Just try, if you can, to imagine the chagrin suffered by CNN when it has to report a story about Fox News. Even worse, imagine its complete humiliation when it has to stage group discussions about Fox.
Just try, if you can, to imagine the chagrin suffered by CNN when it has to report a story about Fox News. Even worse, imagine its complete humiliation when it has to stage group discussions about Fox.
For example, when the White House declares Fox News to be the enemy. Then imagine the entire panel agreeing with David Gergen and saying that Obama’s attack on Fox News “is a risky strategy and it’s not one I would advocate.”
Luckily, CNN’s embarrassment will be minimized by the fact that no one saw the discussion because all the network’s former viewers now watch Fox.
What was CNN thinking when they did a “fact check” on a Saturday Night Live skit that criticized President Obama? What were they thinking?
Toonces the driving cat doesn’t wear a seatbelt!
What was CNN thinking when they did a “fact check” on a Saturday Night Live skit that criticized President Obama? What were they thinking?
The so-called news network’s absurd “fact check” of a comedy skit has deservedly become the butt of an on-going joke on Twitter.
The basic idea? If CNN is going to fact check the President Obama skit, they must be fact checking other SNL skits, too.
For example:
@DefiantKembro ‘El Nino’ is not Spanish for “the Nino” #CNNFactCheck
@EnasYorl “Wayne’s World” was not really a public access cable show. #CNNfactcheck
@ArielAkiva The superfans were not actually having heart attacks. #cnnfactcheck
@thecomeback After checking every river in America, we have not been able to find a motivational speaker living in a van. #CNNfactcheck
@jeffdobbs: Over half of Saturday Night Live is NOT ON SATURDAY NIGHT for Eastern time zone. Outrage. #CNNFactCheck
@jkfecke In fact, Blue Öyster Cult never included a cowbell player named Gene Frenkle–the musician didn’t exist. #CNNFactCheck
@mikehassinger: This just in: “Toonces the driving cat” not real cat, can’t even DRIVE! #CNNFactCheck
This is citizen journalism at its finest. OK, second finest after a certain smartass political commentary site that modesty prohibits us from mentioning.
The One now believes he is The Only One who can save his floundering socialist healthcare plan. So he showed up on five networks — ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN plus Spanish-language Univision — on Sunday to pitch his leftist heart out.
The One now believes he is The Only One who can save his floundering socialist healthcare plan. So he showed up on five networks — ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN plus Spanish-language Univision — on Sunday to pitch his leftist heart out.
Of course, the Greatest President In History did not appear on Fox Sunday, automatically eliminating himself for consideration for any future sequels to Profiles In Courage. In search of more friendly climes, he will continue his Talking Tour 2009 on Monday’s David Letterman Show.
According to Martha Joynt Kumar, a political scientist at Towson University in Maryland, Barack Obama has been one very busy President. Oh, not busy doing the actual work of a President, but busy talking. Always talking. By the time the sun sets on Sunday, he will have done 124 separate interviews during his short presidency. One hundred twenty-four.
In contrast, George Bush had done only 40 interviews and Bill Clinton had done 46 at this same point in their presidencies.
We hope ObamaCare covers Presidential Appearance Fatigue Syndrome (PAFS), because we are really getting tired of seeing this guy on televison.
CNN’s Wolf Blitzer appeared on Celebrity Jeopardy last night and proved once and for all that, yes, he is that stupid. The thin veneer of intellectual superiority was stripped away and the know-it-all Blitzer proved he knew nothing when he competed against actress Dana Delaney and comedian Andy Richter.
CNN’s Wolf Blitzer appeared on Celebrity Jeopardy last night and proved once and for all that, yes, he is that stupid.
The thin veneer of intellectual superiority was stripped away and the know-it-all Blitzer proved he knew nothing when he competed against actress Dana Delaney and comedian Andy Richter.
To be blunt, Blitzer sucked. He was an ignoramus. He embarrassed his friends, his family, his employers, short people, bearded people, and fellow clueless liberals.
Richter won the game with an incredible $68,000 total. Delaney racked up an creditable $9,300. But Wolf’s final score was -$4800. Yes, negative $4,800.
It’s very difficult for a Jeopardy contestant to come up enough wrong answers to go that far in the hole. It takes great effort and even greater ignorance.
Where’s that damn Teleprompter when it’s really needed?
CNN reports the contradictory news that, “The job market is showing signs of improvement, according to the latest economic reports. But for those out of work and pounding the pavement, there are few signs of a turnaround.”
Newsflash from CNN: Unemployment is improving. Except when it's not.
