Chris Matthews retired by saying he wanted to cede cable news to a younger generation, but they'd be better off without it

TIME

"In the 20th century, cable news channels at least served a comprehensible purpose, as forums for real-time news and on-the-fly analysis," says Judy Berman. "But since the turn of the millennium, digital platforms have owned breaking news—and millions of Americans now turn to social media for political conversations in which they can actually participate. It’s hard to tell, these days, whether Twitter has adopted the tone of cable news or vice versa. Together with a President who couldn’t stop making headlines if his life depended on it, they’ve created an anxious new normal where it feels like no one is ever not obsessing over politics. All cable news does is filter the endless feed of information through a series of TV personalities who are most entertaining when they’re mad, wrong or offensive. Which suggests that remaking the medium to suit younger viewers isn’t just a risky business proposition; it’s a dangerous one. At the risk of sounding like the oldest fossil of all, here’s an idea: Maybe news shouldn’t be entertainment. Maybe it should just be news." ALSO: Why MSNBC should replace Matthews with a woman.