BF2S Forums Fox News' ratings take a nose dive

The_Shipbuilder wrote:

Fox News' Ratings Take a Nosedive

August 29, 2006

Somewhere, Keith Olbermann is sticking pins in a Bill O'Reilly voodoo doll: Fox News' ratings, TVNewser reports, are down since August of last year. Like, way down. Like down 28 percent in primetime among all viewers, down 20 percent in primetime in the "money demo" (viewers aged 25-54) and down 7 percent in daytime viewership overall. In fact, the only place Fox is up is during the day, when they managed a ratings increase of just 2 percent, and even then only in the money demo.

And lest you think this is an industry-wide trend, consider this: over the same time period, CNN and MSNBC are up. CNN's up 35 percent during the day -- 46 percent in the money demo -- and up 21 percent in primetime overall, 25 percent in the money demo. MSNBC's ratings increases aren't quite as impressive -- up 6 percent in primetime overall, 8 percent in the money demo, and up 36 percent in the money demo during the day, 26 percent overall.

It seems to reflect US citizens growing disdain for the current administration. People are hardly likely to continue watching a channel that plays down the inadequacies of said administration when they are becoming more blatantly apparent than ever. Hence the reason people have migrated to other news sources. I'd say the only people left watching it are libs who like to see what the ridiculous Bill O'RLY is mouthing off about now in between sucking neo-con knobs.

I have to say that whenever I go home to Donegal I can't tear myself away from the ruddy channel even though it makes my blood boil (my parents have a different digital package to my own, I don't get FOX in Dublin).

I blame those insipid tards on the morning show, all morning shows suck but at least GMA and the like are so boringly banal you can at least watch them in a mind-numbed state to sift the 2 minutes of relevant info from each hour of broadcast. All I ever watch in the morning is the weather channel.

kr@cker wrote:

I blame those insipid tards on the morning show, all morning shows suck but at least GMA and the like are so boringly banal you can at least watch them in a mind-numbed state to sift the 2 minutes of relevant info from each hour of broadcast. All I ever watch in the morning is the weather channel.

Yes but primetime numbers are down 20% YoY.

Masques wrote:

Actually, Fox News has little, if any, actual "news content" even when compared to other conservative news outlets like the National Review or Weekly Standard. One of my professors (he studies public opinion and media) found that of all news sources liberal and conservative, Fox is more accurately described as "talk soup". Even most educated viewers are found to be not able to make sense of Fox's product.

Hey but FOX News is 'fair and balanced'. It says so in their slogan so it must be true. They're also really patriotic - you can tell from the flag in the corner of the screen. And they look out for our safety 24/7 - there's a helpful 'Terror Alert: Elevated' note that rolls past the bottom of the screen every 2 minutes. If only more news channels could be like FOX.

CameronPoe wrote:

Masques wrote:

Actually, Fox News has little, if any, actual "news content" even when compared to other conservative news outlets like the National Review or Weekly Standard. One of my professors (he studies public opinion and media) found that of all news sources liberal and conservative, Fox is more accurately described as "talk soup". Even most educated viewers are found to be not able to make sense of Fox's product.

Hey but FOX News is 'fair and balanced'. It says so in their slogan so it must be true. They're also really patriotic - you can tell from the flag in the corner of the screen. And they look out for our safety 24/7 - there's a helpful 'Terror Alert: Elevated' note that rolls past the bottom of the screen every 2 minutes. If only more news channels could be like FOX.

And that's one of the major things that irritates me about Fox. There's nothing wrong with a news outlet having a blatant partisan or ideological bent. After all, most media outlets in the olden days were organs of some party apparatus or other group interested in political outcomes. It has only really been the post-WWII period that saw the evolution of "objectivism" as a journalistic concept.

But Fox's particular crime is masquerating as some objective news organization and still having the hard right slant in coverage. If it was billed as "Conservative Television News" it wouldn't get nearly as much of a beating it gets now.

AlbertWesker[RE] wrote:

CameronPoe wrote:

I'd say the only people left watching it are libs who like to see what the ridiculous Bill O'RLY is mouthing off about now in between sucking neo-con knobs.

Most people overplay Bill O' Reilly "mouthing off" when in fact he is in the right, and usually when he is wrong he admits it.  It's not like your side has anyone better that does the exact same thing. 

Most of the times that I've seen Bill really yell at someone, they *$#@@ deserved it. 

And I'm so fed up with this OMG Fox News is uber republican and if you don't agree with us your a communist bullshit, seriously, its a god damned news channel why do people bitch about it soooo much.  If you don't like it, don't watch it.  Is it really that hard? (This isn't directed at you Cam, the Bill stuff is though).

Fox news is the Jerry Springer of news shows. They diliberately create conflict between anchors and rporters or guests. They invite guests to speak on shows and slander them to their faces. Fox isn't "right leaning" they're insane.

AlbertWesker[RE] wrote:

And I'm so fed up with this OMG Fox News is uber republican... If you don't like it, don't watch it.

Judging from the ratings freefall, it sounds like that's exactly what people are doing.

jonsimon wrote:

Fox news is the Jerry Springer of news shows. They diliberately create conflict between anchors and rporters or guests. They invite guests to speak on shows and slander them to their faces. Fox isn't "right leaning" they're insane.

Example???

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nM_yMT5V8SI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RbX-2X7_ … mp;search=

Go Fox!

Last edited by PRiMACORD (2006-08-31 16:17:20)

I love the way liberals dedicate precious time and effort pointlessly whining about informative and respectable news channels like FOX news. It may be ever so slightly biased but it's far less slanted than the Communist News Network, CNN. FOX News has the best interests of our country at heart, unlike CNN.

CyrusTheVirus wrote:

I love the way liberals dedicate precious time and effort pointlessly whining about informative and respectable news channels like FOX news. It may be ever so slightly biased but it's far less slanted than the Communist News Network, CNN. FOX News has the best interests of our country at heart, unlike CNN.

You forgot your [extremelyopinionatednon-factualbias] [/extremelyopinionatednon-factualbias] tags.

Fox is nothing more than the "Talking Points Network."

OutFoxed is a good documentary on the subject. You can find it at Amazon with no problem.

Fox News is by far the most worthless network in existence, and if people would realize that it's America's equivalent of a communist national news outlet, then the US would be in a little bit better shape.


Why you ask? Good question.

It is obvious from the current sociological trends that our society exists in an environment where people want to be told what to do, when to act, and how to think. Note the sharp increase in Evangelical affiliation and the affect that has had on voting patterns. This trend is a classic example of behavioral response to "fear." In the case of the US, it is obvious that the fear comes from terrorism. Who has been responsible for fear mongering? I would argue that the Republican Party is most likely to bring up 9/11, Iraq, Al Qaeda, and/or terrorism during run-ups to elections, and when their poll numbers are slipping. Who is the voice of this fear mongering? Fox News, or as I like to call it: the Talking Points Network.

Welcoming the flames,
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