy and marginalized Fox, who [ which ] may have had cash but relatively fewer newsgathering resources in the US when it launched. Under the direction of GE’s Jeff Immelt, though, NBC’s cable network went for the full-insane demographic. Fox took CNN’s talking-head format and simply reversed the bias, although Fox rightly argues that it presents more opposing viewpoints than CNN did as part of their establishment talent and not just occasional guests and party spinmeisters. NBC decided to emulate Air America with its cable lineup instead, perhaps seeing some opportunity in the last Bush term to capitalize on his unpopularity and become a center of opposition opinion. Rather than accomplish that, the decision by NBC and its parent GE has not just destroyed MSNBC’s credibility but also NBC’s as well. With the exception of Joe Scarborough, who is hard to pigeonhole but certainly isn’t a hard-Left hysteric, the entire lineup is exactly what one would find on the failed libtalker radio network. It’s no coincidence that two of its featured hosts come straight out of Air America, Rachel Maddow and Ed Schultz. Maddow has, at least, produced a watchable show, albeit with a hard-Left tilt that clearly is out of touch with the mainstream, but Schultz is barely coherent. Top that off with a daily “news” broadcast from Keith Olbermann that almost literally consists of a Two Minute Hate (Olbermann’s WPIW lists), and it’s a recipe for the kind of disaster that only political hacks could love. The wonder is that GE and NBC apparently seem content to alienate 88% of the viewing audience with its trainwreck theater. -- Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community <[email protected]_ (mailto:[email protected]) > Google Group: _http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism_ (http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism) Radical Centrism website and blog: _http://RadicalCentrism.org_ (http://radicalcentrism.org/) -- Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community <[email protected]> Google Group: _http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism_ (http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism) Radical Centrism website and blog: _http://RadicalCentrism.org_ (http://radicalcentrism.org/) -- Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community <[email protected]> Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism Radical Centrism website and blog: http://RadicalCentrism.org