CNN reports the contradictory news that, “The job market is showing signs of improvement, according to the latest economic reports. But for those out of work and pounding the pavement, there are few signs of a turnaround.”
We are still trying to make sense out of the job market “showing signs of improvement’ with ‘few signs of a turnaround.” Perhaps the jobs that are not available now are better jobs than the ones that were previously not available.
CNN explains the signs of improvement with salient snippets like: “In fact, almost 70% of U.S. companies surveyed expect no change in their fourth-quarter hiring plans, according to a recent study by employment services company Manpower Inc.”
We are waiting for CNN to publish more contradictory news, such as “CNN is the most trusted name in news even though everyone knows we’ve lost our relevance and sold our journalistic souls.”
Pity CNN reporter Lisa DesJardins. She drew the unenviable task of representing the left wing cable news network at Saturday’s massive right wing gathering in Washington, DC.
The highlight is when the crowd taunts CNN by repeatedly chanting the name “Glenn Beck” in honor of the former CNN host who has now become a huge ratings success at rival Fox News.
They also chanted “Tell the truth” and “No more lies,” much to the dismay of the frustrated DesJardins.
First time we saw this video, we thought it was Wolf Blitzer. False alarm. Turns out it’s a cow giving birth. For some reason, CNN decided to show this video clip of reporter Deborah Feyerick helping a calf be born. We can’t explain it.
First time we saw this video, we thought it was Wolf Blitzer. False alarm. Turns out it’s a cow giving birth.
For some reason, CNN decided to show this video clip of reporter Deborah Feyerick helping a calf be born.
Beck’s ratings are higher than ever. Remarkably, his show doesn’t run during primetime, yet his audience is larger than every prime time on every cable news network except Fox News’ O’Reilly-Hannity tandem. How long until Fox moves him into a more prominent time slot? And who will go to make room for him?
Glenn Beck rules the ratings with an iron fist
If President Obama’s henchmen are organizing a boycott of Glenn Beck, the ratings show that no one’s paying attention.
Beck’s ratings are higher than ever. Remarkably, his show doesn’t run during primetime, yet his audience is larger than every prime time on every cable news network except Fox News’ O’Reilly-Hannity tandem.
How long until Fox moves him into a more prominent time slot? And who will go or move to make room for him?
Wacko Democrat Congresswoman Shiela Jackson-Lee was grilled by CNN anchor Rick Sanchez grilled her about taking a phone call while a constituent was asking her a question at a recent town hall meeting.
A woman comes home from work early and finds her husband in bed with a beautiful blonde. She screams, she cries, she gets hysterical.
Her husband calmly gets up out of bed, puts on his clothes and walks downstairs to the kitchen, where he pours himself a glass of milk, sits down at the kitchen table and drinks it.
“I want a divorce,” the wife screams. “I can’t believe you had sex with another woman in my bed.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” the husband says. “I’ve never had sex with another woman.”
“I saw it with my own eyes,” the wife screams.
“Who you gonna believe,” the husband asks, me or your lying eyes?”
Ratings-challenged Campbell Brown reported on the feud between Bill O’Reilly and Keith Olbermann and actually mentioned that their ratings handily top hers.
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.
All Fox News hosts have higher ratings than all their competitors combined, including CNN and MSNBC. Data for August 10, 2009.
Is Glenn Beck the real king of cable news? His program is number three in the ratings even though it isn't in primetime
If you’re not on Fox, your ratings picture is pretty grim. All Fox hosts have higher ratings than all their competitors combined. Here’s what it looked like on the night of August 10.
We call your attention to the Glenn Beck ratings. Considering his time slot is during work and drive-home hours for the vast majority of America, his numbers are astounding. Perhaps a rearrangement of the Fox News line-up is in order.
How can CNN attract advertisers now that it’s fallen into third place in the cable news ratings? Simple. Just ignore reality and announce that you’re still number one.
CNN gives advertisers the finger when it claims to be number one
How can CNN attract advertisers now that it’s fallen into third place in the cable news ratings? Simple. Just ignore reality and announce that you’re still number one
The staggering news network is now airing a TV commercial in which it proudly boasts that it is “No. 1 with more viewers than Fox and MSNBC.”
In reality, Fox has been kicking CNN’s butt since early 2002 and had more viewers than CNN, MSNBC and HLN combined last quarter. Not just in prime time, but all day long. Hell, even sickly MSNBC topped CNN for the first time last quarter.
So how does CNN justify its demonstrably false claim?
Simple. They cherry picked an obscure statistic media buyers generally don’t accept — a cumulative number based on the total number of people who tuned into the network for six minutes or more per month.
Naturally, CNN chose not to reveal their alternate reality in the commercial.
