Quick Questions

by dday

How exactly does Dan Abrams, the general manager of MSNBC, get away with using the phrase “inside DC media” and keeping himself outside of it?

Also, how does he get away with running a “Beat the Press” segment where he criticizes media foolishness on every channel but the one he runs?

I’m somewhat sympathetic to his arguments on occasion, but how can the head of one of the few national cable networks in America pretend to be a figure outside the media?

…OK, so apparently (h/t bmaz), Abrams resigned from the position of general manager last October. Of course, MSNBC personalities were pushing the same sorts of narratives at that time, and you’d think Abrams, rather than criticizing the amorphous “DC media” about it, could have, I don’t know, held a staff meeting.

I guess my larger point is that, when so many broadcasters who host their own shows take on that “independent, anti-establishment” persona, it kind of feels like when all those radio stations switched to “alternative music” circa 1994. Kind of destroys the definition.

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