The jokes are flying across the tubes of the Internets: Osama bin Laden is the next Anderson Cooper.

Last Wednesday’s edition of CNN Presents offered the documentary, “In The Footsteps of bin Laden.” The program handed CNN some of its best ratings all year. It was number one in the time period for both total viewers and the 25-54 demographic.

It will be interesting to see what lesson is learned from this success. CNN has trailed Fox badly for several years. Every attempt to makeover the network has failed to raise its competitive standings. Granted, Fox is not actually a news network. Its menu of propaganda and Jerry Springer-style DC-trash rumbles is less info and more tainment. But still CNN has vainly battled on to return to its perch in the cable news jungle.

So this week, with the news poodle herd chasing John Mark’s Karr down the street, CNN posts a program of substance and social relevance and it kills in the ratings. What are the odds that the editors at CNN will correctly analyze what happened here? Will they conclude that Christiane Amanpour should get a daily primetime talk show? Or will they figure out that there is a news vacuum in America that is crying out to be filled?

Or will the the jokes become reality as the announcement is made that Larry King – Live will be replaced by Osama bin Laden – Alive?

In the July ratings for the cable news networks, Fox continues its steady year-over-year decline. This July’s book includes reporting on the Israel/Lebanon conflict. Breaking news events like this spike ratings for news programs. So when comparing this year’s July book with last year’s, it is important to note that there was no comparable news event in July of 2005. That means that the comparisons with this year would have been even worse, but for the boost caused by current events.

UPDATE: Here is an hourly breakdown (PDF) of the numbers by demo and program, with comparisons to 2005.

Total Day – 25-54 Demo:

Primetime – 25-54 Demo:

The severe decline in the Fox and Headline News primetime schedules suggests a possible audience fatigue for the bloviating pundits that populate those dayparts. That includes Bill O’Reilly, Hannity & Colmes, and Greta Van Susteren on Fox, and Nancy Grace and Glen Beck on on HLN. While the increases at MSNBC and CNN may suggest an appreciation for the counter-programming on MSNBC (i.e. Keith Olbermann’s Countdown) and the hard news flavor of CNN.

Most of all, I believe that the significance of the O’Reilly, et al, free fall is that we may have pushed back the hands of the Armageddon Clock a half hour or so. There is still a long way to go before Fox is knocked off its pedestal, but the trends are consistently pointing toward that outcome.

The just released February ratings (pdf) for cable news networks tell a tale that is decidedly downbeat for Fox News. In a comparison with February 2005, the numbers for every network are up except for Fox.

This may come as some surprise to Bill O’Reilly who, in a moment of empathy for his competition at MSNBC, started a petition to replace Keith Olbermann with former MSNBC host, Phil Donahue. O’Reilly felt sorry for what he said was the net’s poor performance. Never mind that Olbermann’s show drew more viewers than MSNBC’s conservative hosted shows. And I certainly doubt that Bill was just being indignant because Keith was being mean to him on a nightly basis. Now Bill has to swallow the difficult truth that Keith’s viewership is growing while his own is shrinking. In the key demographic group of viewers aged 25-54, the Total Day ratings for MSNBC rose 47% while Fox declined -13%.

Fox’s Prime Time erosion was even greater at -21%. In fact, in every hour in the daypart, from 3:00pm till midnight, Fox numbers were lower. This is a distinction that only Fox, of the five nets surveyed, was able to achieve.

The largest decline was suffered by Greta Van Susteren’s On The Record (-22%), followed closely by O’Reilly (-21%). Hannity & What’s His Name took the Bronze (-17%). Of the MSNBC programs opposite those losers, Olbermann’s Countdown was the biggest gainer (55%), which I’m sure doesn’t bother O’Reilly at all.

The growing feud between Bill and Keith is something unique in commercial television. It has taken on a personal tone that I can’t recall witnessing before. There is, however, a difference in style. While Olbermann is merciless in his mockery, he sticks to commenting on the substance of O’Reilly’s program and the stupid or demonstrably false things that O’Reilly says. Billy, on the other hand, seems to respond only by pointing out that more people watch his show than Olbermann’s. You know, the 2 million flies defense. But if O’Reilly isn’t careful, he may soon not have even that to crow about.