MTV News
MTV's news division covering music, politics, and pop culture.
via Wikipedia: MTV News · see source
MTV News was the news division of the music television channel, operating in the United States with localized versions across MTV’s global network and a dedicated online team. In 2016, the brand was revamped to go head-to-head with digital publishers like BuzzFeed and Vice, but by mid-2017, it faced major downsizing as part of broader cutbacks. Its content appeared on MTV’s websites, apps, YouTube channel, and on television. Starting in November 2018, MTV News produced daily Twitter updates called MTV News: You Need to Know, later shortened to MTV News Need to Know. This evolved into a digital series covering trending topics, from pop culture and social justice to electoral politics. The division shut down in May 2023, and its website was taken offline on June 24, 2024.
Quick Facts
- Founded
- 1987
- First program
- The Week in Rock
- First correspondent
- Kurt Loder
- Website shutdown
- June 24, 2024
- Division closure announced
- May 2023
Facts from the source article.
History
MTV News began in 1987 with the program The Week in Rock, hosted by longtime Rolling Stone writer and music critic Kurt Loder, the first official MTV News correspondent. Starting in 1990, the opening riff to Megadeth's "Peace Sells" was the main opening theme for The Week in Rock. The division first covered political news in the 1992 American presidential election through its "Choose or Lose" campaign, which continued for later elections. For the 2008 election, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton appeared on an MTV special to discuss the Iraq war. Throughout the 2000s, MTV News published digital editorial content via its website, Twitter feed, YouTube channel, and Facebook page. In November 2015, MTV hired Dan Fierman, former editorial director of Grantland, as editorial director and announced it would produce long-form journalism and think pieces. However, in June 2017, MTV restructured its news division to focus on video, laying off much of its editorial staff. Later years saw a dramatic decrease in content. The division faced downsizing in the late 2000s and throughout the 2010s, and was shut down in May 2023. In June 2024, Variety reported that more than two decades' worth of content from MTVNews.com was no longer available after the site was pulled down. Michael Alex, founding editor of MTV News' digital organization from 1994 to 2007, stated: "History needs stewards, not owners... This archive – of MTV News, where you heard it first – needs to be available to public." A Paramount spokesperson said all content is being preserved in an archive, though not publicly accessible. In July 2024, the Internet Archive launched a searchable index of 460,575 web pages previously published at mtv.com/news dating back to 1997, though the collection is incomplete.
MTV News International
When MTV launched in Europe, it used a variation of MTV News US reports with localized European reporting. Upon regionalization of MTV channels in 1997, MTV began to localize presenters and reporting depending on the region. Its flagship programming in Europe consisted of a daily news update, MTV News Update, and a weekly highlights show called MTV News Weekend Edition; these ceased airing in the early 2000s. As MTV moved toward reality-based programming, news bulletins became short segments on some channels between 16:00 and 22:00 Monday to Friday. As of July 2013, Viacom International Media Networks launched a new news bulletin utilizing existing MTV News UK broadcasts. These MTV News International bulletins aired on the majority of MTV channels (except MTV US, MTV Canada, MTV Italy, MTV Brazil, MTV Japan, MTV China, and MTV Latin America) in English, either dubbed or subtitled. Viewers were directed to mtvnews.co.uk for further updates. By 2016, MTV News International was significantly reduced, with news reports confined to social media and some localized MTV websites in the UK, the Benelux, Australia, and New Zealand. International presenters included Johnny Hockin, Sharlene Chiu, Tim Kash, Ilana Sod, Laura Whitmore, Estel, Jasmine Dotiwala, Maz Compton, Darren McMullen, Erin McNaught, Ruby Rose, and Irena Ponaroshku.
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