The Shut Down of MTV News: How It Impacted a Generation
MTV News will be shutting down after 36 years on air due to their parent company, Paramount Global, having a series of layoffs within the company and a decline in popularity. The president of MTV studios and the Paramount network, Chris McCarthy, said in a company memo, “This is a tough yet important strategic realignment of our group. Through the elimination of some units and by streamlining others, we will be able to reduce costs and create a more effective approach to our business as we move forward.”
MTV News Correspondent Kurt Loder on MTV News Set Photo: Everett Collection via People Magazine
MTV News has a rich history and managed to shape pop culture, particularly music culture. MTV News started in 1987 with the show, The Week in Rock with host and former Rolling Stone writer, Kurt Loder. The show turned into MTV news, which was placed in between MTV’s music video showings and provided viewers with interviews, concert tour dates, new album releases and other forms of news. In its heyday, MTV News was one of the most popular sources for news for younger generations.
MTV News Correspondent Sway Calloway and Hillary Clinton on the Segment “Choose or Lose” Photo: Jeff Fusco via NPR
During its inception, many news and pop culture channels did not cater to younger generations like Gen X. Part of MTV news’ popularity was their huge younger fanbase that got a news channel that catered to them and talked about things that they were interested in without being boring or preachy like other traditional news sites like NBC and CNN.
It was a way for younger generations in the 90s and early 2000s to know what was going on in not just politics, but in pop culture and the music worlds. In addition to bringing pop culture news to Gen Xers, MTV News brought politics to them with town halls and presidential interviews that they could watch and interact with. This made young people be more interested in what was going on in their country and gain political knowledge that they can use well into adulthood. It was seen as cool but informative and gave viewers multiple segments with their VJs (or newscasters) that they can enjoy. The MTV news team was passionate about giving their viewers the news they wanted but they also were well informed and hip to pop culture at the time.
Former US President Bill Clinton with MTV News Host Tabitha Soren Photo: L. Cohen via The Los Angeles Times
Former MTV News director, Doug Herzog said,
“It was a terrific and unique group of people, a band of music-news misfits, and we just had a great time building it as we went along. That was the beauty of MTV in those days: it was new, it was growing, we were making it up. There was no rule book,” he said.
“You know, it's hard to remember what a giant cultural force MTV was in those days. It was Spotify and Snapchat and Instagram and TikTok all rolled into one, and everybody wanted to be on it. Everybody wanted to touch it. And that included future President of the United States Bill Clinton, as we started to dip our toe in the politics around Rock the Vote and then the Choose or Lose campaign."
MTV News Host Kurt Loder interviewing Britney Spears (Center) and Mick Jagger (Right) Photo: Kevin Mazur via The Los Angeles Times
MTV News was able to shape younger generations and pop culture for decades. It gained popularity because of its appeal to younger generations and was able to give them news that they could listen to and enjoy. It was something that brought something new to the table that was unique to the news cycle at the time. There was passion behind every story and segment. MTV News was able to bring up many emerging talents through their news correspondents and artists that they interviewed. Even with MTV News losing popularity and shutting down, it and its many hosts and staff will be remembered in pop culture history for years to come.