Interesting to see that the news isn’t the only thing distorted on CNN. At least they’re consistent.
Jack Cafferty said Alec Baldwin wasn’t qualified to run for office because he hadn’t gone to Harvard like Al Franken. Baldwin responded and it was great.
Tread lightly when Alec Baldwin when he gets that crazed look in his eyes
CNN’s Jack Cafferty has done the impossible. He made us agree with something Alec Baldwin said.
Cafferty said Baldwin wasn’t qualified to run for office because he hadn’t gone to Harvard like Al Franken. Baldwin responded at HuffingtonPost.com:
I would like to make a deal with Cafferty. Jack, you don’t tell people that a career in the performing arts disqualifies them from seeking elected office, and I won’t say publicly that your being convicted of leaving the scene of an accident in which you struck a cyclist and then ran two red lights while you were pursued by the police and were subsequently ordered to serve 70 hours of community service back in May of 2003 disqualifies you from posing as a “Man of the People” on a major cable news network.
Fair enough?
Can’t help but agree with Baldwin on this one. But in our defense, we don’t feel good about it.
At a time when the Iranian thugocracy has clamped down on foreign reporters, CNN still managed to get some great quotes from unnamed pro-democracy protesters. Unfortunately for CNN, the sharp-eyed folks at BNO News figured out why they were unnamed – the quotes were actually tweets that had been posted by an anonymous Iranian Twitterer called PersianKiwi.
CNN's credibility is tattered and twittered
Which will vanish from CNN sooner – its last viewer or its last remaining shred of credibility? It’s a race down to the wire.
At a time when the Iranian thugocracy has clamped down on foreign reporters, CNN still managed to get some great quotes from unnamed pro-democracy protesters. Unfortunately for CNN, the sharp-eyed folks at BNO News figured out why they were unnamed – the quotes were actually tweets that had been posted by an anonymous Iranian Twitterer called PersianKiwi.
Here are PersianKiwi’s original tweets posted in the morning hours of June 24:
they were waiting for us – they all have guns and riot uniforms – it was like a mouse trap – ppl being shot like animals #Iranelection 6:53 AM Jun 24th from web
I see many ppl with broken arms/legs/heads – blood everywhere – pepper gas like war – #Iranelection 6:35 AM Jun 24th from web
Later in the day, CNN.com posted the following story:
TEHRAN, Iran (CNN) — Security forces wielding clubs and firing weapons beat back hundreds of would-be demonstrators who had flocked to a square in the capital on Wednesday to continue protests against an election they have denounced as fraudulent, witnesses told CNN.
“They were waiting for us,” one source said. “They all have guns and riot uniforms. It was like a mouse trap.”
“I see many people with broken arms, legs, heads – blood everywhere – pepper gas like war,” the source said.
Similar unnamed “sources” tell us that Ashton Kutcher is heading for the store to buy some cheese and crackers. But we’re not putting in a story.
Fox News is racking up the highest ratings in its 13-year history. The overall ratings at Rupert Murdoch’s network have shot up a remarkable 33% among Total Viewers and up 44% in the Adults 25-54 demographic in the last year. In primetime (Monday-Friday) the network’s dominance is even more shocking. It’s up 35% in Total Viewers and up 54% in younger viewers.
Fox News honcho Rupert Murdoch has a lot to smile about.
Fox News is racking up the highest ratings in its 13-year history.
The overall ratings at Rupert Murdoch’s network have shot up a remarkable 33% among Total Viewers and up 44% in the Adults 25-54 demographic in the last year. In primetime (Monday-Friday) the network’s dominance is even more shocking. It’s up 35% in Total Viewers and up 54% in younger viewers.
MSNBC and CNN have all but ceded primetime to Fox News, which racks up more total viewers and more younger viewers than the two runner up cable news networks combined.
You probably won’t find the following list taped on the refrigerator in the employee lounge at either MSNBC or CNN. It shows that Fox News has all ten of the most watched programs on cable news:
Time
Program
Total Viewers
8pm
O’Reilly Factor
3,188,000
9pm
Hannity
2,341,000
5pm
Glen Beck
2,053,000
10pm
On the Record
1,950,000
6pm
Special Report
1,889,000
7pm
Fox Report
1,757,000
11pm
O’Reilly Factor
1,579,000
9am
America’s Newsroom
1,399,000
4pm
Your World
1,389,000
3pm
Studio B
1,169,000
MSNBC and CNN to both hitched their wagon to Obama’s horse. The horse has gone lame.
Campbell Brown came back to CNN on Monday following maternity leave. She looked the same, but her show looked different. They retooled it while she was gone. And they dropped “No Bias, No Bull” from the title.
