{"id":1434,"date":"2009-10-27T08:52:02","date_gmt":"2009-10-27T15:52:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=1434"},"modified":"2009-10-27T12:36:29","modified_gmt":"2009-10-27T19:36:29","slug":"bill-oreillys-bald-faced-lies-about-his-ratings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=1434","title":{"rendered":"Bill O’Reilly’s Bald-Faced Lies About His Ratings"},"content":{"rendered":"

On his program Monday, Bill O’Reilly had another episode of Ratings Derangement Syndrome<\/a>. I first reported this malady exactly one year ago when O’Reilly became unhinged at what he believed was a conspiracy by Nielsen to destroy him:<\/p>\n

“The bottom line on this is there may be some big-time cheating going on in the ratings system, and we hope the Feds will investigate. Any fraud in the television rating system affects all Americans.”<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Of course the Feds have no oversight authority to investigate private polling firms. And O’Reilly had no evidence of wrongdoing anyway. It’s also interesting to note that O’Reilly has no problems with Nielsen’s data now that they are reporting a rosier picture of his program’s performance. But he still has his knickers in a twist over any media critic who dares to question his primacy. This most recent outburst<\/a> began with a declaration dripping in hyperbole and delusions of grandeur.<\/p>\n

“Fox News is now the most powerful news organization in the United States of America, and that means in the world.”<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It is statements like that that require linguists to create new adjectives, because supercilious, delusional, and narcissistic, simply don’t cut it anymore. O’Reilly still doesn’t get that Fox reaches a mere 1% of the American public. The vast majority of news consumers are opting to watch programs other than his. O’Reilly was responding to criticism from Time Magazine’s Joe Klein, who raised O’Reilly’s ire by saying that, “Fox News peddles a fair amount of hateful crap.”<\/em> O’Reilly ought to be grateful to Klein for being so gentle. The truth is Fox News peddles a huge amount of hateful crap. But instead, O’Reilly’s misguided indignation led him to spew a batch of unmitigated lies:<\/p>\n

“Look what’s happened. Fox News thirteen years on the air, OK?. Wipes out every other cable network, OK?. It’s not even close. Now, we’re approaching, the Factor is approaching Katie Couric numbers. We’re real close to Katie Couric numbers. We beat everybody else. Good Morning America. Nightline. I think the Today show is a little bit ahead of us, but it’s close. <\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

First of all, Fox News does not wipe out every other cable network. They lead only amongst cable “news”<\/em> networks. TBS, ESPN and USA, routinely beat Fox News (it’s not even close), but O’Reilly failed to make that distinction.<\/p>\n

Secondly, O’Reilly’s contention that he is approaching Katie Couric numbers is laughable. Primarily because it wouldn’t be that much of a feat. Couric is the worst performing broadcast news program. But to compound his comedic dishonesty, he doesn’t come close to Courics ratings. Couric’s average of approximately 5.5 million is almost twice O’Reilly’s 3 million viewers. and the top rated NBC News brings in about 8.5 million, nearly triple O’Reilly.<\/p>\n

Finally, O’Reilly doesn’t beat Good Morning America. Nightline, or the Today show. Setting aside the fact that these shows don’t even compete with O’Reilly, and their time periods have an entirely different potential audience, he still fails to best them. In fact, the Today Show also nearly doubles O’Reilly’s numbers even though it is on in the early morning hours while O’Reilly is on in primetime.. He could have claimed a victory over CBS’s perennial loser, The Early Show, but for some reason didn’t bother.<\/p>\n

In the end, this is just another display of O’Reilly’s dishonesty and arrogance. And despite his objections, and his egotistical fantasies, he is only illustrating why knowledgeable observers do not regard Fox as a news network. It is merely a platform for self-serving propaganda, manic paranoia and partisan disinformation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On his program Monday, Bill O’Reilly had another episode of Ratings Derangement Syndrome. I first reported this malady exactly one year ago when O’Reilly became unhinged at what he believed was a conspiracy by Nielsen to destroy him: “The bottom line on this is there may be some big-time cheating going on in the ratings […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1,6,16],"tags":[26,33,44,665,146],"class_list":["post-1434","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general","category-ratings","category-wankery","tag-bill-oreilly","tag-fox-news","tag-glenn-beck","tag-joe-klein","tag-katie-couric"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4Ijg-n8","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1107,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=1107","url_meta":{"origin":1434,"position":0},"title":"Bill O’Reilly’s Ratings Derangement Syndrome","author":"Mark NC","date":"10\/26\/2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Bill O'Reilly's deteriorating mental state has been on display for many months, even years. From the recently uncovered \"We'll do it live\" meltdown, to the unhinged \"Don't block the shot\" hysterics, O'Reilly has demonstrated the makings of an unprecedentedly public psychological collapse. One of the core symptoms of the sort\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1158,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=1158","url_meta":{"origin":1434,"position":1},"title":"Why Christmas Matters To Bill O’Reilly","author":"Mark NC","date":"12\/21\/2008","format":false,"excerpt":"In his Talking Points Memo this week, Bill O'Reilly endeavored to describe a matter that must be very dear and personal for him: Why Christmas Matters. So with an earnestness that befit the occasion, he began by talking about his TV ratings and why his viewers, who are insufficiently alarmed\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1320,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=1320","url_meta":{"origin":1434,"position":2},"title":"Don’t Believe The Hype About Fox News Ratings","author":"Mark NC","date":"7\/1\/2009","format":false,"excerpt":"As the numbers come in for the second quarter, cable news networks are all putting on their best spin to wrangle positive stories that promote how much better they are than their competition. It's an age-old ritual that pits marketing flacks against one another as they jostle for position and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":107,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=107","url_meta":{"origin":1434,"position":3},"title":"FOX Ratings In Free Fall","author":"Mark NC","date":"2\/28\/2006","format":false,"excerpt":"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\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5317,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=5317","url_meta":{"origin":1434,"position":4},"title":"Culture Warrior Bill O’Reilly Takes One In The Gut","author":"Mark NC","date":"8\/30\/2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Last week I posted a screen grab from Fox Nation that revealed that the Fox News crew had trouble counting in single digits. The image that appeared on Fox Nation and FoxNews.com with the headline, \"Gawker and 7 Other Formerly Popular Sites That Are Dead or Dying,\" actually had eight\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":26013,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=26013","url_meta":{"origin":1434,"position":5},"title":"The Collapse of Liberal Media: Bill O’Reilly’s Wet Dream As His Reputation Disintegrates","author":"Mark NC","date":"3\/6\/2015","format":false,"excerpt":"The past couple of weeks has seen an ever-expanding exposition of brazenly dishonest reporting from Fox News star Bill O'Reilly. There are now at least five documented examples of his embellishing his own exploits in war zones and other \"dangerous\" assignments. 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