Reality bites the leftist media with shake-ups, layoffs amid decline

1 month ago 28

If the state of the legacy media arsenic 2025 begins was enactment to music, the lone due soundtrack is the iconic taxable from “Jaws.” 

There’s humor successful the journalistic water, and viewers and readers are fleeing the aforesaid mode beachgoers did connected Amity Island the infinitesimal they saw that ominous fin emerging from the sea.

Underscoring that visual, this week we’ve seen MSNBC President Rashida Jones moving for the exit and The Washington Post making adjacent much cuts to a unit that has shrunk almost arsenic accelerated arsenic its subscription base. 

That newspaper’s regular online postulation starring up to the 2024 predetermination hovered anyplace from 2.5 cardinal to 3 cardinal regular users, according to interior information reported by Semafor. 

Context: In January 2021, the WaPo website had 22.5 cardinal regular progressive users. 

Result: In conscionable a four-year span of perpetually robust and chaotic quality cycles, it’s mislaid 85 to 90% of its assemblage — and suffered 2 consecutive years of $100 million-plus successful losses.

About 100 jobs were slashed past week, and salient reporters and columnists are fleeing the insubstantial en masse. 

Owner Jeff Bezos seems to recognize 1 large crushed why each this is happening

“The Washington Post and The New York Times triumph prizes, but progressively we speech lone to a definite elite. More and more, we speech to ourselves,” helium wrote.

But staffers are blaming Bezos for the messiness they’re in. 

“We are profoundly alarmed by caller enactment decisions that person led readers to question the integrity of this institution, breached with a contented of transparency and prompted immoderate of our astir distinguished colleagues to leave,” reads a petition signed by 400 WaPo “journalists.”

This is insane: Without Bezos keeping the insubstantial afloat portion losing hundreds of millions of dollars, these radical would beryllium connected the street.

And arsenic for those “distinguished colleagues,” 1 who flounced retired the doorway this week was unhinged columnist Jennifer Rubin, who virtually argued aft the statesmanlike predetermination that Trump and Republicans “want to termination children.” 

At MSNBC, which mightiness arsenic good beryllium called M-E-S-S-NBC, things are nary better.

Ratings are successful a seemingly irreversible slide.

This past Monday, for example: As Jones tendered her resignation aft 4 years astatine the helm, the web averaged conscionable 631,000 viewers.

In the cardinal 25-54 demographic, which dictates advertisement sales, viewership sank to conscionable 53,000, according to Nielsen.  

Context: 631,000 full viewers is decidedly little than the full colonisation of El Paso, Tex. (678,915). And 53,000 viewers successful the demo hardly beats the capableness of Yankee Stadium (52,325).

This is simply a web that’s successful much than 80 cardinal homes. 

So what’s MSNBC’s solution? 

More Rachel Maddow! 

Yep.

The channel, which is specified a leftist echo enclosure that it can’t adjacent bring itself to enactment one pro-Trump dependable connected the air, is quadrupling down connected its astir blindly partisan host.

Maddow volition present spell backmost to doing what mean Americans bash and really work 5 days a week, aft shrinking her docket to a once-weekly amusement backmost successful 2022.

Viewers tin expect plentifulness of anti-Trump hyperbole-on-steroids and never-ending monologues from the 9 p.m. host, who is presently finishing a distant 2nd to Fox’s Sean Hannity. 

Meanwhile, implicit connected CNN, blimpish Scott Jennings has been the lone expert connected the web making headlines these days.

Oftentimes, it’s erstwhile George W. Bush adjutant Jennings versus 3 oregon 4 hysterical liberals successful a sheet statement — which helium seems to triumph each clip with his pointed candor and crisp Kentuckian wit. 

The astute happening for CNN to do, of course, would beryllium to grant Jennings his ain show.

Its primetime lineup is simply a wreck, with the web struggling to mean 300,000 viewers from 8 p.m. to 11 p.m.

More context: 300,000 viewers is about 100,000 fewer than the full colonisation of Wichita, Kan. 

In comparison, Fox News averaged 2.4 cardinal viewers successful primetime successful 2024, eight times CNN’s existent audience. 

But awarding a blimpish a afloat amusement would simply not beryllium tolerated by different CNN hosts.

Precedent: CNN tried to pivot to the halfway nether then-president Chris Licht successful 2023, including (gasp!) a web municipality hallway for campaigner Donald Trump.

The inmates revolted, and Licht was retired not agelong after.

The move-to-the-center experiment failed because, contempt the wishes of immoderate executives, CNN’s on-air hosts and reporters person nary involvement successful nonsubjective reporting and analysis. 

Therein lies the problem: Not dissimilar successful politics, thing changes until enactment changes.

California volition proceed to rapidly diminution nether a showman similar Gavin Newsom, who is each bubbles and nary bath.

Same with New York and Kathy Hochul. 

And arsenic Trump returns to the White House, The Washington Post, CNN, MSNBC and astir bequest media are each successful the aforesaid vessel . . . 1 that’s sinking accelerated successful shark-infested waters. 

Joe Concha is simply a Fox News contributor and writer of the upcoming publication “The Greatest Comeback Ever: Inside Trump’s Big Beautiful Campaign.”

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