Fear of the Animal Planet: The Hidden History of Animal Resistance

Inside MSNBC Barack Obama wasn't the only beneficiary of the calamitous Republican rule under George W. Bush in the 2000s. Something of an industry punchline since its formation in 1996, MSNBC suddenly gained a comprehensible voice during the era, while pinning its hopes upon the inspiring Senator from Illinois. Obama's presidential victory in 2008 spelled success for the network, which saw a sizable ratings increase, and began positioning itself as a viable alternative to the right-wing propaganda machine of Fox News. However, after a close examination of the station's programming, and an analysis of their celebrity talking heads, troubling questions about the state of the American media arise. In Medium Blue: the Politics of MSNBC, media analyst Michael Arria provides the first book-length investigation into the remaking of MSNBC as a cable network designed to advance the neoliberal ideology of the new Democratic Party. Arria depicts a network devoted to defending the Democratic Party's policies at all costs. His in-depth analysis provides new details on the firing of Phil Donahue, the termination of Keith Olberman and Cenk Uygur, the personal and professional interconnections between MSNBC producers and commentators to the DNC and the Obama White House. He shows how MSNBC has shilled for the Obama administration's wars, defended its illegal spying, tarred whistleblowers Edward Snowden and Chelsea Manning, backed Obama’s wars and failed to hold our broken political system accountable. Medium Blue serves as lucid guide to help you navigate through the nightly propaganda of America’s most popular liberal network.