MTV Plots A Comeback As The VMAs Bring A Moment Of Relevance

Let's get one issue out of the way up front: MTV is never again going to build its programming around music videos. For that, viewers have YouTube — as well as MTV's lower-stakes spinoff channels — and besides, if you're old enough to remember when MTV's programming revolved around videos, then you're almost certainly too old for MTV to care what you think.

But it's also fair to say that MTV has been experiencing an identity crisis — magnified in recent years by a ratings decline, as well as of most of its online editorial team this past June — for as long as its desired demographic has been alive. On Sunday at 8 p.m., when the 36-year-old network hosts its annual Video Music Awards, MTV will enjoy a day of outsize cultural relevance, which suggests a greater challenge for