Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
By Advocating for the Middle Class, Ed Schultz Finds Broadcast Success Rare for Liberals
By Advocating for the Middle Class, Ed Schultz Finds Broadcast Success Rare for Liberals
By championing the working man and boldly standing up for the middle class and the unemployed, Ed Schultz has managed to find success where Progressives often fail. The Ed Show on MSNBC has grabbed ratings reserved for conservatives, and it's done so because Schultz gives a voice to the people yearning to be heard.
As the Los Angeles Times reports, it's not easy for liberals to make it like Schultz has:
Liberal radio network Air America filed for bankruptcy twice during the six years it was in operation and closed shop in 2010. Before that, there was Democracy Radio, which folded in 2004. Current TV has been struggling for six years, even after snapping up anchor Keith Olbermann from MSNBC last year.
Part of the problem is that corporate advertisers are leery of buying space on liberal broadcasts that often attack corporate interests, noted Jeff Cohen, an associate professor of journalism at Ithaca College. In 2006, a leaked internal memo from ABC Radio Networks revealed a list of corporations that requested their commercials never be placed on Air America.
Good ratings will lead to advertising dollars — the left-leaning and highly successful"Daily Show"and "Colbert Report" are proof of that, said Kathleen Hall Jamieson, director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania.
But those shows appeal to younger liberal viewers with their sarcastic senses of humor, she noted; a broadcast rooted in a more conventional discussion of liberal views is a harder sell. ...............(more)
Part of the problem is that corporate advertisers are leery of buying space on liberal broadcasts that often attack corporate interests, noted Jeff Cohen, an associate professor of journalism at Ithaca College. In 2006, a leaked internal memo from ABC Radio Networks revealed a list of corporations that requested their commercials never be placed on Air America.
Good ratings will lead to advertising dollars — the left-leaning and highly successful"Daily Show"and "Colbert Report" are proof of that, said Kathleen Hall Jamieson, director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania.
But those shows appeal to younger liberal viewers with their sarcastic senses of humor, she noted; a broadcast rooted in a more conventional discussion of liberal views is a harder sell. ...............(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.alternet.org/newsandviews/article/794286/by_advocating_for_the_middle_class%2C_ed_schultz_finds_broadcast_success_rare_for_liberals/
2 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
= new reply since forum marked as read
