MTV News Is Dead: Full Wipe of Decades of Work Inspires Passionate Reactions

In the latest sign that nothing is forever, not even the internet, MTV News is no more.

Jun 25, 2024
MTV logo with a cat-like shape incorporated within the design
Image via Getty/VALERIE MACON/AFP
MTV logo with a cat-like shape incorporated within the design
Image via Getty/VALERIE MACON/AFP

Capitalism killed the art star.

Indeed, in the latest sign that nothing is forever, not even the internet, MTV News is no more. As reported by Variety on Monday, the MTV News url now directs visitors to the general MTV site, leaving decades’ worth of memorable and oft-cited work no longer available.

While MTV News itself ceased operations last year amid hefty Paramount Global layoffs, the scrubbing of its extensive archive of articles and interviews is a new development. Sadly, the move is also in line with similarly shortsighted strategies from other companies, who almost always seem hell-bent on stripping culture for parts and/or taking established brands and rendering them unrecognizable.

For writers, the MTV News fate leaves an especially sour taste in one's mouth. But don't take my word for it. Below, see how the lowering of MTV News into the proverbial coffin is being mourned on social media.

Worked here for 6 years, changed my life. Did a lot of incredible work, too. And...now gone, just like that. https://t.co/BuKlWs1hzq

— joseph monish patel (@jazzbeezy) June 24, 2024

This is disgraceful. They've completely wiped the MTV News archive. Decades of pop culture history research material gone, and why? https://t.co/xJQRXrNERS

— Brian Hiatt (@hiattb) June 24, 2024

So, https://t.co/ypQLdbaWk5 no longer exists. Eight years of my life are gone without a trace. All because it didn't fit some executives' bottom lines. Infuriating is too small a word

— Patrick Hosken (@patrickhosken) June 24, 2024

No notes https://t.co/nnJLeDwmUf

— John Norris (@Jonnynono) June 24, 2024

I learned my articles and original reporting were deleted from MTV News — all 1,568 articles. No warning. No heads up. Just POOF & 2 years of my life were erased from the internet. My former co-workers' work was also obliterated. So, thanks a LOT, @MTVNEWS.

— Stacey Grant (@Stacey_Grant91) June 25, 2024

MTV News' writers deserved better than to have their work disappear. So did the readers and researchers who would benefit from this work being available. Music journalism erasure is a loss for the cultures we cover. What remains, and where it has pivoted, cannot make up for that.

— I’m Gary (@imgarysuarez) June 25, 2024

just a reminder that major publishers and major record labels are currently suing the @internetarchive for absolutely no good reason and their short sighted legal attack threatens the future of the WayBackMachine, which is currently preserving every MTV News article ... https://t.co/qraxPZP3ts

— Evan Greer is on Mastodon and Bluesky (@evan_greer) June 25, 2024

During its heyday, MTV News would be covering Kendrick vs. Drake, Israel/Palestine and the election

The kids don’t realize how important it was

— Sowmya Krishnamurthy (@SowmyaK) June 24, 2024

Wiping a news brand and its full archive from existence is deleting historical records, with MTV News that’s decades of music & youth culture history. A huge loss to society, future research and devastatingly cruel to journalists who suddenly have no record of all their hard work

— Jillian Sederholm (@JillianSed) June 25, 2024
RIPMTVCapitalismWTF

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