April is feeling pretty gloomy at MSNBC, in particular, their worshipped “Morning Joe,” which has fallen to third place for the second straight month.
A report by NYT’s Bill Carter reported the findings, calling April a “cruel month” for MSNBC. As always, he reports, FNC’s “Fox & Friends” is king of the morning cable programs.
As much as late night comedians and Washington journalists mock the missing Malaysian plane coverage, it’s clearly giving CNN a boost in ratings. The numbers are telling — since the coverage began in mid March, “New Day” clobbered “Morning Joe” 25 days to eight days respectively.
Despite the fallen ratings, MSNBC spokeswoman Lauren Skowronski said there is no plan to change the “editorial approach.” This is amusing: She says they want to stay “on brand.” Seriously?
Here’s a idea: How about borrowing “Meet the Press” host David Gregory‘s “psychological” so-called branding consultant? (NBC adamantly insists there was nothing “psychological” about the consultant, although the individual hired did interview Gregory’s wife and friends to find out why he and the show are failing.) Or this: Take advantage of branding expert Donny Deutsch, who they openly ridicule whenever he comes on the show.