How would you react if you turned on The Weather Channel to see the staff talking not about weather, but rather about weather forecasters on other channels or on YouTube?
You’d probably say, “What?” Or maybe, “Whaaaaat?” Followed by, “Does that tornado watch include my area?” Or maybe, “Just give me the weather.” (Sorry, I’m guessing here; you might say, “#%&@^*^@@#$$%@&” for all I know, or WTF—“What’s the forecast?”) Point is, you don’t turn on the weather report to hear reports on weather people.
But that’s where we are today, finding ourselves inundated by reports about “reporters.” Thus, the recent shakeups at CNN, NBC, and MSNBC have become the message. Remember Marshall Mcluhan and Quentin Fiore’s The Medium Is the Message? * The shakeups have dominated the news, podcasts, social media, newspapers, and YouTube videos. **
Who Cares?
Honestly, who cares? Yeah, I feel bad that someone lost a job, but people throughout the nation have lost jobs on which they depended for their family’s well being, even for their family’s “survival.” That gajillion-dollar news people have lost their jobs is still a loss, but those firings aren’t tugging on America’s heart strings. They will make it; they'll survive unless they live extravagantly, especially since those former network stars have made more money than and live in homes much more valuable than many in their audiences combined.
And honestly, aren’t we all a bit worn out by the bickering vituperative hosts and biased reporting? As the cartoon shows, networks could just as easily and with less cost put microphones and speakers on news desks to shout prerecorded and predictable slurs and epithets at one another.
I don’t want the media to be the message. Do you? I want to know whether or not the tornado will hit my house.
*The idea preceded the co-authored book and was encapsulated in a chapter with title “The Medium Is the Message” in McLuhan’s 1964 book Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man. In Understanding Media he wrote: "The instance of the electric light may prove illuminating in this connection. The electric light is pure information. It is a medium without a message, as it were, unless it is used to spell out some verbal ad or name."[11] The light bulb is a clear demonstration of the concept of "the medium is the message": a light bulb does not have content in the way that a newspaper has articles or a television has programs, yet it is a medium that has a social effect; that is, a light bulb enables people to create spaces during nighttime that would otherwise be enveloped by darkness. He describes the light bulb as a medium without any content. McLuhan states that "a light bulb creates an environment by its mere presence".[7] Likewise, the message of a newscast about a heinous crime may be less about the individual news story itself (the content), and more about the change in public attitude towards crime that the newscast engenders by the fact that such crimes are in effect being brought into the home to watch over dinner.[12]
**MSNBC host Rachel Maddow rips own network for axing Joy Reid’s show and other ‘non-white’ hosts’ programs ; MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow Rips Her Own Network In Fiery Tirade Over Joy Reid Ouster: ‘A Bad Mistake’ at https://www.mediaite.com/tv/maddow-rips-msnbc-for-axing-joy-reid-a-bad-mistake/
Don Lemon Blasts Megyn Kelly for Rejoicing in Joy Reid's Cancellation at https://www.newsweek.com/don-lemon-megyn-kelly-joy-reid-msnbc-show-canceled-2035492
YOUTUBE: Just go to YouTube and type in “Joy Reid Cancelled” to see all the videos
https://nypost.com/2025/02/24/media/lester-holt-leaving-nbc-nightly-news-after-a-decade/
You’d probably say, “What?” Or maybe, “Whaaaaat?” Followed by, “Does that tornado watch include my area?” Or maybe, “Just give me the weather.” (Sorry, I’m guessing here; you might say, “#%&@^*^@@#$$%@&” for all I know, or WTF—“What’s the forecast?”) Point is, you don’t turn on the weather report to hear reports on weather people.
But that’s where we are today, finding ourselves inundated by reports about “reporters.” Thus, the recent shakeups at CNN, NBC, and MSNBC have become the message. Remember Marshall Mcluhan and Quentin Fiore’s The Medium Is the Message? * The shakeups have dominated the news, podcasts, social media, newspapers, and YouTube videos. **
Who Cares?
Honestly, who cares? Yeah, I feel bad that someone lost a job, but people throughout the nation have lost jobs on which they depended for their family’s well being, even for their family’s “survival.” That gajillion-dollar news people have lost their jobs is still a loss, but those firings aren’t tugging on America’s heart strings. They will make it; they'll survive unless they live extravagantly, especially since those former network stars have made more money than and live in homes much more valuable than many in their audiences combined.
And honestly, aren’t we all a bit worn out by the bickering vituperative hosts and biased reporting? As the cartoon shows, networks could just as easily and with less cost put microphones and speakers on news desks to shout prerecorded and predictable slurs and epithets at one another.
I don’t want the media to be the message. Do you? I want to know whether or not the tornado will hit my house.
*The idea preceded the co-authored book and was encapsulated in a chapter with title “The Medium Is the Message” in McLuhan’s 1964 book Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man. In Understanding Media he wrote: "The instance of the electric light may prove illuminating in this connection. The electric light is pure information. It is a medium without a message, as it were, unless it is used to spell out some verbal ad or name."[11] The light bulb is a clear demonstration of the concept of "the medium is the message": a light bulb does not have content in the way that a newspaper has articles or a television has programs, yet it is a medium that has a social effect; that is, a light bulb enables people to create spaces during nighttime that would otherwise be enveloped by darkness. He describes the light bulb as a medium without any content. McLuhan states that "a light bulb creates an environment by its mere presence".[7] Likewise, the message of a newscast about a heinous crime may be less about the individual news story itself (the content), and more about the change in public attitude towards crime that the newscast engenders by the fact that such crimes are in effect being brought into the home to watch over dinner.[12]
**MSNBC host Rachel Maddow rips own network for axing Joy Reid’s show and other ‘non-white’ hosts’ programs ; MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow Rips Her Own Network In Fiery Tirade Over Joy Reid Ouster: ‘A Bad Mistake’ at https://www.mediaite.com/tv/maddow-rips-msnbc-for-axing-joy-reid-a-bad-mistake/
Don Lemon Blasts Megyn Kelly for Rejoicing in Joy Reid's Cancellation at https://www.newsweek.com/don-lemon-megyn-kelly-joy-reid-msnbc-show-canceled-2035492
YOUTUBE: Just go to YouTube and type in “Joy Reid Cancelled” to see all the videos
https://nypost.com/2025/02/24/media/lester-holt-leaving-nbc-nightly-news-after-a-decade/
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