That was my initial reaction. How can a network lose so much viewership so quickly without some kind of catalyst? I wonder if there's some fuzzy math in there.
I apologize if you took offense, I certainly didn't mean anything disparaging. All I meant was that those stations attract viewers that agree with their political orientation. Some people are liberal and as such, choose to watch the channel that takes a liberal perspective. Some people are conservative and as such, choose to watch the channel that takes a conservative perspective. I don't watch either because I see their personalities as entertainers trying to get ratings as opposed to journalists trying to objectively report the news.
I think both channels highly rated shows attract viewers who treat politics more like a sport or a game rather than presenting issues and analysis that would affect normal people irregardless of politics.
I also think these stations attract viewers that DON'T agree with their political orientation. Those who watch just waiting to get pissed off about something. I don't get it, frankly. Life is too short. Why should I care about what Bill O'Reilly or Rachel Maddow has to say about anything? How could their opinions possibly affect any aspect of my everyday life? Why are their opinions more important than the slug sitting next to me on the bus this morning? I get that it's entertainment, but I just don't understand people getting so worked up about them. You pretty much nailed it.
I used to watch CNN the most, and a little bit of MSNBC, just couldn't watch FOX News. After last dem primary, it became really hard to continue to watch MSNBC any more. For similar reason, I also watched CNN a lot less. I tried to watch FOX a little bit, but just couldn't bear it, no matter how hard I try. Now, I watch more BBC and Bloomberg, and I watch less TV, which is good.
A large part of my job is commenting on events in the US (natural disasters mostly), so I got a tv and cable for the first time in a decade. I figured I didn't want to miss an important story. Of the American cable news networks, all I get on cable here is CNBC and Fox. We have CNN, but it's the Asia broadcast, hosted from Dubai. When I turned on Fox News, I couldn't stop laughing. I used to watch it years ago, and I KNOW it wasn't that over-the-top. The presentation was ridiculous...it was almost as if I was watching a cross between the 700 Club and a parody of Fox News, like Idiocracy or something. I couldn't take too much of it, but would flip back every once in a while...and it's more than often health news for the elderly. When O'reilly came on it was a relief...it's one of the least ridiculous things they'd show, and....it's Bill "falafel" O'reilly.
Let's be honest here. How many of us when scrolling through the guide using the remote, flip to O'Reilly or Hannity for a cheap laugh? I do it regularly, and they never disappoint. It's like reading the Onion.
FOX news is run 24-7 at every TV at our company's main building. Some here think that ORLY Factor is too liberal and Glenn Beck is real news. In their minds they're prolly like "see....no weather, no talk about celebrities, no sports, just REAL news. Glenn Beck is a godsend!". Also don't mention Illuminati or Freemasons or they'll flip out.
I used to, but now that my fiancé knows who Hannity/Beck are (via The Daily Show), she does it a lot for the laughs. It's really amazing. I used to think that they just fly off the handle with their rhetoric every now and then and Jon Stewart only poked fun at when they did, but every time we flip to them they are truly going off on some sort of nonsense rant.
Gosh I wish I could be so manfully objective i.e middle of the road and not be one of those irrational liberal viewers of MSNBC. After all it has been proven that the middle position is always correct and in accord with objective facts so that it needs no defense.
Somethings work better on the right, and some on the left. It baffles me on why some people think everything conservative must be correct and the same with liberals. Sanity is a person with strong beliefs on both sides of different issues. Middle of the road politics is so things can get done. However, even a fool can see that MSNBC is bias, but Fox is just outright disingenuous. There's a difference.
Except that they don't, unless you count what is likely to be a small demographic of people, like me, who watch all the news outlets in order to sift through the crap in an attempt to ferret out the truth. Yes, it was. Then you must wander, lost, in the wasteland that is news reporting in American network/cable news. If you watch neither, then you are missing a large part of what is driving the current political news cycle... the influence of biased news on the American body politic. No worries, mate? Why are you backing off? How is he "right?" "Politics as a sport?" Do you really think the majority of those watching either of those cable news networks are doing so because it's more fun that watching the Texans lose to the Cowboys? A glimmer of honesty. Thank you. How many from the "Other Side" here do the same? Then you have Sam, who intelligently posted the BEST news source on television, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. And no, that was not tongue in cheek, but the bloody truth, as depressing as that may be to some people.
