Fox News ratings up, CNN down

Remove all ads!

Story:
CNN tanking as Fox News surges

So is seems that "Faux" News as it is so affectionately referred to is winning the ratings struggle with CNN.

The Conservatives have been running their mouths about a fundamental shift in views in the US ever since the election, and I have taken this with a grain of salt, believing that the Kerry lost due to his own failures, not because of anything that the Republicans did. But this makes me wonder. Why are people tuning into Fox and tuning out CNN? Are the Republicans right? Is this an indicator of a shift to the conservative ideology?


Edit:

ooops, just realized in am in the AoDA, meant to post in AoLS, sombody with a big enough axe chop this one out and transplant it for me please!

 

It's because the old people like to go to bed early, and the Fox late news comes on at 10:00 instead of 11:00.

(And yes, DW, in case you're wondering, I'm being sarcastic, and do not think it's the real reason.)

Honestly, I think part of the problem is that your local channels (FOX, ABC, NBC, CBS) cover both local and national news. Most people who watch the news like specific coverage from their area in addition to national coverage (if for no other reason to get a local weather report). You don't get that on CNN. For me typically, I only watch CNN if there is something of national importance to concern me (like when the Iraq war started). Many days will go by without me watching CNN, but I will watch a local news broadcast every night.

 

Hmmm... good point dmc. I didn't even think of that. I never watch the Fox News Channel either. I was under the impression that he was comparing the Fox local affiliates to CNN. Of course, not everyone has cable either, so again it's not a fair comparison. However because I believe you need either cable or satellite to get either Fox News Channel or CNN, that would be a more valid comparison. It does directly state "Fox News Channel" in the article, but for some reason, I just totally disregarded that and assumed they were speaking of the local affiliates.

 

Fox makes infotainment, with focus on the tainment. Every private channel does to an extent but I think FOX has taken it a step further. People do not want indepth and thourough analysis and dull dry news about stuff. They want action, intrigue and strong feelings.

 

No. That's the short answer. But Fox is the Bush network, which is something a little different from a nework devoted to conservative ideology. If I got out my label maker, I would not put the conservative tag on King George II. Why is it that everytime I turn on MSNBC Pat Buchannon is always ranting about how George has it wrong? It could be that it's because George is not really all that conservative. He is a political animal, owned by corporate America, and not given to any ideology in any real sense. I can elaborate on this more, but I wanted to stick more to the topic.

Fox is basically a mouthpiece for the current adminstration. The people who run FOX are really just businessmen, and for them, Bush is their man, as he is for a lot of other businessmen. Liberals like myself, can't stand FOX, CNN, MSNBC, or any other "news" channel, because they are all run by the same type of people - corporate fatcats. When Clinton was in office, CNN was the Clinton News Network - it never hurts to be on the winning side if one is trying to keep a risky business venture afloat, like a cable news network. CNN had its heyday while Clinton was in the prime of his presidency, and it has gone down since Bill has been eclipsed by George in the national psyche. FOX has picked up where CNN could not, as the channel of "propaganda choice" for "loyal" Americans who love their leader.

For the oppostition there is the print media - that's where the real liberals are hiding these days. They are not the media suit types, or cutesy blonde babes, who populate primetime, but rank-and-file journalists, who came out of journalism school and may be more inclinded to be turned off by the business suits who run the electronic media cable news stations.

But the country is very divided right now. I think the Bushies have a slight edge, which was apparent in the election, but the difference is only a percentage point or two. Remember, 49 percent of Americans voted for Kerry. That in itself should tell you something about where we are today. Try C-SPAN for real news.

 

Good points made by all the above.

I do have to say that I agree that in some ways Fox has moved away from the Conservative viewpoints, and as long as they are featuring Hannity, they will be tagged as BNN (Bush Network News). Poor Colmes, he tries, but nobody gets over on Hannity, even when they are right and Hannity is wrong, he just cuts them off and changes the direction of the topic. It would be funny to put him, Bill Moyer, Al Franken, and Bill O'Reilly in the same cell and tell them that they only get out when they can find 10 issues they agree on. You could just through away the key!

I do think that Fox has moved away in some part from their info news, i.e. Entertainment Tonight, E channel, reporting to a more factual story basis on some of their shows, but they still are definitely out to counter the "liberal" (in quotes because many of our European friends here define liberal differently and view all our media as hard right wing conservatives) media bias that they perceive.

C-Span for news??? I don't know if I don't get the right C-Span channel, or if I am just tuning in at the wrong time, but all I ever see are trials or some session of Congress on C-Span...

 

Darkwolf - Try tuning in during the early mornings. Washington Journal looks at the top stories in the news and explores them a little more in depth. But you are right, you won't find too much in the way of "headline" news on C-Span. By the same token, you won't find out much about what congress is up to on the major news channels. For them it's all about the prez.

 

I don't have much to contribute on the issue about Fox News and CNN since I've never watched either of them but I thought I might comment on this one.

Swedes have been particulary active in promoting their "free media". As I remember one of their chanels had a tv ad about themselves where they pretty much bashed the Italian and Russian media. I'm not sure if the ad said anything about the US media but it would not surprise me.

Here in Finland out two most watched chanels are state controlled (and we only have four major chanels), but they really do not represent the view of the current government even though many claim that they did so in the past. I don't know can it exactly be called free media though but we don't have any split between "conservative" and "liberal" media since our media markets are so small and chanels do not have political intrests. Which I think is very good.

I don't think many of us Europeans think that all American media is conservative. I would sooner say that we think that most of your medias are politically biased in one way or the other. You can allways debate if this is good or not but I definently think it's better to have a neutral massmedia.

 

I think this is less a "look, America's leaning towards the right" issue than a "look, CNN isn't being managed well, and Fox is"

What do I mean? Simple. Fox is interesting. Fox is aimed at a specific segment of the market. I'd argue its target is folks who want infotainment, but I'm just guessing. Fox does what it can to please its target audience.

On the other hand, CNN seems to be trying to be everything to everyone. It wants to appeal to the "hip youngsters" at the same time it appeals to the older folks. Jack of all trades...master of none. If you want infotainment, there are better options out there. If you want actual news, actual reporting, there are better options out there. So why watch CNN?

 

Does this poll count the CNN overseas programs? I think CNN might have an edge overseas

 

It might also be the number of programs that FOX runs that appeal to the general public. People might merely tune into the news because they don't want to change the channel from American Idol, or something. Laziness is an underestimated force. FOX's programming is more popular and, honestly, superior to CNN's outside of the news.