CNN co-founder Reese Schonfeld tells the Huffington Post (huh, why would a CNN man go there to post?) that “seven months after Barack Obama’s victory, CNN’s ratings have gone down the drain”:
Nine years ago, when FoxNews sprinted past CNN to become America’s number one news network, I attributed its ratings gains to the election of George Bush and the triumph of Fox-watching conservatives. I figured conservatives would be savoring their victory while liberals were averting their eyes in disgust. For the next eight years, I measured political sentiment in the United States by comparing the size of the FoxNews audience with the combined size of the CNN/MSNBC audience. In this space, I even predicted, with reasonable accuracy, the percent by which Barack Obama won the election based on the split in the news audience.
Now, seven months after Barack Obama’s victory, CNN’s ratings have gone down the drain. From May of last year to May of this year, CNN lost 22% of its total primetime audience. MSNBC was down 2%, while FoxNews was up 24%. In the key advertising demographic (25-54), Fox was up 31%, CNN was down 37% and MSNBC was down 26%. In hard numbers, Fox had 109,000 more viewers than last year while CNN lost 113,000. CNN averaged fewer than 200,000 25-54 viewers in primetime. Even MSNBC averaged more viewers than that.
Total day was nearly as bad, with Fox up 24% and CNN down 7%. MSNBC was down 2% in total viewing. Fox is beating CNN almost two-to-one in most categories.
There’s no need to throw any more numbers at you–Fox is gaining, CNN is wilting. Why is this happening when the country still seems about 58-42 in favor of Obama? My best guess is the passion of those who detest Democrats, liberals, and in particular, Barack Obama.
You don’t think it could also have anything to do with moments such as this and this, do you? And as P.J. Gladnick of Newsbusters asks, “Maybe the TV audience is growing weary of the MSM treating Barack Obama as Sort of God and want some realistic news coverage of his administration.”
Then there’s this quote from Reese, which Gladnick also highlights:
But, then again, maybe all of the above are wrong. Maybe it’s simply the need for an enemy, the desire to detest is greater than the power to tolerate; maybe it’s the need to blame somebody else for the bad things that are happening in our lives that drives viewers to Fox. Perhaps those viewers are the next generation of the rich socialites in the old New Yorker cartoon, who dressed up to go to the newsreel theatre and hiss FDR*. Only now they can do it at home, watching FoxNews. Maybe the joy of defeat is underestimated.
Only if you have to smile and go on the air at the Most Busted Name In News.
Unlike Reese’s fantasies that Fox has millions watching it who dress in spats and talk like Thurston Howell, Fox is a populist channel, not an elitist one. That’s in sharp contrast to CNN, whose on-air personalities literally sneer at the middle class when they spot a thoughtcrime occurring, when they’re not calling them Nazis. And plenty of wealthy California and Northeast Corridor liberals were thrilled to vote for Obama, especially after CNN spent 2008 carrying his water and avoiding substantive discussions of the candidate’s myriad of flaws, to the point where, in late November of 2008, a journalist at CNN International could write with a straight face about the newly elected president, “The Americans who are comparing him to those remarkable predecessors are putting a lot of faith in a man they barely know.”
If only he could have passed the word to his employer duing the election year.
* Of course, in retrospect, the fantasy socialites that Peter Arno imagined in his 1936 New Yorker cartoon actually had good reason to be angered by FDR’s policies.
PJM Home
Pajamas Media appreciates your comments that abide by the following guidelines:
1. Avoid profanities or foul language unless it is contained in a necessary quote or is relevant to the comment.
2. Stay on topic.
3. Disagree, but avoid ad hominem attacks.
4. Threats are treated seriously and reported to law enforcement.
5. Spam and advertising are not permitted in the comments area.
The clause regarding "hate speech" has been deleted because readers criticized it as being too loosely defined. We agreed.
These guidelines are very general and cannot cover every possible situation. Please don't assume that Pajamas Media management agrees with or otherwise endorses any particular comment. We reserve the right to filter or delete comments or to deny posting privileges entirely at our discretion. If you feel your comment was filtered inappropriately, please email us at story@pajamasmedia.com.
33 Comments
1. ObamaIsTheNewHitler:This is what infuriates me about the GOP.
They never call these hypocrites out.
“Maybe it’s simply the need for an enemy, the desire to detest is greater than the power to tolerate; maybe it’s the need to blame somebody else for the bad things that are happening in our lives that drives viewers to Fox.”
Hatred, DEMOCRAT hatred, is what put Obama in office.
PMSNBC is not a love channel.
