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Friday, February 04, 2005

SOTU TV Ratings Loss?

Why did Drudge report, "the U.S broadcast TV audience would rather watch freaks sing out of tune than President Bush and Democrats wax politics?" Does he see himself as a member of the MSM - having to slant the facts to make a point that isn't there? The fact is, as Drudge goes on to say in his report(!), the first hour (the actual speech) of the 2 hours of coverage bested American Idol, 22.4 rating/31 share vs. 17.9 rating/26 share. When the second hour of coverage is added to the first hour, the ratings fall below Idol, 17.6 rating/26 share vs. 17.9 rating/26 share. What does that tell you? The American public doesn't really care what the pundits think or what the Democrats have to say in response to the President. That's great news! Drudge makes the same point himself, "But when Bush left the stage, and the Democrats and media analysis took over, the numbers faded."

But that's not enough. Once Drudge has told us about the first hour ratings he tries to minimize the higher number by pointing out that "it took all 4 major broadcast networks to do it." Well, duh! There's no discernible difference between the networks while the President is delivering the speech. Those audiences should be combined. As a matter of fact the first hour SOTU numbers are artificially low, because "numbers do not include cable news coverage of the Washington event." I watched on MSNBC. I'm sure many people watched on Fox News Channel, CNN, C-SPAN, etc. So the numbers are artifically low - for both hours!

You'll have to forgive me for going on and on about this but it's irksome, especially when the story gets repeated on the radio and late night TV.

posted by Gary at 09:05 | [Permalink] (0) comments

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