AP Photo/Steven Senne

This must be a sure sign of the apocalypse.

The Rachel Maddow Show over at MSNBC which is the featured product over at that network has been in a rating freefall which was covered here last week by my colleague Brandon Morse Rachel Maddow’s Ratings Are Still Falling With No Signs Of Stopping.

Well now comes this.

Her show along with others at MSNBC and CNN ( Don “My hair is not dyed” Lemon ) are facing a ban from the New York Times. You read that right. The old grey lady is saying that we can print crazy on our editorial pages, we just don’t want our reporters on your T.V. version of crazy shows.

According to Fox News…

The New York Times had reportedly blocked its reporters from appearing on “Maddow” because the program is too partisan, with one insider from the Grey Lady’s newsroom agreeing, telling Fox News “it rubs off” on any journalist who is too closely aligned to the far left.

“I do think Maddow, and others on MSNBC, have very strong opinions that affect their ability to tell stories in an accurate way sometimes,” the source said. “You don’t get tainted just by appearing [on the show], but it’s better to err on the side of trying to maintain objectivity and caution.”

Cornell Law School professor and conservative blogger William A. Jacobson told Fox News that “Maddow built her viewership on Russia collusion conspiracy theories dressed up as analysis,” and said the Mueller Report “destroyed” her credibility.

“MSNBC is standing by her because she still has a large viewership emotionally invested bringing down Trump,” Jacobson said. “That some reporters refuse to go on her show is important, but is unlikely to change her behavior. Maddow long ago carved out her faux-intellectual paranoid niche, and she’s stuck in it.”

Professor Jacobson from Legal Insurrection simply nails it right here. Maddow, Don Lemon, Chris Cuomo, and Larry O’Donnell have been masquerading as legit news anchors for years and the Russia (Non) collusion story exposed them all for what they are.

Partisan commentators.

Sean Hannity and Laura Ingram over at Fox are also in that same category also. No one is tuning into any of these shows to get unbiased news that makes you go hmmmmmmmmmmmmm. You are tuning in to get your political bias itch scratched and to make a witty comment on Facebook or Twitter the next day.

The difference is that Fox promotes it that way. MSNBC and CNN want you to believe everyone is unbiased even if they worked for the DNC and still do in some way shape or form.

Don’t believe me?

Fox Media reporter Howard Kurtz has talked about the opinion side and news side at Fox and in the past been critical of those at the network as has Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace who did last month Wallace fires back at Fox ‘opinion people’ over Mueller letter. Fox freely admits that they have an opinion side and a news side. Taking colleagues to task is never easy to do but people at Fox have done that when needed.

When was the last time that Brian Stelter over at CNN did that? Stelter and Jake Tapper have been regulated to complaining about their colleagues being picked on rather than if anyone at the network is interested in reporting a story honestly.

Who in the hell does media analysis over at MSNBC? Your answer is nada. MSNBC gave up long ago on reporting anything other than spin but at least they are somewhat honest about it.

Which takes us back to the reason that the NYT is willing to have their staff forgo appearing on shows like Rachels, Don, and Lawerence. They all sold out that the Russian collusion story was a real thing and they can’t figure out how to move beyond it. The ratings have suffered and reporters that want to have any shot of credibility being seen on these shows will be tagged by the stench.

If they just went ahead and admitted they were opinion shows instead of news shows they could have mitigated some of that but they choose to play pretend. Now they have to super pretend that they still will matter going forward. That will be harder to do as more outlets will skip doing these shows as they become more unhinged as the election season continues.

Just like in the newspapers where there are the news section and then the editorial and opinion sections, CNN and MSNBC need to get back to that clear distinction and be honest about it. Their ratings will at least stabilize and then they can decide if they are happy with not getting what the advertisers will pay to be on Fox. There is absolutely no shame in being honest about your bias. The first step to that though is being honest about your bias.

If MSNBC and CNN do that than they have a shot at gaining a lil bit of ground.

Until then at least Rachel Maddow can take solace in that fact that during the 9 pm EDT time slot out of her counterparts at the other networks, CNN ( Cuomo ) and FOX ( Hannity ) she has the best hairdo of them all.

That won’t pay the bills but it should make her feel warm and fuzzy inside while the New York Times reporters skip her show.

Check out my other post on Justice Clarence Thomas: “I Really Don’t Have A Lot Of Stress, I Cause Stress.” and my podcast Bourbon On The Rocks plus like Bourbon On The Rocks on Facebook and follow me on the twitters at IRISHDUKE2