OPINION | This article contains commentary that reflects the author's opinion.
An era has come to an end as MTV’s News division has shut down.
The news outlet began 36 years ago.
The company “made the very hard but necessary decision to reduce our domestic team by approximately 25 percent,” said Chris McCarthy of Showtime/MTV Entertainment Studios and Paramount Media Networks president.
“This is a tough yet important strategic realignment of our group,” the memo read.
“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.”
In 1987, MTV News began with a program called “The Week in Rock” hosted by Kurt Loder.
It was later renamed to “MTV News.”
The outlet mostly covered music and pop culture over the years.
Most notably, “MTV News” was the bearer of bad news for many Nirvana fans on April 8, 1994, when a breaking bulletin covering Kurt Cobain’s death interrupted the network’s regularly scheduled programming. That same month, “MTV News” correspondents Tabitha Soren and Alison Stewart created a mainstream buzz when they asked President Bill Clinton in an interview if he wore boxers or briefs.
“Usually briefs,” Clinton responded with a laugh at the time. “I can’t believe she did that.”
Amid MTV News’ shutdown, many pop culture enthusiasts took to social media to share their favorite memories. “If you lived in the era of Kurt Loder and Tabitha Soren @MTV News, you have lived,” one fan tweeted. “So many huge moments in pop culture: Kurt Cobain, Biggie, and 2Pac passings, Courtney Love crashing Madonna’s interview, etc.”
“I’m not exaggerating when I say that MTV News was my primary news source in my formative years,” a second Twitter user wrote, while a third added, “For millennials and Gen X folks, Kurt Loder was basically our Walter Cronkite.”
