MSNBC's Answer To "Fair And Balanced": "Lean Forward"

[DToTheJ]

MSNBC is unveiling a new ad campaign that is scheduled to run well into 2013.

The cable news network will be pushing the new slogan, "Lean Forward." (MSNBC will still retain its current "the place for politics" moniker in some instances.)

TV commercials have been directed by noted fillmaker Spike Lee. There will also be a print ad campaign, as well as bus and subway ads.

More info:
http://www.mediaite.com/online/msnb...ward-the-biggest-campaign-in-network-history/

 

[oldiesfan6479]

MSNBC...The cable news network will be pushing the new slogan, "Lean Forward."

They goofed. Should have been "Lean Leftward."

 

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

MSNBC...The cable news network will be pushing the new slogan, "Lean Forward."

They goofed. Should have been "Lean Leftward."

And they would say to you: "What's the difference? Leaning Forward, Leaning Left... they are synonyms are they not?" ;D

 

[quadraphonic]

This probably came out of an HR retreat slogan contest first.

 

[LKellerIII]

Sounds like what your doctor says before he sticks his stethoscope on your back. Then he asks you to cough.

 

[Laurence Glavin]

I don't care what slogan they employ, buy MSNBC has to end those "Predator" and prison docs and go news 24/7.

 

[DToTheJ]

I've read a quote from the network president that the "doc blocks" on MSNBC are not only attracting viewers, but profitable. So I don't think they'll be going away for awhile.

 

[The Voice of Reason]

"Bend Over" would have been more of an appropriate slogan.

I don't even bother to watch MSNBC anymore. Madcow and Uberman have the right to their opinions, but I'm sick of newscasters like Contessa Brewer brow-beating anyone who doesn't agree with her political agenda.

FOX isn't any better with their cast of neanderthals like O'Wrongly and Hamity.

As for CNN; well that once was a news network that actually offered just news. Then the consultants from Hollywood took over and the rest is history. It will be interesting to see how long Piers Morgan lasts after Larry King goes to the nursing home.

 

[BlueWanderer]

But if you lean forward too much you fall out of your chair.

Seriously though, this slogan is stupid. Call it "the place for liberals" and be done with it.

 

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

But if you lean forward too much you fall out of your chair.

Seriously though, this slogan is stupid. Call it "the place for liberals" and be done with it.

In theory your suggestion is sound, particularly as seen by people who are not rabid participants in the political in-fighting of the day.

The Left faces a real dilemma of language today. Conservatives have no reservation about wrapping themselves in that word, that name. But since the days of WWII the word Liberal has been paired with the words Communism and Socialism in this country by the Conservatives. Today the Liberals face this decision: Do we spend all our energy pointing out to people that the word Liberal has worthwhile values and must be returned to respectability, or do you abandon the term and create a whole new terminology. "Leaning Forward" probably isn't a viable candidate as a replacement terminology, but maybe it will lead to some useful conversation that eventually will consolidate the Left in decided what word is worthy for the purpose.

 

[BlueWanderer]

The Left faces a real dilemma of language today....

Wouldn't "The Place for Progressives" be a better slogan then since liberal seems to be a dirty word?

 

[gr8oldies]

Doesn't "progressive" have the same connotation? Makes me think of the cold war and of the "progression" toward the "inevitable" march toward socialism and communism.

 

[LKellerIII]

Doesn't "progressive" have the same connotation? Makes me think of the cold war and of the "progression" toward the "inevitable" march toward socialism and communism.

The dictionary defintion of "progressive" is one who favors or promotes progress. As late as the 1960s, a "progressive" was someone who was in favor of forward-thinking policies, but was not a radical leftist. Going back to the dawn of the 20th Century, the label "progressive" was applied to Teddy Roosevelt. In fact, I believe he was one of the founders of the Progressive Party, that broke away from the Republicans. They favored the establishment of social security, income taxes, and a health-care system, so they could have fairly been called "liberal."

More recently - unfortunately - the word "progressive" has been co-opted as a label by the far-left. Where I live, in San Francisco, the "progressive" politicians (in my opinion) are the ones who work against the interests of the many (liberals, included) to help those in the lower economic rungs of society - particularly the homeless. To me, this is the antithesis of the literal meaning of "progressive."

Those of you from other parts of the country may consider our Mayor (Gavin Newsom) very liberal. The "progressives" here hate him, and consider him a conservative, and a tool of big business.

So personally, I don't think the label fits MSNBC's programming, though "liberal" probably does.

 

[justpassingthough]

Doesn't "progressive" have the same connotation? Makes me think of the cold war and of the "progression" toward the "inevitable" march toward socialism and communism.

The dictionary defintion of "progressive" is one who favors or promotes progress. As late as the 1960s, a "progressive" was someone who was in favor of forward-thinking policies, but was not a radical leftist. Going back to the dawn of the 20th Century, the label "progressive" was applied to Teddy Roosevelt. In fact, I believe he was one of the founders of the Progressive Party, that broke away from the Republicans. They favored the establishment of social security, income taxes, and a health-care system, so they could have fairly been called "liberal."

More recently - unfortunately - the word "progressive" has been co-opted as a label by the far-left. Where I live, in San Francisco, the "progressive" politicians (in my opinion) are the ones who work against the interests of the many (liberals, included) to help those in the lower economic rungs of society - particularly the homeless. To me, this is the antithesis of the literal meaning of "progressive."

Those of you from other parts of the country may consider our Mayor (Gavin Newsom) very liberal. The "progressives" here hate him, and consider him a conservative, and a tool of big business.

So personally, I don't think the label fits MSNBC's programming, though "liberal" probably does.

