As I noted today, Morning Schmoe is kneeling in the snow outside the Pope\u2019s window begging for clemency.\u00a0 And he\u2019s just the first.\u00a0 There isn\u2019t enough money at CNN and MSNBC to employ 20% of the talentless hacks that are currently on the payroll.\u00a0 I can\u2019t imagine that Warner Bros. Discovery wants to continue paying Anderson Cooper $20 million a year for doing whatever it is he does.\u00a0 And there\u2019s no way on Earth that NBC Universal is going to pay Joy Reid anything at all for the toxic sideshow that she puts on over there.\u00a0 But the question mark is who gets to stay?<\/p>\n
Will they keep some of the marquee players to maintain the pretense that these cable channels are \u201cserious\u201d journalism?\u00a0 Or will they keep the cheapest talent and try to turn a profit that way?\u00a0 If they\u2019re smart, I think they should follow the latter course.\u00a0 Their ratings have already reached the bottom so quality is no longer a consideration.\u00a0 Cutting costs might extend the viability of these companies for a little longer.\u00a0 But what\u2019s going to happen to all of these unemployed \u201cjournalists?\u201d\u00a0 In a way CNN did a favor to Chris Cuomo and Don Lemon by letting them go first.\u00a0 They got the first chance to find jobs before the glut of their peers.\u00a0 Both of those guys probably lined up some sweet assignments with Uber and Papa Gino\u2019s.<\/p>\n
And things aren\u2019t going to be much better for the Fox News guys.\u00a0 Cable News is a dying industry.\u00a0 For the foreseeable future it will be like a giant game of musical chairs with fewer and fewer chairs to go around.\u00a0 Think of all the amazing characters that will disappear from your tv screen (well, that is if you regularly watch MSNBC and CNN.\u00a0 Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough.\u00a0 Jonathan Capehart, Chris Hayes, Rachel Maddow, Andrea Mitchell, Lawrence O’Donnell, Jen Psaki, Joy Reid, Al Sharpton, Chuck Todd, Dana Bash, Anderson Cooper, Van Jones and Jake Tapper.<\/p>\n
Look at those names.\u00a0 Irreplaceable talent.\u00a0 Almost like friends; like really, really annoying friends.\u00a0 The kind who says inappropriate things and borrow money.\u00a0 The kind who won\u2019t leave at the end of a party.\u00a0 And suddenly they\u2019ll all be gone.<\/p>\n
Well maybe I can cope with the sadness of their loss by making a game of it.\u00a0 Maybe I can start a betting pool on who goes first.\u00a0 Who cries on screen?\u00a0 Who takes the largest voluntary pay cut?\u00a0 Who has to share an office with the security staff (my money is on Lawrence O’Donnell, he looks reasonable)?\u00a0 Who goes postal (Mika)?<\/p>\n
But most interesting is which if any will make the ultimate compromise and become a conservative to try and get a job at Fox News?\u00a0 I\u2019d say the early money is on our good friend Joe Scarborough.\u00a0 After all he was a Republican congressman before having the lobotomy.\u00a0 It wouldn\u2019t take hardly any makeup to turn him into a rabid MAGA attack dog.\u00a0 And I\u2019m sure Mika could make the same transition with no real difficulty at all.\u00a0 Boy, it\u2019s good that the fourth estate is there to take care of us.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
As I noted today, Morning Schmoe is kneeling in the snow outside the Pope\u2019s window begging for clemency.\u00a0 And he\u2019s just the first.\u00a0 There isn\u2019t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,6],"tags":[4086,2042,139,4401],"class_list":["post-31299","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-events","category-trump","tag-cable-news","tag-cnn","tag-fake-news","tag-msnbc"],"yoast_head":"\n