Alert the death panel: Network newscasts lose another 1,000,000 viewers per night

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• Let's not forget that NBC Nightly News cheats on their Nielsen ratings. Last year, the tvnewser.com website reported that whenever the Nightly News producers anticipate that a particular Nightly News broadcast will earn lower-than-expected ratings, they submit it to the Nielsen rating service intentionally misspelled as "Nitely News". That way, Nielsen counts the lower rated "Nitely News" broadcasts in a completely separate category from the higher rated "Nightly News" broadcasts and the lower rated shows don't bring down the ratings of the higher rated shows. The producers can claim a higher rating for Nightly News because that doesn't include the shows that were submitted to Nielsen as "Nitely News". (The most recent example of this deceptive practice was on July 1 & 2, according to a 7/7/10 tvnewser.com article. Because Brian Williams was not anchoring those nights, the producers submitted the show to Nielsen as "Nitely News".) So next time Brian feels the need to shamelessly brag about his ratings (as he did on June 24 when he prefaced his interview with BP's Bob Dudley by saying, "This is the first time in the 66 days of this disaster that the BP boss has appeared live on this broadcast, which is viewed by the largest single daily news audience in the country...."), let's all keep in mind that those ratings are artificially and deceptively inflated because Brian and his producers manipulate the Nielsen rating service. And by the way, Brian--bragging about your ratings on the air is real classy and professional. I wonder how often Walter Cronkite or Tom Brokaw bragged about their ratings on the air.

• Shouldn't the Pay Czar take a look at the lead anchors for the three networks that keep losing viewers? I mean, wouldn't it be easy to say....at some point, you earn enough....to paraphrase THE ONE!

  • Couric ESPECIALLY doesn't deserve what she is getting.

• And this is surprising news? Yawwwwnnnn.... Wake me when they do something significant.

• I was unaware that any of the networks had newscasts anymore. If I really wanted to see Americans consorting with Castro-and telling me what a wonderful man he was, and how taken by him they were, I may have watched them a long time ago-but really, had no idea they still broadcast nightly news.
  Do people really watch couric at all? Seriously, I remember a time when there was at least a little respect for the "newsmen" who read the news(even though cronkite's life's work was a NWO, where Marxism was the flavor of life). Really-katie couric as a "news person". She isn't a journalist, nor is brian williams or that lecherous dianne sawyer, who was so enamored with castro she gushed and gushed for 20 minutes.
  Anyone, right or left, who gets "information" from these propagandists is a fuc*ing retard-plain and simple. So liberal turd "tadcf"who posted your tripe about Fox-you are a retard-a moron, and a typical libtard who rails against fox news, just for the reason that they actually call out your hero marxists in DC for the shitting on the Constitution that is their daily course of action. You are a great American, but would you maybe go to venezuela or cuba, so that we adults can try to save our country? DOUCHE!

  • Amen

    • The only time I see the network news is if I'm at someone elses home & that's what is on. Nobody who really wants news would watch the network news.

• tadcf, liberals have a life?, who told you that Moveon.duh ?
  Who but a liberal has time to wander the county in search of something to protest.

• The main reason Fox News has such high ratings is because their audience--with their single-minded outlook--does not watch anything else. Liberals, on the other hand, tend to have a life and watch other things too. Not to mention that Fox is broadcast free in areas of the country where competing cable news shows cost money.

  • Ok tadcf, I'll level with you, I only watch FoxNews because they put the fox into FoxNews. I don't even have the volume on, I just look at the women who are hosting shows, reporting stories, or are guests. It's all about T & A for me, nothing else.

    BTW, I must say that conservatives understand that politics is part of life, & that liberals/progressive think that life is politics. That's one reason conservative talk radio is so big, we can listen to it while we work so we can then pay our taxes to subsidize the lazy assed recipient class that votes Demacrat because they love the welfare state. Also, FoxNewsChannel is only on cable/satellite, not to be confused with Fox, genius. As to your last line, & this is the bottom line, there are no competing cablenews shows, FoxNews owns the market because they are that good & CNN & MSNBC reward failure.

    Thanks for playing, we have some nice parting gifts for you.

  • tadcf - The main reason the networks have such low ratings is because their audience–with their single-minded outlook–does not watch anything else. Conservatives, on the other hand, tend to have a life and watch other things too. Not to mention that the networks are broadcast free in ALL areas of the country where competing cable news shows cost money. Is it not ironic when irony kills a good lib talking point?

    • This is an awesome post.

  • Okay... I just have to say it, you are an idiot.

    Let me tell you why:

    First Fox News (not the entertainment channel) is a cable news outfit. It is not "free". It comes with cable and satellite basic packages it is true, but it is still something you have to pay for. The 3 networks mentioned ARE free.

    Second So having high ratings means that people don't watch anything else? Okay but why is that? Maybe because the other NEWS are so lame? maybe because the other news are biased and inconsequential? Maybe because people want a bit of truth in their reporting?

    Third Why is having high ratings a BAD or negative thing? You slanted that as if it was a BAD thing that Fox gets high ratings. You are a moron. That is a good thing, the other networks are getting bad ratings because they suck, getting high ratings is not a bad thing. You live in opposite world.

    Fourth Not watching nonsense is not a sign of being single minded, it is a sign of wanting more information that is factual which is a sign of an open minded person. Your idiot statement that liberals are not single minded because they watch other things too (due to the fact that they have life) made me laugh so hard. Thanks for the laugh I needed it... It made ABSOLUTELY no sense. You are grasping at nonsense.

  • Actually, all 4 networks are broadcast free to about 90% of Americans. The Fox News Channel is mostly only available on satellite or cable. It must be difficult living in a world devoid of facts.

  • ...or it could be that:

    A) the free market is succeeding;
    B) Fox, despite its obvious right-slant, still reports enough facts and lets its viewers decide ("slants" of any sort suck, in my opinion);
    C) The MSM's exclusion of information, while dressing up their editorialism as journalism, isn't fooling as many people anymore;
    D) Alternative news sources are gaining in reliability and availability.

• Best "news" I've heard today. One can only "hope" that America is ready for "change" in November.

• Can't speak for US, but if this is replicated in the UK, one trick might be to pare back on the 24/7, ditch the opinion fillers, and concentrate on, reporting... er... 'news'.

  • How is getting tripe 5 hours a day different from getting the same tripe 24 hours a day?
    what, week old fish and chip will seem fresher with a 19 hour break in between bites? I don't believe that! Information is not the Enemy. Allow your enemy to speak freely, and he will reveal his intentions.

    Where Moonbats live, Guano is deep! And Americans with a sense of smell are noticing the waft. Soon, the shyte will start FLYING as well. Then even the 'Useful Idiots' will move out of range.