The train keeps-a-rollin all night long. All week-night long in the cable news ratings, that is.
The latest numbers for the November period show a continuation of a trend that has lasted all year. For ten of the last eleven months, Keith Olbermann’s Countdown has gained viewers while Bill O’Reilly’s Factor sheds them in droves. Countdown improved a whopping 66% compared to O’Reilly’s slump of -17%.
Here are the numbers for network performance in November 2006 as compared November 2005:
| Primetime | CNN | FOX | MSNBC |
| Persons 2+ | +15% | -19% | +29% |
| Persons 25-54 | +40% | +10 | +38% |
| Total Day | CNN | FOX | MSNBC |
| Persons 2+ | +15% | -13% | +25% |
| Persons 25-54 | +40% | +13 | +43% |
Once again, the only declines were posted by Fox. Even where Fox showed improvement, it ranked as the smallest gains of all the networks. The dismal finish by Fox occurred despite expectations for viewer gains due to the mid-term elections and their aftermath. The other networks were able to meet those expectations with strong growth.
Does this foreshadow a bleak winter winter for Fox? Yes, gawd-dammit, it does. And it’s about time.
The irresponsible, journalistically vacant, unethical, propagandizing that is the hallmark of Fox is obviously wearing thin with the American television audience. And as they sink, their desperation is leading them into ever more pathetic theocon-ambulisms. As they struggle to cling to their crumbling empire they resort to inanities like a pilot for a conservative Daily Show, or the memo that sought to console the newsroom ranks by reassurring them that…
“The elections and Rumsfeld’s resignation were a major event but not the end of the world. The war on terror goes on without interruption”
Feel better? I know I sure do.
