Posted on 07/29/2004 12:17:39 AM PDT by ambrose
Democrats Headed for New Low in Convention Viewers
Wed Jul 28, 2004 09:42 PM ET
By Steve Gorman LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - With roughly 10 percent fewer Americans watching than four years ago, the Democratic convention may be headed for an all-time low in TV viewership for a national party meeting, according to ratings issued on Wednesday.
Network executives say the low ratings prove that public interest in the event has waned as national conventions have lost their drama and evolved into carefully scripted political infomercials.
But critics say the major networks themselves have contributed to the decline in public interest through their decision to limit coverage of the Democratic and Republican conventions to just an hour a night for three nights of the four-day events.
The critics say that adding insult to injury, network journalists are conveying a message that viewers are missing out on little.
"You have to take a speed-yawning course to get through some of this stuff," CBS News anchor Dan Rather told the Dallas Morning News. "If we were on for three hours a night, in a lot of places a test pattern would get better ratings."
In a journal entry posted on the CBSNews.com Web site, Rather further lamented, "This convention really is duller than those ... held four years ago. Inside the (convention) hall, it's scripted down to the nanosecond."
The bare-bones one-hour treatment of the Democratic convention's first night by ABC, NBC and CBS certainly generated little enthusiasm among viewers.
During that hour on Monday, the Big Three broadcasters and three cable news outlets -- CNN, Fox News Channel and MSNBC -- drew an average combined audience of 18.5 million viewers, down nearly 2 million from the total for the first night of the event four years ago, according to Nielsen Media Research.
CSI DOES BETTER
For the broadcast networks alone, the decline was even sharper, down from 17.6 million viewers in 2000 to 13.4 million on Monday night. By comparison nearly 12 million viewers tuned into a rerun of "CSI: Miami" on CBS in the hour before the convention telecast began.
The cable news channels, which are offering gavel-to-gavel coverage just like the major networks used to do, saw their audiences nearly double, from 2.7 million viewers combined four years ago to 5 million this year, Nielsen said.
Likewise, public television's ratings for its complete coverage was up 9 percent from 2000.
"The message the networks are sending ... is that not only are the conventions unimportant but that the upcoming elections don't merit the nation's full attention," said Timothy Karr, head of the media reform group MediaChannel.org. "The networks are generating that lack of interest by increasingly turning away from coverage of the political process."
Karr also disputed the notion there is little real news value at the conventions.
"It's true that as the parties present them, they are highly scripted infomercials. But any good journalist can go to an event like that and find an interesting story. And there are important stories that are coming out of the convention."
He cited the Tuesday night keynote speech by Illinois state Sen. Barack Obama, the son of an immigrant from Kenya, who is poised to become the only black member of the U.S. Senate. All three broadcast networks skipped the convention completely on Tuesday, so Obama's emergence on the national political stage was largely overlooked.
"Many consider that one of the more important political events of the season, and yet the networks weren't there to portray it," Karr said.
The politicians, too, feel they deserve more air time. As Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry put it: "It's a shame they don't cover these things more. ... The talking heads keep talking and you can't hear anything."
What if the Dims gave a convention and nobody cared?
who knows... the bad ratings may be good for the Rats. The less the Sheeple see of Kerry, the better he does.
(to Mods, last time today I promise..)
kerry, testimony before Congress, 22 April, 1971, kerry says, "I have been to Paris. I have talked with both delegations at the peace talks, that is to say the Democratic Republic of Vietnam and the Provisional Revolutionary Government,...."*(not on any authorised mission by the U.S. Government or by the U.S. military, kerry and his VVAW group meets and negotiates with the then enemy).
*excerpted from the Official U.S. Congressional Record dated 22 April, 1971.
"revamp the U.S. military", read as kerry's plan to PURGE the U.S. Military of Pro U.S. Military Veterans and Republicans, make it totally dependant on U.N. forces support for any significant achievement capable military(similar to france,germany, etc.), Turn home based U.S. Armed Forces, Intelligence agencies and Law Enforcement agencies into the democratic party's{including CPUSA and DSA} Praetorian Guard!!!!
kerry stabbed U.S. in the back continually since his return from Viet Nam. How much more backstabbing from this 22 April, 1971 testimony(self confessed traitor) before Congress that he(kerry) met with the then enemy in Paris, are we supposed to stand????
