The Ignored Majority

This past weekend was not dull.

Between The Atlantic's explosive 15,000-word essay on CNN's Chris Licht on Friday and Chuck Todd's announcement that he will be leaving Meet The Press at the end of this summer, it has been quite the 48-hour whirlwind when it comes to American broadcast media. With both stories falling on the precipice of what will likely be a summer filled with historic news as it relates to TFG, the fact that both CNN and MSNBC are struggling to identify their intended audience should be unnerving to us all. Because as we have seen over the past 8 years, both networks have been seeking an identity in a world where news media viewership is largely dominated by conservatives and conservative talking points. At a time when Fox News consistently wins the ratings battle, the question has become what the alternative is for those of us passionately committed to the Democratic Party and democratic values. Will there ever truly be a "left" version of Fox News? Or are CNN and MSNBC going to continue their rightward lurch in their ill-fated quest to appeal to both sides while offending none? 

This past weekend's dual events should be a clear indicator that both networks do not have their pulse on the American people. The fact that Licht was shocked by the reaction to the Trump CNN Town Hall shows how out of touch he is with the CNN viewing audience. Believe it or not, the 81.2 million of us who gleefully voted against Donald Trump don't want him to have another 18 months of free airtime to spout his lies, vitriol, and bigotry and to be allowed to present these views with little to no challenge in front of a hand-picked and sympathetic audience. Licht's argument was that Trump is a political candidate and therefore such a town hall event was important for the viewing audience. However, we all know that CNN won't afford Joe Biden that same opportunity with a hand-picked Democratic audience, making his argument moot. Licht, who said in The Atlantic piece that he would ignore Trump this time around completely went back on his word with the town hall event and even went so far as to pull the chyron when the question came up about Trump's sexual abuse. As one commentator shared, this wasn't a town hall, it was a Trump infomercial. And with zero meaningful pushback, a raucous audience, and Trump mocking CNN the whole time, the event went entirely as anyone not named Chris Licht could have predicted. The fact that Licht was handing over business responsibilities mere hours after The Atlantic piece came out shows how little support he has left at the network after selling his soul to the Man In Orange.

Flash forward to Sunday morning when Chuck Todd announced that he would end his eight-year reign of apathy and step down as host of Meet The Press in September. Todd has been consistently overmatched and underprepared for his new role since taking over from David Gregory in 2014 so the announcement was a welcome relief to those of us who came to see Todd as emblematic of the center lunge of MSNBC over the years. Todd refused to challenge his Republican guests on obvious falsehoods and let them get away with sidestepping and pivoting on questions with no follow-up on his end. It got to become such blatant journalistic malpractice that it even made its way to the White House Correspondents' Dinner in 2022 when Trevor Noah made a joke about it. The Sunday morning staple program that had been hard-hitting in the day of Gregory, and previous to him Tim Russert, had now become a running gag because Todd would rather play nice with Republicans rather than challenge them directly. While Todd's departure is welcome news, his replacement Kristin Welker is notorious for both-siding political issues and it appears that MSNBC has once again continued his lurch toward the center to try and compete with Fox News and other hardline rightwing networks for viewers.

We need a free and fair press in this country. All functioning democracies do. But we cannot sacrifice the truth for concern of alienating viewers who don't agree with that truth. This is what both CNN and MSNBC have failed to realize. The 81.2 million of us who voted for Joe Biden value truth. We value acknowledging the results of the 2020 presidential election. We value the assertion that January 6th was a planned and coordinated domestic terrorist attack against the Capitol. We value the experience of Joe Biden and are tired of seeing his age weaponized against him. We value Kamala Harris' groundbreaking vice-presidency and are tired of the intentional erasure of her and her accomplishments. And we value those with the Democratic Party who put their heads down and grind out the work and do their jobs by legislating rather than those who are full of sound and fury with zero legislative accomplishments in their name. 

Truly, we don't ask for much. But since we are the ignored majority, both CNN and MSNBC simply can't fathom that we exist. Yet we are the audience they should have. We're informed. We're engaged. We're passionate. We check political blogs on the weekends. We would like nothing more than to tune in to these networks to see discussions with Rep. Lauren Underwood, Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland, and Senator Tammy Duckworth. We'd love to hear legal experts and their conversations about President Joe Biden's historic appointments of federal judges. We'd love to hear young students of color talk about what it means to see Kamala Harris as the country's first Black vice president. We'd love to have a weekly segment for millennial and xenial legislators to discuss the importance of civic engagement. All of this could easily be done if network executives were to get outside their bubbles and talk to the American people. 

However, this is easier said than done. While there is a built-in audience of 81.2 million of us just waiting to be seen and heard, what this weekend taught us is that network executives refuse to learn. They continue to chase the white whale that is the conservative voter for fear of being overtly partisan. Yet being overtly partisan is exactly how Fox News came to dominate the airwaves. Their viewers are locked in. The more extreme ones are locked in at OANN and Newsmax. And because Trump has poisoned the well against CNN and MSNBC there are few, if any, Republicans who would ever consider watching either network. It is a fool's errand to chase these viewers and in doing so both CNN and MSNBC and their lurch to the right have alienated those of us that should be watching them each and every day. They are missing out on who should be their target audience. All to give the appearance of being non-partisan or at least not as overtly liberal as they could be. 

We seek the truth. And the truth today is that the Republican Party is a threat to domestic and international peace and tranquility. We need a network that acknowledges the rising threat of right-wing fascism. This is not partisan, this is a fact. You cannot both sides this movement. Not when Nazis are marching in the street. Not when books are being censored. Not when transgender women and men are being targeted. Not when a significant number of Republicans including the party's standard bearer refuse to acknowledge the results of a free and fair election. We don't need people who support these views to be given a free platform where they can spout off their lies without pushback. We need a media organization that understands this and refuses to grant them airtime rather than kowtowing for fear of offending them. Then, and only then, will viewers like us start to reengage. 

Until that time, CNN and MSNBC will continue their downward spiral.   

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