Jun 8, 2009 - 12:31 am 2. Robert Speirs:Maybe the big story here is the raw numbers. CNN has 200,000 viewers 25-54 in prime time? That sounds like fewer than 500,000 overall. Let’s see, out of 300,000,000 Americans, that’s one out of 600 watching CNN!! OK, so not everyone watches TV. But even one out of 100 is pretty poor for a “major” news network. You have to wonder why they have any influence at all on anything.
Jun 8, 2009 - 5:18 am 3. Thomas B.:Reese: I hope to God that you’ve noticed the tone & mood of hypocritic bigotry in this article. It appears as if you suffer from at least as much “Hatred Syndrome” as the people you are bashing.
Jun 8, 2009 - 5:22 am 4. Russ Goble:So, did he just admit that CNN and MSNBC are liberal news networks?
Jun 8, 2009 - 5:23 am 5. Jane:I used to watch CNN as much as I watched Fox. Sometimes I got sick of the Foxies and the quality of their “both sides of the aisle” pundits. The ones chosen from the left are often inarticulate and ill informed,obviously bottom of the barrell – the ones on the right are too plastic. So, I would (on Sat morning and most weekdays) switch to CNN. For a time, CNN wasn’t so blatent, but now – I can’t take it. The same for Morning Joe and MSNBC – I prefered it to Fox n Friends for the most part, but now, more and more, I switch to Fox because they really are more truthful for the most part in spite of the syrup. CNN and MSNBC have NO regard for people who are not liberal. NONE, it is as if we do not have ANY RIGHT to another opinion. I feel like they think of me like the bumper sticker I saw on a blog the other day “She’s not a woman, she is a conservative.” They seem to exude that attitude and it scares me. So I am now exclusively turned to Fox, even though sometimes it feels like eating too much sugar. I adore, however, Special Report. It is the only place to get the news (political) honestly…
Jun 8, 2009 - 5:37 am 6. Diggs:They they cannot, or will not, see the cause of their demise makes it all the more sweet.
Jun 8, 2009 - 5:38 am 7. Increase Mather:CNN has become unwatchable. I even make an effort to avoid it in airports. Their bias is at least as huge as Fox’s. Like MSNBC they sneer at the center of the country for being…religious, patriotic, and not Ivy league educated.
They seem to be saying “Why can’t Americans be more like us?” My sense is that because their newsroom only represents the left…they view the rest of the country as somehow…foreign…people who need to be converted.
With CNN, it’s kinda like when Jevoah Witnesses show up at my door…I just don’t open it….with CNN I don’t even watch anymore…like NPR, I know what they are going to say.
Jun 8, 2009 - 5:43 am 8. willis:So while Bush was in office, Fox’s numbers were growing because conservatives loved to gloat over their victory, but when Obama is office, Fox’s numbers keep growing because conservatives hate Obama. Under what scenario do you picture CNN et al having a growth in viewers? And has it occurred to you that conservatives don’t care for Obama but don’t hate him. Sounds like a bad case of projection to me.
Jun 8, 2009 - 5:50 am 9. ernie:Is it because FOX actually IS “fair and balanced” and DOES represent both sides of the issue? Sure, there are personality shows (Hannity, Beck etc) that are definitely conservative, but when it comes to distributing the news and getting opinions, there is always both sides of the issue, and apparently most “middle-of-the-road” viewers go there for their news. The left simply cannot stand any opinion that does not line up with theirs, while the right seems to be more tolerant.
Jun 8, 2009 - 6:17 am 10. Rahm Emanuel's Taster:News flash! Obama Motors have developed a new “green” car which gets over 100 mph to the gallon! It’s got a built-in TV that tunes to CNN and a radio pretuned to NPR. It never runs out of fuel.
It’s secret: It runs on liberal smug.
Jun 8, 2009 - 6:18 am 11. Vero:We have CNN blocked on our 3 TV’s and so does my son and his family. Actually, it was their ideal first, wife and I liked it and followed suit. We do not even want to accidentally have them on.
Jun 8, 2009 - 6:19 am 12. Fen:Reese: Maybe it’s simply the need for an enemy, the desire to detest is greater than the power to tolerate; maybe it’s the need to blame somebody else for the bad things that are happening in our lives that drives viewers to Fox.
Or maybe we simply prefer an information broker that presents conservative perspectives fairly.
And doesn’t censor knowledge of Saddam’s rape rooms and torture chambers in exchange for “access” [Eason Jordon].
Imagine if Federated Department Stores only carried Dallas Cowboys jerseys, and couldn’t understand why half its market is searching other venues for Pittsburgh Steelers gear. If Reese was the GM, he’d be fired.
Jun 8, 2009 - 6:27 am 13. Paul:Journalists, the GOP, Bwarny Frwank, the DNC, Lawyers…..all make me wish for a return of dueling.
