I have a theory that Fox News’s ratings are tied to the popularity of Der Decider. The American people figure out that George W. Bush is full of shit and an empty suit, and they change their opinion of the talking heads at the FNC too. All that war cheerleading gets pretty tiresome after a while doesn’t it, America? The federal handling of Katrina was a travesty, was it not?
So, I’m not surprised to see Fox News’s ratings have fallen precipitiously over the last year, while CNN and MSNBC have risen.
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’s enough to make Arthur Gilroy hopeful. That is, maybe the scales are dropping from America’s eyes? But, just when things are looking up, we have the prospect of Ahmadinejad playing chicken with Dick Cheney. Here’s how David Ignatius puts it:
TEHRAN — Drivers here play a high-risk game of chicken at every intersection. They barge into the frantic stream of traffic and you think there’s going to be a crash for sure. But at the last moment someone usually gives way, and a collision is avoided.
Watching President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at a news conference here Tuesday, I had the same mesmerizing anxiety as a passenger in a Tehran taxi…If Ahmadinejad behaves like most local drivers, he will go as far and fast as he can. It’s only when the fender is about to be crushed that he will put on the brake. That’s why this crisis is so dangerous — it’s easy to miscalculate when nobody knows the rules of the road.
I wish Ahmadinejad had a better idea what kind of madmen he is messing with. A lot of innocent people stand to get hurt if he doesn’t apply the brakes. It’s not only Fox News people need to stop listening to. Reckless statesmen and their cheerleaders need to be marginalized all over the globe.
