We’ve noted that the Media Research Center is not exactly known for its civility. That was demonstrated again in an Aug. 18 post by Curtis Houck with the sneering headline “MSNBC Is Set to Change Its Name. It’s as Dumb as You Could Have Imagined.”:
On Monday morning, MSNBC and new parent company Versant — consisting of seven cable channels being spun off by Comcast’s NBCUniversal — announced after what must have been pallets of cash spent on consultants that they would change their name later this year to MS NOW, an acronym for My Source for News Opinion World. So, no, it won’t be MSDNC.
Versant chief executive Mark Lazarus explained in a company memo and a Wall Street Journal interview the change was likely given its split from NBCUniversal, but was exacerbated when they were all but told they couldn’t keep the NBC part of their peacock logo.
Houck did not explain what, exactly was “dumb” about the name change given that a change was forced upon the channel with the spinoff, but that didn’t keep him from baselessly declaring that “This has to be their dumbest branding move since that comical ‘Lean Forward’ slogan campaign.” The rest of his post was mostly copy-and-paste social media posts from his right-wing buddies mocking the change.
The next day, Houck took glee — under the mocking headline “Womp, Womp” — in reports that MSNBC workers are unhappy about the name change because they were initially told the channel could remain MSNBC:
Filling in Monday night for boss Oliver Darcy at the far-left newsletter site Status, Jon Passantino threw a pity party for his friends at MSNBC by revealing the mockery and hilarity over its impending name change to MS-NOW has left them feeling as blue as their partisan stripes.
Passantino gave away the game in the headline and subhead: “Plucking MSNBC’s Feathers; After nearly 30 years, MSNBC is dropping its name to become MS NOW—a rebrand that sparked tension with NBCU and weeks of behind-the-scenes debate.”
He explained that the real, behind-the-scenes reactions to the name change was far different from the forced excitement on Monday’s Morning Joe, explaining “the decision to change MSNBC’s name after nearly 30 years on the air was not initially met with the same excitement” and most notably because it was seen as a broken promise by executives.
Houck concluded with more sneering: “One is supposed to presume more mockery will ensue once MS-NOW enacts a marketing push.”
Yeah, not terribly civil. Makes the MRC’s demand for civility (from others) after the death of Charlie Kirk look even more hollow.