While Fox News dominates the cable news ratings, MSNBC now has a firm grip on second place. One of the leading factors in that position is the number of Black viewers the cable outlet has.
MSNBC has been the most-watched cable news outlet for Black Americans for 25 consecutive months and weekend anchor Jonathan Capehart says its because that community is represented on the network.
“Black viewers can see themselves reflected back at them not just in the anchor chair when it comes to, me, Joy Reid, Reverend Al [Sharpton], Symone [Sanders-Townsend] or any of the other African American anchors, but also other anchors of color at the network,” Capehart told TheWrap. “The network covers the stories that are important to the American people at large, but stories that are of particular interest to the African American community.”
Capehart added viewers will tune into programs and hosts they have familiarity with.
“People gravitate to journalists they can trust — journalists who don’t talk down to them, but really work hard to bring them bring them along, to help to give them the ammunition they might need at the dinner table at Thanksgiving with their incorrigible relative,” Capehart said. “People need to open their minds to complexity, if only to make themselves better citizens.”