Jun 8, 2009 - 6:28 am 14. CNNs rating Down the Drain! « The Right Cup of Tea:[...] link: Ed Driscoll » CNN Co-Founder: “CNN’s Ratings Have Gone Down The Drain” [...]
Jun 8, 2009 - 6:40 am 15. Max:Actually, the most interesting thing about the article is how open the guy is about the Dem/Lib bias of CNN. He doesn’t even attempt to hide or diminish it.
He just says, in so many words: “We’re the liberal network and Fox is the conservative one.”
Jun 8, 2009 - 6:54 am 16. Ken Hahn:CNN is part of the “mainstream” media. Its content, if not its style is available from MSNBC, PBS, CBS, NBC, ABC and a thousand newspapers. Fox is unique in the regular media. A few newspapers, some blogs and talk radio are its only competition. Each member of the lapdog media cannibalizes the others. There just aren’t enough Obama worshippers to keep six networks going.
Jun 8, 2009 - 7:27 am 17. Jed Skillman:It is silly to try to use cable news channel ratings to predict voter sentiment. There is no direct relationship. You might as well look at tea leaves.
FOX NEWS not only competes with CNN & MSNBC, it competes with all other cable and broadcast channels, even the channels showing re-runs of I Love Lucy or Bowling For Dollars. FOX competes with community volunteer work, Little League and with mowing the lawn as well.
We have 300+ million people living in the United States. When you see those towering FOX NEWS audience share numbers, remember they only represents 2-4 million viewers, which rounded out equals about 1% of the population. They are watching FOX. Everybody else is either doing something else or watching something else.
But…those 2-4 million also represent the overwhelming majority of people who are active news-seekers. These people are not passive viewers vegging out on the sofa. They are looking for the real news and increasingly they recognize that what they are being served on the other channels is junk food.
If FOX’s numbers keep growing, however, there will come a time when those viewers do exert a measurable force on public perceptions and elections. I suspect Democrat strategists know this, too. Thus the relentless bash-Fox campaign.
Jun 8, 2009 - 7:28 am 18. vlad:I haven’t watched CNN in a while, but this weekend I caught about an hour of it and it was pretty much all I could take. The fawning over Obama is absolutely unbelievable. The two dimwitted anchors were cooing over Obama’s decision to eat at a NO-STAR restaurant in Paris. He’s so brave! He’s a man of the people! The coverage then moved to the crucial issue of whether the Obama children were staying a few extra days in France. Hard-hitting!
CNN’s ratings are down because it is literally unwatchable for anybody who isn’t nursing a bobby-soxer crush on Obama. I was astounded.
Jun 8, 2009 - 7:57 am 19. NC Mountain Girl:When I watch any channel other than Fox I find myself wondering if the reporters have festooned their bedroom walls with pictures of Obama carefully cut out of glossy magazines. The breathless teenybopper crush tone has been over the top for almost 18 months now.
Since teenyboppers usually end up being embarassed about the erstwhile object of their obsessions in three or four years, it will be interesting to see how things develop.
Jun 8, 2009 - 8:18 am 20. ptsargent:Once you understand liberals need to be led and made to feel like there’s a bid mommy and daddy out there to make sure they’re okay when they fall down, etc, then you understand their need and love for O. What’s to be watched is all the independents who misguidedly voted for the one. If they get fed up, as they sureloy should, the game is over and we can hope for a return of the adults.
Jun 8, 2009 - 8:38 am 21. ked5:Gee, Reese, why is that?
Could it be that your targeted demographic is well past the vacuous teen years? and in fact are dealing with it secondarily with their own teens? (or being embarassed at memories of their own recent teenage vacuity.) most tiresome – why would they want to get it from *another* source?
So Reese, why don’t you drop that vacuous format – might do wonders for your ratings.
Jun 8, 2009 - 9:34 am 22. Kevin:Maybe if CNN went back to a straight hard-news format (and double that for Headline News), instead of a leftish copy of the Fox format, they’d provide a useful alternative.
Start by getting rid of the damn ticker. I’ll bet there are lots of folks who would flee Fox just for that.
Jun 8, 2009 - 9:37 am 23. samuel:When, oh when, will we stop having to see and hear CNN in every airport. I’d rather watch HSN… or better yet NOTHING!
Jun 8, 2009 - 9:40 am 24. Eric R.:CNN will never change from its left-wing, Islamist, anti-American and anti-Semitic slant, because that would upset its core audience in Europe and the Muslim world.
CNN long ago gave up competing in the USA. They now gear their broadcasts for like-minded degenerates in Brussels, Berlin, Ridyadh and Damascus.
And Hollywood is now geared up the same way.
