For teabaggers, a lesson on proportionality
It has become an article of faith for the teabag crowd to believe that they are, in fact, the silent majority, with tens of millions of fellow travelers agreeing with them, and opposing the views espoused by the so-called “liberal media” (somehow, they include Disney/ABC in that number…) Their evidence? Fox News, and its incredible ratings. Well, yes, Fox has the most primetime and total day viewers of any cable news outlet, but … as with much of basic cable … that’s not saying much. Take last week — an especially good one in the ratings for Faux:
In one of the bigger news weeks this fall, with the the health care debate, the 2009 elections and the breaking news out of Fort Hood, Fox News and “NBC Nightly News” came out on top in the ratings.
Among cable news networks, Fox News was tops, averaging 2.556 million total viewers in primetime for the week and registering as the #3 cable network in primetime. CNN averaged 883,000 total viewers for the #21 spot on cable, while MSNBC averaged 741,000 total viewers for the #26 spot on cable.
In the total day, ratings Fox News placed 4th among all cable networks with an average of 1.402 million total viewers; CNN placed 20th with an average of 593,000 total viewers; MSNBC placed 33rd.
Pretty darned good for Fox, right? Well … consider, first off, that MSNBC is the split-off for ratings for NBC News overall. And now consider this:
On the networks, “NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams” averaged 9.469 million total viewers, its best week since the week of February 16, 2009. ABC’s “World News” with Charles Gibson averaged 8.380 million total viewers, while the “CBS Evening News with Katie Couric” averaged 6.204 million total viewers. “Nightly News” was also the only network newscast to show growth compared to a year ago, adding 136,000 total viewers (2%) versus the same week last season.
In other words, despite 20 plus years of erosion in network news ratings, almost all of which has gone to the cable channels, and despite Fox’s pre-eminence on cable, the lowest rated “liberal media” news program — Katie Couric’s CBS Evening News, has more than three times as many viewers in a half hour, than Fox has in all of prime time, and averages more than 5 times more viewers than Fox averages all day long. Let’s look at the ratings again, in a handy chart form:
| Channel/Program |
Total viewers, (millions) | |
| NBC Nightly News | 9.469 | |
| ABC News | 8.380 | |
| CBS Eve News | 6.204 | |
| FNC prime | 2.556 | |
| CNN prime | .883 | |
| MSNBC prime | .741 | |
Meanwhile, let’s take Fox’s best number — 2.6 million people (rounded up) — and put it in perspective:
There are more than 300 million people in the U.S., and more than 180 million adults – that’s 115 times Fox’s viewership
More than 69 million people voted for Barack Obama in 2009 – more than 26 times their viewership
More than 59 million voted for John McCain and his crazy, English challenged friend – More than 22 times
More than 5 million kids watch Nickelodeon on a given day – Double Fox’s viewers
In other words, they don’t surround us … we surround them …
BTW, kind of puts this story in perspective, huh?
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