Posted on 05/12/2010 7:29:29 AM PDT by Zakeet
Five weeks ago (covered at NewsBusters; at BizzyBlog), the Big Three Networks' combined evening news audiences dropped to below 20 million -- an audience about 5% less than what Matt Drudge in the summer of 2006 headlined as TVs Lowest Week.
Three weeks ago (at NewsBusters; at BizzyBlog), their combined audience came in at 19.61 million, down over 12% from the previous year.
For the week of May 3, the combined total fell further, to the point where they're one more really bad week away from hitting an all-time low -- a low that was "achieved" in mid-June of last year (Source -- Media Bistro, week of May 3, 2010; week of May 4, 2009):
The May 3, 2010 combined total audience is less than 2% higher than the 19.06 million of June 15, 2009. The 25-54 demo audience is less than 200,000 above that same week.
Those who properly point out that the audience figures cited here are much larger than seen on cable news networks can take some comfort and solace in the following:
Anyway, the regularly scheduled summer viewing slump is only a month away. Two words: Faster please.
Reports like this make me want to ... to ... never mind!
Good news! Time for a bailout! We don’t know what’s good for us so the gummit will support and dictate what to watch! These 3 networks are the only ones that know what’s best for us!~sarc
Yes, faster please.
I wonder what COMEDY CENTRAL NUMBERS ARE in this time slot?...............
That’s exactly what they will try to do. Imagine the crap they will pull during the lame duck season from November to January.
http://joytiz.com/2010/when-lame-ducks-attack/
With choice of Katie Couric, Brian Williams and I-don’t-know, it’s no wonder.
Media Death Watch...
ping
And poor Katie still makes $15 million a year. Wonder how the president of CBS answers that to his stockholders.
The MSM’s list of transgressions would wear out a server farm so I’ll not repeat them here. However, I have occasionally been trapped in situations where the nightly newscasts are being viewed. The approach they take has not changed but it is an anachronism. Among their most curious failings:
1) They pretend that no other sources of information exist
2) They pretend that repeating White House talking points (often verbatim) constitutes news, insider access or the ‘fairness’ they claim to practice
3) Every story is chock full of howevers, buts, Dems say/Repubs say, critics say, etc. Again, this is meant to convey fairness but images, voice inflection etc. make it clear who they really side with
4) They simply get facts wrong. As anyone who is familiar with a local story can attest, when the national media sail in they invariably err (purposely or otherwise) in providing the details and/or context of a story. In 90% of cases it is fodder for advancing an agenda. Therefore oil slicks are not just a threat to fishing and tourism but must be a springboard to environmental restrictions. Nashville flooding is, well, just Nashville flooding and they have been shamefully ignored simply because there is no advantage in highlighting their plight.
5) ‘Other voices’ are invariably even further left than the anchors/reporters. Katie Couric interviews Tom Friedman and we are supposed to believe it will be productive?
CBS News + CNN = Death
Comcast + NBC = NBC/MSNBC Death
Fox News + Wall Street Journal = Fox Business news + Vibrant life
Unfortuately, lots of people get their start with “Good Morning America”, Matt Lauer etc.
The 9% growth has been almost entirely illegal aliens. They don’t speak English so they don’t watch the news.
I'm sure he tells them how difficult it is to find a moderately attractive woman who can read a teleprompter and...er..uh...
I think they are going to the graveyard.
Anyway, if you want to feel better, Rush with 20 million plus listeners beats all three combined now.
Does CBS still have stockholders?
If there are any left, they are idiots.
So Fox has about 10% of the mainstream media's evening news broadcast but Fox carries on 24/7. In addition, talk radio has more listeners than the mainstream media evening newscast garners. Rush Limbaugh alone has millions of listeners. And, again, talk radio goes 24/7.
The evening newscasts have what about 17-23 minutes of news and of that at least half is magazine feature fillers which they think maintains viewership. So the mainstream media can expect to propagandize with one or two stories on average per night.
The problem with the network newscasts is that the people who watch them are, well, unsuspecting and vulnerable to manipulation because they're not political junkies or they would be tuned in to Fox, MSNBC, or public television news broadcasts.
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