Jun 8, 2009 - 9:57 am 25. jensad:Better to appeal to foreign audiences that love Socialism and hate America than appeal to what they view as the neanderthals in flyover country.
Could not happen to a more “deserving” and ignoramus network.
jensad
Jun 8, 2009 - 10:15 am 26. Ed Driscoll » CNN Co-Founder: “CNN’s Ratings Have Gone Down The Drain” « Nebraska Redneck (and proud of it):[...] via Ed Driscoll » CNN Co-Founder: “CNN’s Ratings Have Gone Down The Drain”. [...]
Jun 8, 2009 - 10:26 am 27. deguello:It’s all Bush’s and O’reilly’s fault!Maybe they could open a CNN branch in Havana:I’m sure Castro would welcome this dispenser of stalinist agitprop with open arms!
Jun 8, 2009 - 11:28 am 28. Ed Driscoll:Deguello,
Heh; of course as Charles Johnson noted a few years ago, “In a 1999 lecture at the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University, former CNN Chief News Executive Eason Jordan told the audience that CNN International was directly inspired by Fidel Castro.”
As Charles rhetorically wrote at the time, “I wonder what could have attracted Fidel Castro so strongly to CNN?”
Jun 8, 2009 - 11:54 am 29. Jack’s Newswatch » Blog Archive » CNN Co-Founder: “CNN’s Ratings Have Gone Down The Drain” (2):[...] [More] Updates: [...]
Jun 8, 2009 - 1:03 pm 30. Peg C.:This is just too sweet and no one enjoys the schadenfreude of this more than I, but there is so much wrong with these whining, lefty media narcissists. They simply refuse to live in the real world. And ain’t individual choice a bitch when it’s not all about lifestyle? I don’t have the numbers but didn’t something like 55 or 58 million vote for Obama? And they can’t get 1/60th of those to watch their America-bashing, spittle-flecked, juvenile vitriol? And they blame us, the minority?! Now my household blocks CNN, NBC, and PMSNBC simply because they are too rude, hateful and idiotic to be in my living room. I’m getting a TV-B-Gone to do some guerilla-style warfare on CNN TVs in airports and freeway rest areas. We don’t watch any news as a rule but if we just have to watch something that is breaking, we only watch FNC. It’s the only news channel, broadcast or cable, whose news personalities and opinions don’t make us want to throw up. What I just don’t get is why, now that their little god has been elected, 55 million liberals aren’t watching the verbal pleasuring of him 24/7. Where are all those supportive viewers? And Reese blames us.
Just remember, first and foremost with the left is projection. They are pickled in hatred so they project onto us and voila, we’re the haters. You have to laugh while they circle the drain. Faster please!
Jun 8, 2009 - 2:06 pm 31. JC:The whole situation is reminiscent of the radio situation in Los Angeles years ago. There was one or two Spanish stations and a sea of English ones. So the Spanish stations always got higher numbers than the top English ones. These days, there’s a sea of Spanish stations and a lot fewer English stations, and the numbers are much more spread out and less than in the past.
The whole point being that Fox has such good numbers because it’s the sole conservative leaning station. If the libs hate Fox so much, they can quite easily cut its numbers down by providing more conservative leaning shows on their misc stations…
Jun 8, 2009 - 2:44 pm 32. Victor Erimita:We can fulminate against the malignant MSM/Hard Left partnership. We can gloat over the shrinking audience shares and failing business models. But the fact is the MSM is more powerful and more successfully manipluative than ever. And the undebatable proof is our President. There is absolutely no way a person of no achievement, no notable career, no real, full-time job experience could even be nominated for, let alone be elected to, the Presidency without the full support of the media (which we all acknowledge,) but more depressingly, without its campaign of public manipulation being wildly successful. That is the sad, hard truth.
Jun 8, 2009 - 3:15 pm 33. Jim C.:I posted the following over at Huffnpuff. We’ll see if it actually gets past moderation.
=============================================
“Confessing error”? Try “wallowing in self-pity”.
“Here are the best excuses I can think of”
Your whole post–I repeat, your WHOLE post–is nothing BUT excuses.
“Perhaps those viewers are the next generation of the rich socialites in the old New Yorker cartoon”
Oh noble man of the people, what’s your annual income?
“Maybe the joy of defeat is underestimated.”
Then why aren’t you happy about losing in the ratings? Why has the left been so unhappy in the last 9 years?
You put on a relentless nine years hate for Bush. You were cheerleaders for Obama. You gave him a pass and got him elected. You chose to be used, and now you’ve been thrown away. You have to create a huge straw man to console yourself. You’re bitter and whiny. Enjoy! I know I’m enjoying the spectacle you’re making of yourself!
Jun 8, 2009 - 4:16 pmSorry, comments for this entry are closed at this time.