I miss the early CNN days when they actually were a news organization. Actually I am old enough to remember Cronkite. He was a lib, but you never knew it when he was on the air. In those days, reporters, regardless of political stripe, followed a code of ethics. For a couple of decades, journalism schools have turned out graduates steeped in using their position to promote a social/political agenda. But not just journalism schools. About 15 years ago, an email (mistakenly) came to my inbox advertising a workshop on how to use math instruction as a means of promoting some leftist agenda. Several years ago, a division chair in a public university told me his faculty "blackballed" an applicant because she had worked for a high-ranking Republican in Congress. This is the sort of crap that is going on in academia as well as the mainstream press.

Wasn't in a reporter on MSNBC that said Sarah Palin should have somebody crap on her? Yeah...that's class. Who was it that made fun of Romney's grandchild, too? NBC?

It's not a surprise. I would hesitate to say they sank. They are where they are as a result of conscience decisions made by management. MSNBC is kind of the anti-Fox News network. They need new people and new ideas. First and foremost they need to re establish trust. That is a hard thing to do.

If the commentators and talking heads (pardfon me, reporters) didn't give their opinion as fact and actually reported the news it might be a different story here.
The real question is why did it take so long for the NBC brand to crumble?
CBS and ABC are almost as bad. They just are not as "in your face" as NBC is/was.
Most of the cable 24/7 news channels are a little better. IMHO Fox is best, but even it has some issues occasionally.