Some More Interesting historical news about kerry:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1091943/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1160580/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1165078/posts
Some of kerry's friends listed below:
http://www.cpusa.org/
http://www.dsausa.org/
DSA's "Progressive Caucus" Links below:
http://bernie.house.gov/pc/
http://bernie.house.gov/pc/members.asp
They are the Enemy Within!!!!
I have at least one or two interesting posts about said such subject matter, below:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1165983/posts
And see:
http://tonkin.spymac.net/hanoikerry1.html
More: Communist Party Backs the RATS!!!! below:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1171176/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1172055/posts
More!!!! Socialists(DSA) backs kerry!!!! Below:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1179854/posts
More of the Enemy within!!!!
Even More!!!! Red China Backs kerry!!!! See Below:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1180437/posts
Avoid the Socialists/Communists backed johns(not capitolised on purpose) like the Plague!!!!
BUSH/CHENEY 2004!!!!:-)
May God Continue to Bless America!!!!
D2
My name... Jose Jimenez.
The Democrats are pretending to be something they aren't.
Marxism never was a big ratings grabber
so much for bringing back Lincoln Douglas debates. Most people are more interested in whether Nelson from the Simpsons is gay or not.
The Dimwits are planning "massive protests" in NYC.
Even they would rather be at our convention than their own.
You're right ambrose...I want him to have OVERexposure dagnabit!
What if the Dims gave a convention and nobody cared?
Apparently, they already are.
This is the truth, and the critics just don't want to admit it. On Sunday, a friend who knew I was interested in politics asked me if I was going to watch any of the DNC. I said I didn't have to, because here's what was going to happen:
On Monday evening, the Clintons and some other people were going to get up on stage and say what a great guy John Kerry is.
On Tuesday evening, Ted Kennedy and some other people were going to get up on stage and say what a great guy John Kerry is.
On Wednesday evening, John Edwards was going to get up on stage and say what a great guy John Kerry is, and how much of an honor it is to be his running mate.
On Thursday evening, John Kerry was going to get up on stage and thank everyone on the previous three nights for saying what a great guy he is, scuff his foot and agree that he is, in fact, a great guy, and graciously accept the nomination.
Have I missed anything so far?
btw, the GOP convention is going to be more of the same -- a four day, carefully scripted infomercial, paid for by your tax dollars. The conventions are anachronisms, and should be done away with -- but they won't be, because the politicians will never admit that these quadrennial meetings have become completely irrelevant, and besides, it gives them a chance to drink and schmooze together on your dime.
They started out pretending they weren't libs, went on to pretend they weren't Demonrats, and finally, all but put on elephant masks. Evidence: "We all pledge allegiance to "Old Glory," and similar patriotic effusions in Obama's keynote address, this to set the tone for a party in which many of its members equate patriotism with jingoism.And the sea of American flags waved by those who otherwise mock patriotism also seemed false. Of course there are still many rank-and-file patriotic Democrats, and that is who the subterfuge in Boston was trying to reach along with the few undecided independents.
DemocRats and Republicans don't care about these convention monstrosities any more than we do. But both parties' parasites just love the opportunity to snag a week's worth of drinking and whoring on the taxpayer dime.
Parasites, all of them.
I didn't watch both because they don't have a message and no one's excited about their candidate. Let me just say when their nominee speaks tonight, he won't bring the house down. More likely, he'll send every one to bed before he's finished. I pity the poor delegates who are going to have to sit through it.
I doubt it. One of the reason the conventions have been deadly dull affairs is they have taken the passion and life out of party politics by catering to the most disinterested voters around: the undecided independents. I'm for bracing partisanship and for vigorous differences on ideology and politics. It would do our country a world of good. Instead, we get this "bipartisanship" pablum and I'm sick of it. Color me a rabid partisan here.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.