NationStates Jolt Archive


Fox News Is Red Hot In August

Pilmico
31-08-2005, 08:56
Fox News is red hot in August By Paul J. Gough
56 minutes ago



NEW YORK (Hollywood Reporter) - Fox News scored its largest audience so far this year in August, a month when most of the other cable news channels suffered ratings declines in comparison with convention-heavy 2004.

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According to data released Tuesday by Nielsen Media Research, Fox News tallied slightly more than 2 million total viewers in primetime during the month, a 32% improvement over its year-ago figures.

By contrast, CNN lost 19% of its primetime viewership (to 748,000), and MSNBC dropped 22% to 349,000 in August compared with a year ago. CNN's Headline News, on the strength of "Nancy Grace" and other primetime programming, jumped 117% to 449,000 viewers, making it the third-ranked news channel in primetime, overtaking MSNBC.

In the news demographic of adults 25-54, Fox News ruled again, with 541,000 viewers, up 12%, while CNN lost 9% to 236,000 and MSNBC was mostly flat at 145,000. Headline News averaged 160,000, up 111%.

Fox News owned 11 of the top 12 shows in cable news, with 2.5 million viewers for No. 1 "The O'Reilly Factor" (up 13%) and 2.2 million viewers for "On the Record With Greta Van Susteren." Greta Van Susteren's show, which has seen a major boost in the ratings with its coverage of the Natalee Holloway story in Aruba, saw a 36% boost in viewership.

CNN's sole entry in the top 10, "Larry King Live," saw viewership fall 27% to 1 million. "The Situation Room," which debuted this month, averaged 466,000 viewers, down 14% compared to the political-heavy coverage on CNN last year. On the other hand, "Nancy Grace" gave Headline News its highest month ever, with 738,000 viewers in August. That was just behind "NewsNight With Aaron Brown" and "Paula Zahn Now"; "Paula Zahn Now" saw its total viewership rise 6% to 596,000, though its demo coverage was flat.

Fox News also won the ratings war in hurricane coverage Monday, according to Nielsen data released Tuesday afternoon. Fox News averaged 2.8 million viewers in total day -- a 247% increase over the same day in 2004 -- ahead of CNN's 1.8 million viewers and MSNBC's 679,000.
Free Soviets
31-08-2005, 09:03
now if only fox news was capable of transmiting non-falsehoods to their audience...
Evil Arch Conservative
31-08-2005, 09:07
now if only fox news was capable of transmiting non-falsehoods to their audience...

They have been for a while. I think that's why they've got high ratings.
Mesatecala
31-08-2005, 09:12
now if only fox news was capable of transmiting non-falsehoods to their audience...

They do.

The other stations transmit falsehoods, hence why the lost ratings.
Free Soviets
31-08-2005, 09:20
The other stations transmit falsehoods, hence why the lost ratings.

i fail to see the connection between truth and ratings, and would in fact guess the connection to be directly opposite. but in any case, there have been several studies have shown that fox news viewers hold objectively false beliefs. and while we probably can't blame fox news for directly lying to their viewers, it sure doesn't seem to manage to get much reality through to them either.
Dishonorable Scum
31-08-2005, 13:42
In the news world, August has long been known as "the silly season" because of its traditional lack of substantive news, causing newspapers and TV news media to run any old silly story they can find.

So I don't find it at all surprising that Fox News led during the silly season.

:p
Fass
31-08-2005, 13:49
So, the trash that has nothing better to do in August were loyal to Fox "News." Colour me unsurprised.
Mekonia
31-08-2005, 13:51
Of course FOX got such good ratings. I have never watched a station that makes me laugh 24 hrs a day :D
Dishonorable Scum
31-08-2005, 13:52
So, the trash that has nothing better to do in August were loyal to Fox "News." Colour me unsurprised.

Nice bit of truth in naming there! From this point forward, Fox News will be known as Fox "News" in all of my posts where I mention it. :p
Carnivorous Lickers
31-08-2005, 13:58
and if their ratings were at the bottom, we'd have specualtion it was because people were sick of their "biased reports".

I love how when something doesnt agree with particular people's views, its somehow totally bad and wrong-and when a majority support it, there is automatically something wrong with them.
Hirgizstan
31-08-2005, 13:58
RULE ON FOX NEWS, LONG LIVE O'REILLY

Well done to Fox, broadcasting the truth is so much more profitable than lies.

