CNN in third place in prime time

iVillage Member
Registered: 02-19-2008
CNN in third place in prime time
30
Fri, 03-27-2009 - 9:43pm

Like newspapers, CNN seems to be having difficulty adapting. It was the pioneer news channel. Now it seems to be faltering.

The ratings for prime time cable news programs follow taken from the Drudgereport, after that is a link and news story about CNN and it's ratings.

CABLE NEWS RACE
THU., MARCH 26, 2009

FOXNEWS O'REILLY 3,420,000
FOXNEWS HANNITY 2,987,000
FOXNEWS BECK 2,374,000
FOXNEWS GRETA 2,160,000
FOXNEWS BAIER 1,940,000
FOXNEWS SHEP 1,888,000
MSNBC OLBERMANN 1,322,000
CNNHN GRACE 1,300,000
MSNBC MADDOW 1,208,000
CNN KING 1,144,000
CNN COOPER 1,118,000

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jeEr_9iwtdieF9FQS0td-iGANTgQD976K4IG2

CNN in third place in prime time for first time

CNN is poised to finish March third in the prime-time weeknight ratings behind Fox News Channel and MSNBC, the first time this has ever happened for the channel that pioneered the cable news genre nearly three decades ago.

CNN says its overall business is healthy and it is not straying from its straight news path. But it is suffering more audience erosion than its rivals since the peak days of the presidential election, further proof that the opinionated prime-time shows on Fox and MSNBC have greater audience loyalty.

CNN's weekday prime-time ratings are relatively flat compared to last year during the primary campaign, up 1 percent from March 2008, according to Nielsen Media Research. Fox's ratings have jumped 30 percent and MSNBC, the new No. 2, is up 24 percent. The biggest growth in cable news is for CNN's partner, Headline News, which is up 62 percent.

Fox remains on a mountain above its two closest competitors, with its prime-time audience in March more than that of MSNBC and CNN combined. "The O'Reilly Factor" has done particularly well, keeping more of its postelection audience than anything else on CNN and MSNBC.

Through Wednesday, Fox was averaging 2.73 million prime-time viewers in March. MSNBC had 1.16 million and CNN had 1.14 million. The March ratings period ends Friday, and it's doubtful CNN will be able to overcome MSNBC.

"The fact that one network may have eked out a slight edge in one small slice of the overall business really doesn't say much of anything," Jon Klein, CNN U.S. president, said on Friday. "It's more clear than ever, given the way that our competitors have positioned themselves, that CNN has positioned itself as the real news network."

Relying on news, rather than opinion, leaves CNN more susceptible to higher ratings peaks during big stories and lower valleys in routine times. Yet it's hard to consider the present — new president, economic turmoil and two wars — a slow news period.

CNN's ratings news "is very significant," said Frank Sesno, a former CNN Washington bureau chief and now a professor at George Washington University. "This is a big problem."

More significant is what CNN's ratings problems mean coupled with the daily drumbeat of layoffs in the newspaper industry, he said. With people more interested in hearing things through an ideological prism as a form of entertainment, it diminishes the value of independent voices giving straight news.

"It's getting harder to do real journalism on television," Sesno said. "This is `man the ideological barricades.'"

Fox is ready to start a new venture Monday, "The Fox Nation," which it bills as an online community that believes in "your right to express your views, your values, your voice." Fox representatives would not immediately return a call for comment.

The most problematic part of CNN's prime-time schedule is Campbell Brown's 8 p.m. show, up against O'Reilly and MSNBC's Keith Olbermann. Brown's audience is smaller than any prime-time show on the three networks, and beneath Nancy Grace's crime hour on Headline News.

Brown leaves for a six-to-eight week maternity leave following Friday's show, and will be replaced temporarily by Roland Martin. Klein said Brown's show isn't in any danger, noting that it took years for Olbermann and O'Reilly to build their audiences and Brown has been in her job for a year.

There's been no talk of moving Grace to CNN, he said. Having Grace's crime-oriented show on Headline News allows CNN to keep its focus on being a news network, he said.

MSNBC's Rachel Maddow is a close third to Larry King, and both are beaten handily by Sean Hannity's new Fox solo show. At the 10 p.m. hour, a rerun of the show Olbermann did two hours earlier has been doing surprisingly well against CNN's "Anderson Cooper 360," leading MSNBC to at least temporarily put on hold any development of a new live show then.

MSNBC chief executive Phil Griffin said the prime-time ratings are an affirmation of the network's decision to go liberal with Olbermann and Maddow. But he also said it pointed to problems at his rival.

"They've got the best brand in news," he said. "CNN, that's better than anybody. But you've got to deliver on that — and they're not. It's a hollow promise."

