Three reasons MSNBC has a less liberal audience than some other media outlets

Maybe we’ve been too hard on MSNBC. No, really. Although I’d first like to tell a joke someone told me about whether I should appear on Al Jazeera. He said, “If you wanted to appear on a radical-left America-hating tool of international elites, why not MSNBC?” But it appears that Al Jazeera really does appeal to a more liberal audience than MSNBC.

But everyone’s audience is more liberal than MSNBC’s! Slate is so left it’s at the extreme, along with The New Yorker. (Yes, the magazine featuring the comedic stylings of Andy Borowitz.) Congratulations, guys: Al Jazeera is more moderate than you are.

Now I know everyone says that The Economist is the magazine you pay $110 a year for and only pretend to read, but what does it say that liberals are the ones most inclined to do just that? And as for The Daily Show, saying you watch Jon Stewart is sort of a way of outing yourself as likely more liberal than an MSNBC viewer. Which is why it’s so fascinating to see journalists rush to praise that show.

In any case, if we’re fond of saying that FOX News is conservative and MSNBC is liberal, what word should we use to describe the many media outlets — including PBS, Washington Post, Politico, NPR, and New York Times — that are to the left of MSNBC in terms of audience ideology?