>Easy; their ratings level below their rivals has dropped far lower than it has been.
Yes, that is the implication, of course.
My point remains the same. "Lower" by how much?
===
Source: http://www.nationalreview.com/script/printpage.asp?ref=/comment/anderson200409160904.asp
[snip]
Since 1993, with the advent of cable and the Internet, the audience for the notoriously left-leaning evening-news shows on ABC, NBC, and CBS has dropped by 34 percent. The "believability" of network news in viewers' eyes has dropped by about the same percentage.[snip]
"Rather is in last place among the three big broadcast networks with eight million viewers. The upside for him is that most of the people still watching probably agree with him.
As it has shrunk, his audience has also grown older, according to TV Guide. 60 Minutes II, the show on which Rather revealed the alleged Killian memos, has a median audience age of 60, and an abundance of commercials for painkillers and geriatric drugs. (By contrast, Fox News viewers have a median age of 36.)
In addition, Rather's audience is one that has access to fewer sources of information than most. According to the Census Bureau, less than 40 percent of those older than 50 use the Internet (compared with 60 percent for those under 50). Most of Rather's over-50s probably didn't see his memo story mercilessly debunked on the Internet within hours of its debut.
"
But, I still don't see any statistics to back up the assertion that Rather's ratings have "plunged" since Memogate broke.
Maybe I'm the only one who either cares about or doesn't know the "before" numbers. Not that I'll lose any sleep over it. It'd just be nice to know.
Coincidentally, I'm listening to Rush on tape delay and, at this very moment, he's reading this Drudge article on the air. Rush says Rather's ratings have plummeted but, he doesn't seem to notice (or care) that there are no "before" numbers. Oh, well. Drudge says there's a plunge. So, it must be true. (Or, just like CBS News wanted the memos to be real, we want the plunge to be real. Sure, he's been in last place for a long time but, I'll be happier when his ratings number is zero.)
Still, as someone else mentioned above, I'm skeptical. People like to watch a trainwreck. I actually thought about watching CBS Evening News the past few days for the first time in months or maybe even years, thinking I might get to see ol' Danny Boy squirming. As it turned out, I didn't watch anything. But, if my TV had been on, chances were much better than they've been in a long, long time that it would've been tuned to CBS Evening News.