I live in Los Angeles, and I think even though we are only 500 miles apart, "Progressive" has less of a connotation than it has in the Bay Area. I assume it has even fewer connotations as you travel inland (you know, to the "real" America)

After the Whitman- Brown debate last night, the anchors on KNBC were interviewing Sen. Dianne Feinstein. She was speaking on behalf of AG Brown, and was touting his "progressive" values. She nearly slipped up and referred to them as "liberal" values, though. My point being that I think "progressive" is the generally accepted word for describing left-learning politicians and Americans today.

 

[LKellerIII]

Doesn't "progressive" have the same connotation? Makes me think of the cold war and of the "progression" toward the "inevitable" march toward socialism and communism.

The dictionary defintion of "progressive" is one who favors or promotes progress. As late as the 1960s, a "progressive" was someone who was in favor of forward-thinking policies, but was not a radical leftist. Going back to the dawn of the 20th Century, the label "progressive" was applied to Teddy Roosevelt. In fact, I believe he was one of the founders of the Progressive Party, that broke away from the Republicans. They favored the establishment of social security, income taxes, and a health-care system, so they could have fairly been called "liberal."

More recently - unfortunately - the word "progressive" has been co-opted as a label by the far-left. Where I live, in San Francisco, the "progressive" politicians (in my opinion) are the ones who work against the interests of the many (liberals, included) to help those in the lower economic rungs of society - particularly the homeless. To me, this is the antithesis of the literal meaning of "progressive."

Those of you from other parts of the country may consider our Mayor (Gavin Newsom) very liberal. The "progressives" here hate him, and consider him a conservative, and a tool of big business.

So personally, I don't think the label fits MSNBC's programming, though "liberal" probably does.

I live in Los Angeles, and I think even though we are only 500 miles apart, "Progressive" has less of a connotation than it has in the Bay Area. I assume it has even fewer connotations as you travel inland (you know, to the "real" America)

After the Whitman- Brown debate last night, the anchors on KNBC were interviewing Sen. Dianne Feinstein. She was speaking on behalf of AG Brown, and was touting his "progressive" values. She nearly slipped up and referred to them as "liberal" values, though. My point being that I think "progressive" is the generally accepted word for describing left-learning politicians and Americans today.

Interesting - I missed Feinstein's statements. She was using "progressive" in the more traditional meaning of the word. Being from San Francisco, she should know better. She's a centrist Democrat in the real world, but considered "conservative" in her home town. She ran for Mayor in the late 70s, but lost and finally got into office by appointment when Mayor Moscone (and Harvey Milk) were assassinated.

 

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

This is interesting to watch people weigh in from different geographies, and people of different ages talk about the meaning of words in a given time period.

Someone may come up with even an earlier usage of "progressive" but even before Teddy Roosevelt (maybe by just a few years) the "people of the prairie" in Minnesota and Wisconsin in particular had political groundswell that went under the label of "Progressives". I was first made aware of this when I was assigned to be the administrator of my employer's safety and risk management issues which included OSHA and Workers Comp..... as in "on the job injuries". To understand how Workers Comp law works the trainers figure you need to know the history of labor law in this nation.

In the late 1800s the idea that workers can expect employers to be responsible for on-the-job injuries without a court fight over negligence by the worker was pioneered in these two states by a movement known as "Progressives". History books seem to write them up as populists among other things, and they and the movement for parity in pricing of agricultural products also grew out of or worked along side the progressives.

Another bit of history as we assign relationships to political labels: Remember.... these people in the upper Midwest tended to be recent immigrants or descendents of recent immigrants from northern Europe. Among these people in that time frame, Socialism was not a dirty word, was not an unAmerican word. In that era there was debate between supporters of Socialism and supporters of Capitalism.

It was after the Communist revolution in Russia that in our country we began to equate Socialism and Communism and it wasn't until the World War II era that we decided both were nasty, dirty words. Remember, we and the Russians were allies during WWII but during that war our intelligence people began to realize that maybe the Russians were the wrong people to have as friends.

So we learn from this thread that Progressive means something in 1890 in the upper Midwest, maybe something else in the 1920s as Stalin and Hitler become part of our vocabulary, something else in Los Angeles, has yet other definitions in San Francisco, and who knows what either word means in New York City or in Boston. No wonder our presidential campaigns have become so embarrassingly nasty in recent years.

(And if we survive this thread, then we can start a new one about what it meant to be a Conservative in Northern Missouri in the 1960s and how did it morph into what Conservative means in 2010 in Atlanta!)

And now we return to our regularly scheduled broadcast: If MSNBC claims to Lean Forward but some of us think it would be more honest to claim they are Progressive, how do we know if that is Minnesota style, Los Angeles style, San Franciso style, New York City style or Atlanta style Progressive?

 

[BlueWanderer]

If MSNBC claims to Lean Forward but some of us think it would be more honest to claim they are Progressive, how do we know if that is Minnesota style, Los Angeles style, San Franciso style, New York City style or Atlanta style Progressive?

No one really knows for sure unless they have worked for MSNBC before. But my guess would be New York City style since that's where their headquarters are located. Perhaps, a general northeastern style because they seem to focus more on that region of the country than nationally I've noticed. Again, I'm only guessing.

 

[DToTheJ]

I'm surprised nobody here noticed that Keith Olbermann, in the "lean forward" print ad shown at the link in the first post in this thread, is leaning back in his chair. :

 

[Mark Giardina]

The real question is, does anyone really care what MSNBC calls itself?

 

[Sammi Brie]

The real question is, does anyone really care what MSNBC calls itself?

In all the years I've watched MSNBC (since the late 1990s), I have not seen the network adopt a nicer image. The talent bumps/Next banners for the shows are the nicest I've ever seen on the network. Wow, have we come a long way!