He compared CNN to ESPN, which started at the same time, saying that, while ESPN has evolved aggressively and remained the leader in sports, CNN hasn't. Their evening lineup of Lou Dobbs, Brown, King and Cooper lacks any consistency or flow, he said.

"What do they stand for?" he said. "That's their biggest challenge. CNN ain't what it used to be, and that has given us an opening because we stand for something and they don't."

Klein dismissed Griffin, noting CNN is beating MSNBC handily when the full day — not just prime-time — is taken into account. He said that for March and the year's first three months, it was CNN's best showing since 2003, when the Iraq War started.

CNN continues to have a greater reach and reputation than its rivals across all platforms, he said.

"When you have other so-called news networks ceding the field of journalism, we are happy to fill that void," Klein said. "It's working for us."

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iVillage Member
Registered: 01-28-2009
Tue, 04-07-2009 - 12:26pm

This whole bias thing is only one small aspect of the whole degradation of "journalism" debate. First and foremost is the shoddy work and sensationalism masquerading as news. The dumbing down of the media, the inability of the public to care about or concentrate on more than one or two stories at a time (the more sensational, the better) at the expense of real, responsible reporting.

However, the saddest and most frightening angle to all of this is this is what the American people want. They don't want NEWS....They don't want to be informed. They don't want to tax their brain cells even the tiniest bit.

The numbers and ratings of these various "news" shows, as well as how programming strategies are being decided upon by the networks prove this.

It ends up being a vicious circle. The people don't want to learn anything, they want to be entertained. The networks appease them by giving them what they want to keep the profit margin as high as possible. Ratings are king and quality be damned. This results in an increasingly ignorant population who demands even less in terms of relevant information and even MORE entertainment to keep their little minds from wandering. That also gives viewers the illusion that they actually "know" something (by appealing to their respective biases and emotions)....and so it goes.




Edited 4/7/2009 12:28 pm ET by moxysuvous
iVillage Member
Registered: 01-28-2009
Tue, 04-07-2009 - 2:04pm

With Glenn Beck's show being the third highest rated "news" show in the country, I thought of y'all when I saw this in another board....It's priceless.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zrf14VN4boM

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-18-2000
Tue, 04-07-2009 - 2:45pm
Well said!
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Photobucket&nbs

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-18-2000
Tue, 04-07-2009 - 2:54pm
Must have been short of real news.
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Photobucket&nbs

iVillage Member
Registered: 01-28-2009
Tue, 04-07-2009 - 3:10pm

Thanks.

One thing I forgot to add was that the viewers are also not interested in and are highly bored by anything that doesn't personally involve (or at least titillate) them. That's why so little international news gets shown in the US (unless Madonna wants to adopt a child or something)...and also why the general public can be so easily duped into believing whatever someone with an agenda and a soapbox wants them to e.g. that 9/11 and Iraq were somehow connected. That Obama is a terrorist sympathizer wants to destroy America because he visited and made a respectful speech in *gasp* Turkey this week. That universal health care obviously means that the government will be in charge of deciding/prescribing treatment etc...etc...etc...(ad nauseam)




Edited 4/7/2009 3:23 pm ET by moxysuvous
iVillage Member
Registered: 01-28-2009
Tue, 04-07-2009 - 3:17pm

REAL news!!! Don't be silly!

However will these guys afford their swanky homes, luxury cars, personal chefs, extravagant expense accounts and exotic vacations? That would be so unAmerican!

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-18-2000
Tue, 04-07-2009 - 3:55pm

I received a 'gem' in my email today. The woman that sent it to me is a retired teacher. It disturbs me that so many readily believe anything they're told...especially if fear is thrown in for good measure.

It long but you needn't watch the entire piece to get the drift.

http://blip.tv/file/1382254/

These were comments written in the body of the email....

>"You must see this - it will open your eyes as to what is at our doorstep."<

>"This has been very disturbing, although quite an eye opener for me. We must all be aware of the vicious tenacity of the radical Islamic culture. It's a horrific threat to our freedom and it is becoming more pervasive in this country than I ever imagined. I never want my grandchildren or great grandchildren to be subjected to this type of horror. Whatever your political beliefs, we need to fight this one on a unified front!"<

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Photobucket&nbs

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-23-2003
Tue, 04-07-2009 - 4:02pm

Amen to both of your posts!


iVillage Member
Registered: 01-28-2009
Wed, 04-08-2009 - 12:16pm

Thanks. It looks very interesting....I'll watch the whole thing soon when I have more time. ;o)

iVillage Member
Registered: 08-01-2008
Wed, 04-08-2009 - 2:54pm

I've been mostly watching CNN and the NBC news. Frankly the main personalities there are getting on my nerves! I think I'll take a peak at Fox News Channel.

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