Here's an example i picked up on. During early August CNN ran a small story about new body armor being issued to troops in Iraq. They maintained that no soldiers had this new body armor due to small production levels.

About one week later Fox News broadcast a similar story, saying that 20,000 soldiers had received the new body armor, mostly front-line soldiers in Iraq, and some in Afghanistan. They also said that the production levels were small but that thousands of units were being made and shipped each month and that every front-line and Rear-echelon soldier would soon be equipped with the new armor.

During this time military.com ran an article stating, essentially, what Fox had said, and military.com is info straight from the front-lines, especially regarding equipment. Thus Fox, without doubt, had broad-cast the truth, whereas CNN had given in to their slightly liberal leanings to broadcast yet another negative image of the war in Iraq. It is very small examples like this where you can see just why Fox News is the most watched news channel in the USA, and perhaps the world, and why they are, 'Fair and Balanced-Real Journalism'.

Remember, tonight, 'An Explosive O'Reilly Factor You Can't Miss'.
I love to see him get stuck into Kool-Aid drinkers like Free Soviets, cracks me up every-time.
Kinda Sensible people
31-08-2005, 14:04
Faux News has that many viewers? Man... They must finally be getting TVs out to redneck country. :D


Seriously though, that's actually a bit odd, seeing as how public opinion of the Bush Administration took a downswing. You'd think people would move away from the conservative-biased news source.
Darksbania
31-08-2005, 14:13
Fox News is pretty good; you just have to know which shows to avoid.

The Good:
Your World (Neil Cavuto) is good.
Special Report (Brit Hume) is good.
I'm a big O'Reilly fan.

The Bad:
Hannity and Colmes blows.
Fox and Friends sucks.
And for God's sake, don't watch DaySide, Heartland, or On the Record!

The Entertaining:
Studio B
La Habana Cuba
08-09-2005, 02:54
Fox News Is Red Hot In Agust.
Teh_pantless_hero
08-09-2005, 03:30
They have been for a while. I think that's why they've got high ratings.
The "O'Reilly Factor" is a pundit show, that is where they get their ratings.
Aldranin
08-09-2005, 03:37
i fail to see the connection between truth and ratings, and would in fact guess the connection to be directly opposite. but in any case, there have been several studies have shown that fox news viewers hold objectively false beliefs. and while we probably can't blame fox news for directly lying to their viewers, it sure doesn't seem to manage to get much reality through to them either.

There have!? Fuckin' news to me... I can only expect that such a poll would come from a most unbiased source, like Michael Moore or Howard Dean. :rolleyes:
Absentia
08-09-2005, 04:28
There have!? Fuckin' news to me... I can only expect that such a poll would come from a most unbiased source, like Michael Moore or Howard Dean. :rolleyes:
How about the Program on International Policy Attitudes of the University of Maryland? It took all of two minutes with Google to find the referenced report. http://www.pipa.org/OnlineReports/Pres_Election_04/html/new_10_21_04.html#1

And it's really not surprising to see Fox ratings up. Reality isn't conforming to right-wing fundamentalist expectations, so they need to retreat to the bubble where blotchy-faced adult-toys-in-dark-places-fans like Bill O'Reilly can scream that it's not the fault of the organization currently controlling all three branches of government. It's the TV equivalent of comfort food for its Kool-Aid drinkers.
Lacadaemon
08-09-2005, 04:57
How about the Program on International Policy Attitudes of the University of Maryland? It took all of two minutes with Google to find the referenced report. http://www.pipa.org/OnlineReports/Pres_Election_04/html/new_10_21_04.html#1


It's from a University Department. And therefore unbridled leftist rubbish.
Fass
08-09-2005, 05:00
It's from a University Department. And therefore unbridled leftist rubbish.

Ad hominem.
Undelia
08-09-2005, 05:06
Faux News has that many viewers? Man... They must finally be getting TVs out to redneck country. :D


Seriously though, that's actually a bit odd, seeing as how public opinion of the Bush Administration took a downswing. You'd think people would move away from the conservative-biased news source.
One of the reason Bush’s polls have dropped is because people don’t’ think he is conservative enough budget wise. Iraq contributes as well, but the conservative revulsion of an unbalanced budget can not be underestimated.

I guess what I’m trying to say is, Bush loosing popularity has nothing to do with America becoming less conservative and more with rednecks getting extremely angry when politicians waste their money and get their kids killed in a country they can‘t even find on a map.