Is Progressive Journalism On Its Last Legs?

And the consequences are already showing up. It was reported this week that Rachel Maddow just took a substantial annual pay cut because of the uncertain future of the network.

In part, this probably reflects a belt-tightening at Comcast but is also an indication of how legacy media—which now includes cable properties—are taking a hit from newer digital media, from social media to podcasts to web-based networks and programs.

The principal analyst and VP of content for the market research company eMarketer, Paul Verna, told the AP that:

“The writing is on the wall that the cable TV business is a dwindling business,” and, the AP noted, is “predicting future consolidation of the networks or acquisitions through private equity.”

Private equity (like Bain Capital) and large media operation acquisitions have a long history of gutting media properties to increase their profitability; often this includes what a study by Stanford University researchers described as a trend to “substitute coverage of local politics for coverage of national politics, and use more conservative framing.”