MEDIA MELTDOWN – AT 12:30 P.M. ET:   The media didn't have a great year.  It must be hard to be wrong on everything.  From CNS: 

The year 2016 will go down as one in which Americans turned on the establishment and put a non-politician in the White House. The masses also rejected mainstream journalism, sending news industry credibility ratings to historic lows.

Even the American cultural bastion that is the National Football League faces declining interest. So, too, prime-time network television has sunk into irrelevance as viewers shun programming that fails to reflect any sense of Americana.

The big four networks’ ratings are all down double-digit percentages for the fall season. Premiere week for new shows in September was down 12 percent compared to last year, and nothing has happened since to reverse the decline. The top-rated prime-time show in November was CBS’ “Big Bang Theory.” The audience size would have made that program the 79th-ranked show 40 years ago, trailing such losers as “Mr. Belvedere.”

CBS’ top new offering, “Bull,” opened to moderate success this fall, but since has lost a fourth of its audience. Only “This is Us” on NBC seems to be holding its own among new shows.

Some analysts suggest the election season hurt prime-time viewership. Cable news channels did see viewership growth, but it is hard to conclude that political junkies would have been watching “Two Broke Girls” or “Lucifer” in place of CNN or FNC.

COMMENT:  There is little connection between the media and the nation, and the media likes it that way.  There are some good things to see, but the media world regards itself as better than the country it serves.  It isn't.  The golden ages of film, popular music, theater and recording all depended on the support of the American audience.  Someone should send that memo to Hollywood and New York.

December 31, 2016