‘Most Surely No One Watching’ – Business News
Left-leaning cable channel MSNBC – home to Rachel Maddow and different Trump-bashing anchors – was derided on Monday for the worst rebrand since New Coke after asserting a identify change to MS NOW.
The head-scratching acronym for My Source News Opinion World was mercilessly mocked. Social media customers quipped the ratings-challenged community’s new identify stands for “Majorly Skewed News Overly Woke” or “Most Surely No One Watching.”
Others merely began calling it “BS NOW.”
Cable channel MSNBC introduced it’s rebranding to MS NOW. AP
MSNBC was compelled to change its identify – and create a new brand, which options a red-and-white striped flag on a blue background – as half of the upcoming spinoff by mum or dad company Comcast to a new publicly-traded company referred to as Versant.
The spinoff, slated for the tip of the 12 months, strips away the cable channel’s ties to NBC and the enduring Peacock image.
“I don’t know what’s worse, Versant or My Source News Opinion World. Whoever came up with these names deserves to be shown the door,” one former media govt advised The Post.
The space between MS and NOW left many baffled, with one joking it stood for “Martin Scorsese ‘n’ Olivia Wilde.”
Attaining the MS NOW area identify may additionally show difficult. A present web site for “msnow.com” is for one thing referred to as “Motorized Snow vehicles (SnowMobile)” that options textual content written in Korean.
One particular person on social media joked that the community — which options left-leaning applications like “Morning Joe” — should stand for “Most Surely No One Watching.” MSNBC
Meanwhile, typing “ms-now.com” into a browser redirects customers to meal-delivery service Marley Spoon, which is affiliated with Martha Stewart.
The Post reached out to MSNBC for remark.
The transfer comes regardless of NBCUniversal govt Mark Lazarus, who will grow to be Versant’s CEO, assuring rattled MSNBC staffers that the community wouldn’t change its identify and brand – as many feared – after the $7 billion spinoff was introduced final November.
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“I know there was some discussion with the MSNBC name, so you can take that off of your worry list on things,” Lazarus advised staffers during a assembly in January.
The about-face raised considerations.
NBCUniversal govt Mark Lazarus, who will grow to be Versant’s CEO, beforehand advised MSNBC staffers the community wouldn’t rebrand. REUTERS
“It doesn’t set a great precedent for management to change the name after promising staffers it wouldn’t,” one company insider advised The Post.
“It’s not a way to boost trust in the new company and its leadership.”
The adjustments led one X consumer to dub it “one of the worst branding disasters in media history. The logo looks like it belongs on a discount computer from 1998, not a serious news network. Absurd.”
One particular person theorized the new identify is a reference to Martin Scorcese and Olivia Wilde.
Conservative activist Robby Starbuck additionally went for the jugular, writing on X: “I just want to meet the absolute bandit who got MSNBC execs to fork over tons of $$$ for this logo and a name that reminds you of multiple sclerosis.”
MSNBC President Rebbeca Kutler promised a large advertising marketing campaign for MS NOW “unlike anything we have done in recent memory.”
“During this time of transition, it has become clear that our brands need separation, and NBCUniversal decided to retain ‘NBC’ and the peacock,” she advised staffers in a memo Monday morning.
Kutler, who changed Rashida Jones earlier this 12 months, tried to assuage considerations, telling staffers that the rebrand “allows us to set our own course and assert our independence.”
MSNBC has been working to construct out its own newsroom operations separate from NBCUniversal over the previous eight months.
It has employed dozens of journalists from CNN, Bloomberg, Politico, The Washington Post and a number of other different information organizations.
The community will probably be known as MSNBC over the subsequent few months because it wraps up this course of.
