In an interview to appear in the February issue of Esquire, former President Bill Clinton said that MSNBC "has become our version of Fox."
He also said that the Internet has led to the breakup of the so-called mainstream media, leading to less reporting and "more divisive public discourse":
I also think that the diffusion of the media has complicated things. For example, I was just watching — I don't know if you heard what I said in the other room — I was just watching MSNBC, and they had a woman that used to work for me and a couple of other people on there, and they were talking about the Republican primary. And I was laughing. I said, "Boy, it really has become our version of Fox." And I say that because think of the economics of running cable channels. Suppose you and I bought a cable channel, and he [pointing] bought another. You know that to make a living out of it, you've got to get about eight hundred thousand viewers for all your major programs. So you can get eight hundred thousand, and you won't be as wealthy as Fox, but you'll do okay. And now if you get a slice that's that small and still viable — and you know it's not like when we just had NBC, CBS, and ABC. That's all there was. Everybody had enough market share that they knew would guarantee some comfortable level of profit. And yet there was enough competition that everybody could keep each other honest, and when the Vietnam War came along, they could send fifty-five-year-old reporters to Vietnam for extended stays. They could afford to have correspondents in Europe to report. Correspondents in Asia. All that's changed now. And so the good news is you can get a lot of information off the Internet for free and in a hurry. But I think the breaking up of the media, which is otherwise kind of healthy, has contributed to less actual reporting and a louder, more contentious, more divisive public discourse, highlighting conflict, sometimes falsely.
Don Irvine wrote at Accuracy in Media:
MSNBC does provide a clear alternative for liberals to Fox News, especially when compared to CNN, but since making that commitment to the liberal cause they have struggled to achieve even a fraction of the success that Fox has had. And that isn’t likely to change any time soon, even with Clintons’ endorsement.
Hot Air's Tina Korbe wrote:
If by “our version of Fox,” Bill Clinton means MSNBC is a less-trusted, lower-rated, liberal attempt to emulate the Fox business model, then he’s right. But if he means to suggest that MSNBC filled a gaping hole in the media as Fox did, then he’s wrong. With its innovative consumer-targeted programming, Fox told a story that the networks didn’t tell. The Fox news crews provided information that wasn’t readily available elsewhere.
Newsbusters' Noel Sheppard notes, however, that Fox "isn't nearly to the right as MSNBC is to the left."
He notes the distinct contrast between the two networks:
In extended weekday primetime, MSNBC viewers are treated to six straight hours of perilously liberal discourse from perilously liberal anchors very often without any Republican or conservative voices offering counterpoint.
By contrast, during those same six hours, Fox viewers are treated to the extremely fair and balanced Special Report with Bret Baier, Fox Report with Shepard Smith, and On the Record with Greta Van Susteren.With the departure of Glenn Beck, the only hardcore conservative in Fox's extended primetime lineup is Sean Hannity who has at least one liberal guest on his show every night.Despite his right-of-center leanings, Bill O'Reilly could hardly be called a right-wing ideologue as his program features almost as many liberal guests as conservatives.
"Unlike some MSNBC personalities who feign objectivity, Fox talk show hosts are pretty transparent about their biases. I argue that that 'owning of bias' is really the way to go," Korbe wrote.
There is one other distinct difference.
MSNBC, populated with personalities like Chris Matthews and Rachel Maddow, spews so much vitriol that it can drive a normally sane individual over the edge.
In September of 2010, a Florida man was sentenced to 27 months for threatening a Republican Congresswoman. His defense? "I very often watch the recycled news shows on MSNBC," he told the judge at his sentencing.
It proves, yet again, that there is a Democrat-media complex. And it will do everything it can to get Barack Obama re-elected in November.
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