Music fans and journalists have expressed shock – and anger – after more than two decades of articles were apparently lost in the shock closure of MTVNews.com.
The website was founded in 1996 as an offshoot of the 1980s MTV program of the same name, and covered major stories in music, film and politics. following the closure last year of the brand’s YouTube channel.
With no official announcement, fans logging into the site were simply redirected to MTV’s main website on Monday, sparking anger from many on social media over the lack of an official announcement – and the “wiping out” of an extensive archive.
Patrick Hosken, former music editor of MTV News, said the closure was “annoying” and said that “eight years of my life disappeared without a trace.”
Pop culture fans were shocked Monday after MTVNews.com suddenly shuttered its website, taking with it every article written since its inception in 1996
Rolling Stone senior writer Brian Hiattsite raged, “Decades of research material on the history of pop culture has disappeared” and said the archive’s sudden removal was “truly despicable.”
The site was best known for its in-depth coverage of a variety of genres, from rock to hip-hop, and its weekly Mixtape Monday column was hugely popular with fans, thanks to its coverage of new artists and insightful interviews.
The site’s YouTube division closed last year, but the website survived until now (Image: Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt and Margot Robbie discussing Once Upon a Time in Hollywood on MTV News)
In addition to music and film content, the site featured groundbreaking events in global news, including Barack Obama’s historic speech in the run-up to his victory in the 2008 election.
The site also wasn’t afraid to discuss political issues, with one fan writing: ‘During its heyday, MTV News would feature Kendrick vs. Drake, Israel/Palestine and Defeating the Elections. The kids don’t realize how important it was.”
In May last year, the brand’s owners, Paramount Global, shut down MTV News’ broadcast division, but the website appeared to have survived the carnage, with its workforce cut by 25 percent.
The show first aired in the late 1980s, with Kurt Loder, the brand’s first MTV News correspondent, at the helm.
A sister site that focuses on country music, CMT.com, also owned by Paramount Global, suffered a similar fate last week, with its archive of articles on the genre lost to the airwaves.