Long, long ago in a reality far, far happier, there were things called newspapers and something called radio and something else called television.\u00a0 Each of these was part of mass communication.\u00a0 And each had its own mode of operation.\u00a0 One of the most important considerations in all these media companies was the business model.\u00a0 In other words, how did the newspaper or radio station or television network earn enough money to pay for all of the costs incurred in publishing a newspaper or running a radio or television station and also produce a profit.<\/p>\n
And for the most part, advertising was the principal source of income.\u00a0 For the most part, businesses paid money for ads in the newspaper or commercials during the air time of broadcasts.\u00a0 And this system worked remarkably well to keep these media businesses profitable and stable.<\/p>\n
But in the 1990s the internet started growing from humble beginnings to its present ubiquitous position.\u00a0 And one thing its existence did was divert all of the advertising revenue that the newspapers and other media companies formerly collected, into the hands of a few large internet companies.\u00a0 Specifically, Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Facebook and X currently capture the lion\u2019s share of this revenue.\u00a0 And the result of this shift has been the impoverishment of most of the newspapers in the United States.\u00a0 Even the ones that aren\u2019t teetering on the verge of bankruptcy are just pale ghosts of their former selves.\u00a0 The network television companies, ABC, NBC and CBS are slightly better off but aren\u2019t looking very healthy either.<\/p>\n
And the second way that the internet is endangering these media companies (including the cable television stations) is by providing competition for their viewers.\u00a0 Netflix and Amazon and others provide streaming services that compete with both the news and entertainment programming that these stations provide.\u00a0 And with respect to the news programming, the dishonesty and bias of the media news shows over the last few decades has alienated about half of the viewing public.<\/p>\n
Throw this loss of audience due to distrust on top of the loss of advertising revenues due to the internet and what you get are companies like CNN and MSNBC that no longer have a viable business model.\u00a0 When customers cut the cable because they don\u2019t want the cable revenues going to people they hate, then the paying audience shrinks.\u00a0 And if the shrinking audience scares off the little advertising they have left, then what you\u2019re looking at is a death spiral for these cable news companies.<\/p>\n
They\u2019ve tried to mimic the streaming services and fill the gap with subscriptions.\u00a0 But even delusional cable news executives have learned that no one is paying a monthly fee to see more Joy Reid and Andrea Mitchell.\u00a0 That\u2019s just not in the cards.\u00a0 So, if you are Comcast or Warner Brothers-Discover what would you do with these dying companies?\u00a0 Currently they say they are looking for buyers to unload them on.\u00a0 To me that seems far-fetched.\u00a0 Only an idiot would look at MSNBC and say, \u201cYes, I want to own this.\u00a0 I know I can make lots of money by putting these people on tv.\u201d<\/p>\n
So, what they will do is set up a subsidiary that is made up entirely of these unwatchable channels.\u00a0 And then they\u2019ll let them sink or swim on their own revenue.\u00a0 And they will sink.\u00a0 And that will be the end of it.\u00a0 The big question is will there be any cable news channels left at all.\u00a0 Even though Fox News is doing better than their leftist competition they\u2019re not as healthy as they once were.\u00a0 It may be that cable news is no longer a viable product.\u00a0 And we\u2019ll find that out too.\u00a0 Personally, I\u2019d prefer to pay for subscriptions to sources that I like; whether they\u2019re individuals or companies.\u00a0 And it seems that the shake-out will soon clarify who and what will survive the current media meltdown.\u00a0 One thing is for sure.\u00a0 The next presidential election will have to happen without the help of Joy Reid and Dana Bash.\u00a0 They\u2019ll be working in the retail food industry and too busy at the fryolator to opine on politics.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Long, long ago in a reality far, far happier, there were things called newspapers and something called radio and something else called television.\u00a0 Each of<\/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],"tags":[139,3732],"class_list":["post-31301","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-events","tag-fake-news","tag-leftist-media-being-dismantled"],"yoast_head":"\n