CNN Perplexed by Calm U.S. Public

FreeMarketProject.org ^ | March 20, 2006 | Ken Shepherd

[freemarket_kenshepherd]

“We’ve fanned the flames of fear about this stuff,” said CNN’s Jack Cafferty on March 18. He was talking about bird flu, and his admission just confirmed the Free Market Project’s ongoing analysis of media coverage.

The “In the Money” co-host’s comments came as the show’s panel looked at “Stock of the Week” Tyson Foods (NYSE: TSN), which has seen a 20-percent loss in value recently from overseas bird flu scares. Co-host Jennifer Westhoven marveled at the American public’s apparent nonchalance about the H5N1 avian flu virus.

“I’m amazed that Americans at this point are really fairly unconcerned” about bird flu and mad cow disease, the Bryn Mawr alumna confessed, noting that a drop in foreign sales of Tyson chicken has depressed company stock.

While the National Chicken Council stresses that American poultry is safe to eat, the CNN anchors failed to remind viewers of that fact. Guest panelist Allen Wastler urged investors to wait until Tyson stock “pounds down a little bit more” before snatching up cheaper shares, “because people always eat meat.”

[MNJohnnie]

I work in the TV news business. No, not for CNN, locale stuff. Those numbers are from Nielson. Dont be afraid of the facts! FNC is still the dominant news network when it comes to moulding opinion

Here are the facts. Kind of obvious you work in TV News since not a single thing in your post was accurate. Check link for Viewership numbers. Don't be afraid of the facts "journalist".

http://www.mediabistro.com/tvnewser/original/feb06ranker.pdf

Try reading for content in the future. Don't be afraid of reality. CNN is boasting in your link their viewer ship is UP 55% in Feb. for Lou Dobbs. Based on Neilsion the top6 most watched Cable News Shows are on Fox with over 1 Mill or more viewers. Larry King, CNNS most watch show only barely cracks 900,000 nightly. There is NOTHING in your link posting of absolute numbers for CNN. You are completely misstating what the CNN Press Release claims. It claims they are GAINING numbers NOT that they have more viewers. What your link takes one to is merely a regurigiation of a Press Release by CNN. Since the top 5 most watched Cable shows are all on Fox, CNN has FEWER viewers despite "Gaining 55%" in Febuary. Typical meaningless Advertising language. Try actually reading for reality not just regurgitating what you want to belive

[onyx]

HERO, you!
Thanks.

[demkicker]

CNN Perplexed by Calm U.S. Public

Knock, knock

CNN: Who's there?

The Public

CNN: The Public Who?

The Public who is laughing our asses off that it is finally universally known that your sorry network is finally irrelevant and that you are "perplexed" as to why (LOL)!

[jcs2]

Angry much? You should work on that. Anyways, I was clear in my original post that the numbers were for total audience (I didnt use the link for the CNN blather, I used it for the Nielson total audience cume at the bottom of the page). More people tune into CNN over the course of the day, month and year. The difference is that Fox viewers watch longer, and tune in more often, so Fox ends up with a lot of audience duplication, a lot of people watching multiple hours, multiple shows, etc.

Here's a really crude, non-representative (over)simplification. Lets say 100 people are watching Fox at the start of the day, and 50 people are watching CNN at the start of the day. They watch for the whole hour. However, at the start of each new hour, Fox only loses 10 viewers (to be replaced by 10 new viewers), and CNN loses 20 viewers (to be replaced by 20 new viewers). By the end of the 7th hour, CNN actually eclipses Fox in total number of people who have tuned in, even though Fox has doubled CNN in viewership in each individual hour.

And thats how this works.

My head hurts.