MSNBC host Lawrence O’Donnell tore into the major cable news networks, including MSNBC, on Thursday after they aired former President Donald Trump’s press conference live and didn’t “fact-check every lie” he told.
O’Donnell then complained that “to make a bad news coverage situation worse, none of the networks – none of them – carried Kamala Harris’ speech live after the Trump appearance. None of them.”
O’Donnell concluded, “It’s 2016 all over again. The same mistakes are being made. I have never seen an industry slower at learning from its own stupid mistakes than the American news business, and you cannot expect them in the next 89 days to figure out what they haven’t been able to figure out in nine years: how to cover a Trump for president campaign.”
The shareholders hire the people who create the programming schedule. The shareholders are their boss. Those executives know what their bosses want: maximum profits, and thus maximum shareholder value.
You’re not wrong but it doesn’t even matter what the shareholders want. Company executives are legally obligated to secure profits if they’re publicly traded.
Of course it does. Shareholders elect the board of directors, and the board of directors hire the CEO. The shareholders, at least the majority shareholders, are the ultimate authority.
CEOs have an obligation to do what their bosses want them to do, which is true of every employee. Employees are hired to do what their bosses tell them to do, and if they don’t they get fired. CEOs are hired by shareholders, shareholders are investors, investors want maximum return on their investment.
That isn’t a justification as securing profits could be approached in numerous different ways. What we see typically is a focus on short-term profits at the expense of the company and it’s long-term viability. You could easily argue that doing this is a disservice to the company, its employees, and the shareholders.