We assume that by dropping “No Bias, No Bull” CNN is merely acknowledging the huge role bias and bull have always played in the program.
We’d have an alternate title: Campbell Brown: Mo’ Bias, Mo’ Bull.
Appearing on CNN, former Congressman Tom Tancredo, a Colorado Republican, attacked Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor for saying wise Latinas make better decisions than white men.
Horrified by Sotomayor’s membership in an “immigrants’ rights group” called La Raza (Translation: “The Race”), Tancredo called it “a Latino KKK without the hoods or the nooses.”
Rick Sanchez, the CNN host who’s never met a left wing extremist he doesn’t love, was horrified by Tancredo’s assertion.
We were horrified when we realized we were watching CNN.
Highly-respected reporter Susan Roesgen…hell, we can’t even say that with a straight face, so let’s start again. Partisan hack reporter Susan Roesgen is back on the air at CNN.
You may remember Roesgen as the so-called reporter who frantically attacked Tea Party participants in Chicago on April 15. Her pathetic performance drew such unanimous condemnation that Roesgen suddenly departed on a “previously-planned vacation.” A three week vacation, at that.
Roesgen is now back on the air reporting for CNN. Her assignment? The Drew Peterson arrest. And after the way she murdered her Tea Party assignment, what could be more appropriate?
Unconfirmed rumors say that Roesgen immediately caught Peterson’s eye and the dashing former detective is already planning a June wedding.
There’s not a word of truth in that previous sentence. But in our defense, you have to admit that those two deserve each other.
Just to prove he’s a man of the people, President Obama took Joe Biden to a burger joint called Ray’s Hell Burgers yesterday. Unfortunately, the President wasn’t quite up to the task of acting ordinary.
Obama seemed lost. Didn’t know what to order. Didn’t know how to order. He did his best shuck and jive with the kid behind the counter, but was lost when it came to ordering.
Joe Biden, the Cheap Veep, quickly realized the lunch was a freebie, so he jumped right in front of Obama and ordered. “Swiss cheese burger, jalapeno peppers. Will you put ketchup on it or do we do that ourselves? And a root beer.”
When Obama finally ordered, he looked like he should have taken his teleprompter to lunch instead of Biden. “Alright…(PAUSE)…I’m gonna have a basic cheddar cheese burger…(PAUSE)…medium well…(PAUSE)…uh…(PAUSE)…I just want mustard. No ketchup…(PAUSE)…You got a spicy mustard or something like that? A Dijon mustard or something like that?”
Who the hell goes into a place called Ray’s Hell Burgers in a limousine and asks for Dijon mustard? It was very reminiscent of the intentionally elitist Grey Poupon commercials.
And guess what. When MSNBC and CNN showed tape of the President’s day at Ray’s Hell Burgers, they both snipped out the Dijon question. After all, neither network could allow the President’s elitist reality to conflict with his man-of-the-people image.
Here’s CNN’s version of the Elitist’s trip to Ray’s Hell Burgers. Hold the Dijon.
“Obama seems terribly uncomfortable hanging out with the little people. Maybe he should have invited his teleprompter instead of Joe Biden.
Republican Senator Jim Demint ventured into unfriendly territory and appeared on CNN with Rick Sanchez the other day. He made the mistake of saying that the Republicans would rise again by emphasizing freedom.
Sanchez took exception to that concept.
“Freedom? Freedom? What the hell does that mean?” Sanchez blurted. “You have to do better than that.”
Interesting that a CNN anchor would needs to ask a Republican to explain freedom and then say it’s not good enough. This mindset may explain why Fox has left CNN so far behind in the ratings.
You want something better than freedom, Rick? How about freedom with sugar on top. Or freedom three easy monthly payments of $19.95. Or freedom with fries on the side. Or freedom wrapped in thousand dollar bills. Or maybe even freedom to sound stupid on national television.
On President Obama’s 100th day, CNN did one of its pathetically weak periodic attempts to show its lack of bias by presenting a list the President’s Top 10 faux pas.
Despite the fact that the New York Post was able to put together a list of 100 presidential screw-ups, here’s the best CNN could come up with.
10. Screwing up the oath of office (although CNN laughingly blamed it on Chief Justice Roberts)
9. Whacking his head getting into Marine One
8. Bowing to the Saudi king.
7. The First Lady touches the queen
6. Making the Special Olympics gaffe on the Tonight Show
5. Stepping on wife’s dress during an inauguration dance
4. Teleprompter woes
3. His daughters talk too much
2. Saying Nancy Reagan had a séance
1. Michelle called the new First Dog as Barney instead of Bo (although this was really Michelle’s faux pas)
The way we count it, the score was Barack 6, Michelle 2, Chief Justice Roberts 1, Malia and Sasha 1. In the end, CNN could only find six Obama faux pas. Somehow, they overlooked the foreign policy gaffes, the diplomatic woes, his domestic policy problems, his god awful history of nominee troubles, the exploding deficit, and on and on.
