It is often taken as accepted wisdom that the mainstream media's aggressive and blatant bias against Republicans, conservatives, and Donald Trump in particular hurts their bottom line.  On this point, Peggy Noonan disagrees, and her take on the matter is worth considering. 

And no, it's not that Ms. Noonan has any illusions that the media are anything but hateful toward President Trump and his base of deplorables.  She observes that, especially in broadcast and cable, the media's message to their audience is that if you don't hate Donald Trump as they do, "get lost."  The entertainment shows shamefully mock the president and his family while the so-called news channels like NBC, CNN, and MSNBC spew out one shallow fake news report after another, all attempting to undermine the Trump administration and even the 2016 election process itself, which brought him to power.

So how does this policy of alienating millions of Trump voters not only not hurt the media's bottom line, but possibly actually improve it – at least in the short run?  After all, don't the media live on ratings, which drive advertising rates, which in turn determine revenue?  At first blush, yes.  But advertisers are after not just larger audiences.  They seek audiences that come from what they deem as a "desirable demographic" for whatever they are peddling.  Recall that many a popular TV show, that you may have enjoyed, has been canceled not due to low ratings, but because its audience was not "desirable."

Accordingly, Ms. Noonan's take on media finance is based on market segmentation.  In the 2016 election, Mr. Trump's opponent is said to have garnered nearly 3 million more votes than he did.  More importantly, the Democrat vote was judged to come from the younger, more affluent, more educated, and more cosmopolitan demographic.  On the other hand, the Trump vote was more rural, more middle-class, and older.  As Ms. Noonan puts it, a particularly heartless media professional summed up Donald Trump's base this way: "Their next big lifestyle choice will be death."

In the view of Madison Avenue, Democrat voters are the desirable segment, not Trump's.

Ms. Noonan sums up the current situation thusly.  On a personal level, the people who run the media consider Donald Trump repugnant and illegitimate.  The president's nationalistic and traditional views are anathema to their progressive sensitivities.  His election was a sharp slap in the face to them that they never expected.  The media have been hurt and humiliated. 

"So play to those who hate him [Trump], exclude others, call it integrity and reap the profits.

That is my theory: media bias now is part a financial decision. instead of what it used to be, a good old-fashioned human and institutional flaw."

I agree.  Right now, for large swaths of the mainstream media, there is a positive alignment between their hate for Mr. Trump and their profits.  Will this last?  It can't.  The thing about hate is that it tends to burn itself out over time.  This will first come to the media's current audience.  In the entertainment area, the supposed "fun" and cheap laughs the entertainers are now enjoying will turn stale and boring.  At that point, they will move on.  As to the news channels, there is only so much fake news normal people can take before they realize they are being played for fools.  They too will move on.

Another aspect of hate is that it is destructive to those who revel in it.  This applies to the people in the media.  They have already forfeited their credibility and trustworthiness.  Soon their mental stability will be impacted.  They will be relegated to strays barking at the moon. 

But for now, the media are doing untold damage to the cohesiveness of our nation, and yes, this includes the media's sneaky and backhanded way of provoking violence as a means of resistance to the change in the political landscape.  This should never be forgotten...or forgiven.