CNN has fallen to a miserable third in the cable news ratings and they seem to have adopted a very strange strategy to win viewers back: Reporting how they’re getting their asses kicked.
Ratings-challenged Campbell Brown reported on the feud between Bill O’Reilly and Keith Olbermann and actually mentioned the fact that their ratings handily top hers. (She neglected to mention Nancy Grace’s program on HLN also hands Campbell her ass on a platter during the 8 p.m. hour.)
What Brown said: “We can no longer ignore what is happening among some of our cable news colleagues. They are at war.”
What Brown meant: “We’re getting our asses kicked and maybe we can get a little tan from basking in the reflected glory of Bill O’Reilly’s ratings.”
Let’s be specific. Here is the total audience for each of the networks during Campbell’s timeslot on Monday, August 10:
| Network | Program | Total Audience |
|---|---|---|
| Fox News | O’Reilly | 3,814,000 |
| MSNBC | Olbermann | 1,243,000 |
| HLN | Grace | 875,000 |
| CNN | Brown | 783,000 |
Brown never mentions O’Reilly nor Olbermann by name. She simply refers to them as “big swinging anchors.” Of course, “anchor” is a thinly veiled reference to a common euphamism for “penis.”
What, Campbell, no teabagging references?
Source: MofoPolitics.com