But they did notice that he stepped on his wife’s dress. This is truly investigative journalism at its finest.
"Sssssh. Please don't tell advertisers about this debacle."
Fox News gave CNN and MSNBC a good, old fashioned whuppin’ in April.
They beat CNN and MSNBC combined every hour of the day from 6 a.m. to midnight in Total Viewers and the all-important Adults 25-54 demographic.
Fox dominated across the board. They laid claim to the top eleven cable news programs in Total Viewers. They also took home 12 of the top 15 shows in the 25-54 demographic.
MediaBistro.com gives more details:
From 9amET on, every program grew by more than 60% in the demo. The 5pmET hour, now occupied by Glenn Beck, is up 212% in the demo and up 128% in Total Viewers. Your World with Neil Cavuto is up 102% in the demo and up 60% in Total Viewers. On the Record with Greta Van Susteren is up 75% in demo and up 55% in Total Viewers. Also in demo: FOX Report is up 75%, Special Report 70%, The O’Reilly Factor 74% and Hannity 64%.
Fox & Friends has now been #1 for 90 consecutive months, Studio B with Shepard Smith for 80 consecutive months.
Fox News is now has the second highest number of Total Viewers on all of cable television. And they’re set their sites on toppling the long-time number one-rated USA Network.
Keith Olbermann immediately curled up into a depression-induced fetal position and has yet to come out of it. MSNBC may need to air reruns of Olbermann’s Countdown program until he recovers.
Back when Rupert Murdoch founded Fox, he said he was doing it because CNN was biased, out of touch and ignored a major part of the audience.
Murdoch’s wisdom was never more evident than during yesterday’s Tea Parties.
First, a CNN reporter asks a man why he’s at the Tea Party, interrupts his answer, and raves about the state of Illinois gets $50 billion in “stimulus” money.
We could excuse it as the emotional excesses of a single reporter. Except for one thing: the YouTube video of the segment is titled “CNN Reporter Roughed Up at Chicago Tea-Party” despite the fact that there was no physical confrontation whatsoever. The bias is simply endemic at CNN.
This one simple clip demonstrates why Fox has higher ratings than the other cable news networks combined.
Stephanie Miller showed up on CNN’s “Reliable Sources” about ten days ago and hinted at a nefarious plot on the part of conservative radio station owners to bring down the “highly successful” lib talk juggernaut.
“Well, you know – I just did a panel on the Fairness Doctrine,” the unfunny Miller said. “I have to tell you, I brought ratings information. And people like me and Ed Schultz are consistently beating conservative shows in many, many markets. And yet – there is 10 percent liberal radio in this country. Ninety percent of the stations are conservative. You just cannot argue anymore it’s because liberal radio can’t compete.”
That would be impossible – and she knows it – for one very simple reason: neither Miller nor Schultz air in “many, many markets.” If the information on her website is up-to-date:
Miller has affiliates in just 50 markets (a dreadful total after years of flogging this dog in syndication)
She has affiliates in only nine of the Top 50 markets.
Eight of those nine have ratings below 1.0 (again, dreadful is the only appropriate word)
Three of her Top 10 market affiliates have zero ratings.
Eight of her 50 affiliates air her program only on weekends.
Thirteen of her 50 affiliates air only a portion of her program or air it at odd hours (or both).
Twenty of her 50 affiliates are in markets ranking #120 or smaller
Twelve of her affiliates are in markets too small to be rated.
Even worse for Miller, her syndication efforts are going full speed in reverse. She’s lost a startling 62.5% (15 of 24) of the Top 50 affiliates she once had and her problem seem to be accelerating. In the last few months she’s lost affiliates in Miami, Phoenix and Columbus and gained none.
The bottom line is pretty clear:
Stephanie Miller’s talk show is a ratings disaster. Instead of blaming “conservative” station owners, she should put the blame where it belongs. On herself.
AN ADDED NOTE: Is it our imagination or is Miller beginning to look just like Gloria Allred?
It’s Easter weekend, family is visiting, and we weren’t going to spend too much time on IHateTheMedia.com. But some things are just to sweet to pass up. Like CNN’s Lou Dobbs calling MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann a “left-wing hack,” “who has to spend so much time adjusting his medication he can’t figure out what he’s doing.”
No time for humor analysis and comment. It’s enough just to watch and listen.
