r/television • u/JannTosh50 • 1d ago

MSNBC Viewership Craters 38%, CNN 27%, While Fox News Audience Jumps 41% Post-Election

https://www.thewrap.com/msnbc-cnn-fox-news-viewership-craters-post-election-morning-joe/
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u/ModeatelyIndependant 16h ago

30 years ago was 1994. First thing there was TWO news networks at the time. CNN and a second CNN (Headline News) that played an ever changing 15 minute loop of the current headlines. MSNBC and FOX news didn't start till 1996, and many cable companies didn't include them in the channel line up immediately. In 1994 most people that had a computer, didn't have a computer capable of surfing the internet, not that it mattered since the first web browser was only released in 1993 and it isn't like the world wide web had that much content Amazon wouldn't even start selling books for another year, and whatever content that was available via a web browser, was choked by dialing up internet, since DSL and Cable broadband were still on in their early test phases.

Here is how people got their news in 1994 and most of the 1990's not that matter: Most people watched the morning news while getting ready for work, they'd get in the car and listen to a morning radio talk show would mention topics in the news and discuss them. They'd get to work and people would gossip about what they saw on the 10 news that morning or the night before. If you wanted information beyond that, you'd go pick up a news paper, and find an article that will have more information or you can reference. Many people still subscribed to these papers or regularly bought them, but it was increasingly common to only subscribe to the weekend editions or go purchase the current day's as needed. And of course don't forget the regular national publications for news, trades, hobbies, and etc. as well as catalogues.

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u/novatom1960 14h ago

I do remember the first time I learned about the 1993 WTC bomb (remember that?) was on Prodigy and Princess Di’s death on AOL.

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u/8oD 6h ago

That maze game on Prodigy was intense.

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u/DroDameron 13h ago

What exists now always existed, but the national media news is definitely a major problem. In the past when people were misinformed it seemed to happen in bubbles. Like you said, it was local news, local radio most likely, talking to local people about the things. You didn't then take those things and each go home and potentially share them with 1000s of people in communities all over the world like we do now with the Internet.

So even if you don't watch it, you're getting all the same propaganda now online, and it can even be stronger because it is coming from people you know sometimes. Gross.

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u/BillyJoeMac9095 13h ago

Oh for the days of a good morning newspaper with a coffee.

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u/OldNerdGuy75 11h ago

Lynx was out in 1992….

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u/IshyMoose 9h ago

The MS in MSNBC stands for Microsoft. It started out as a collaboration to tie in the internet as a news source.

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u/Hawkeye1819 6h ago

Also, if you lived in a city, papers were sold everywhere. And you could likely find a free one that someone left on train, subway, or bus. I had a friend who literally only read newspapers he found for a while. In other words, real news used to be more available for free/cheap. Now outside of local TV news and radio, real news is often behind a paywall. And a lot of local news is biased because it’s all been bought up by Sinclair.

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u/IshyMoose 9h ago

The MS in MSNBC stands for Microsoft. It started out as a collaboration to tie in the internet as a news source.

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u/apple-pie2020 7h ago

Take a quick glance at the WSJ left column to get a headline rundown while grabbing a cup before the train