Let’s just say for the sake of argument, that you are the head guy, or gal, in charge of a business that bills itself as a news gathering/reporting television network. You view the mission of your business as being one where information is accumulated, verified and evaluated before then being relayed on to those who take time out of their busy day to tune in to use your network as a way of keeping themselves informed. Now suppose you, being the head of this organization, noted that over a specific period of time, a few months but certainly no longer than a year, the number of folks tuning into your network seems to be steadily decreasing. What would you do?
Such is the dilemma that is now being faced by several of the more ‘liberal’ cable news outlets, but more specifically, CNN and MSNBC. Because as it turns out, it's been kind of a tough year for these two cable networks who, as hysterical as it may sound, actually like to refer to themselves as being providers of news and information. But oddly enough, neither one of these two networks actually provide much in the way of what can be termed, useful information. And it would seem that data released just this past Tuesday proves that point. That data shows CNN shedding 48 percent of total viewers since last November and MSNBC dropping 45 percent.
But that’s not even the worst of the bad news. Because things get even worse when you start looking at that the all-important demographic of people aged 25 to 54. In that particular group, CNN's ratings dropped by 59 percent and MSNBC's by 52 percent. Now granted, in an off-election year, and with last November's numbers most likely skewed a little higher as a result of the presidential election, I suppose that it should be expected for ratings to decline. But losing half of your total number of viewers? You can’t tell me that there weren’t that many folks who were tuned into these two networks because of last year’s campaign. That would have to be a lot of people.
Now let’s compare those numbers to, say, the Fox News Channel. Well what do you know, Fox didn't see anything even remotely close to the losses experienced by either CNN or MSNBC. In fact, FNC is only down 18 percent since last November and 30 percent in the demo. As you might imagine, prime time numbers were also down. There CNN was off 54 percent in total viewers and 62 percent in the demo. MSNBC declined 50 percent in total prime time viewers and 57 percent in the demo. By contrast, FNC was second in all of cable in prime time this November, experiencing a decline of 21 percent in total viewers and 41 percent in the demo.
So, against let’s say you’re in charge of the network that has these days become one referred to as the Communist News Network, or CNN. People no longer choose to listen to the drivel CNN pumps out across the airwaves day in and day out, and that is somehow referred to as being actual news. But at least the people CNN has working for them appear to have a bit more credibility than those who make up that weird bunch of what are nothing more than bizarre cartoon characters, one is subjected to by tuning into MSNBC. So with that in its favor wouldn’t you think that CNN would attempt to make changes that would actually entice more folks to watch?
That is what I think most rational people would do, but apparently, rational people seem to be in rather short supply at both CNN and MSNBC. I mean, let’s face it, speaking of MSNBC, how is the hiring of Alec Baldwin going to draw in more viewers? Of course, as we all know, his own big mouth got him fired before he really even got started, but that’s beside the point. Someone actually thought this boob would be good for ratings. People, most intelligent people, don’t want to hear that which is so easily recognizable as propaganda. Of these two, CNN would most likely be the easier to salvage. But it obvious that some changes are needed, BIG changes.
I have just a few suggestions to offer if anybody’s interested. And again I’m talking mainly about CNN, because MSNBC is simply too far gone to be saved. They are perfectly content to do nothing more than spew their propaganda. With CNN the first thing that needs to be done is for all of the dead wood to be gotten rid of. Those who would remain would be told, and in no uncertain terms, that what they are now a part of is not a propaganda organization, it is a news and information organization. They would be told that their job is not to echo Democrat talking points, their job is to tell the truth and to keep the American public properly informed.
Let’s face it, I think most folks are like me, they tune into Fox News because they feel there is nowhere else they can go to actually hear both sides of an issue. And that’s really all most folks are looking for. On Fox News no one is ever told their positions are stupid. Opposing viewpoints are allowed to be expressed, there’s no ridiculing, there’s no attempt to shout someone down because of what they are saying, it’s usually really all quite civil. Granted, liberals still think that they can just shout over the top of those who disagree, but most of the time they’re kept in check. So those in charge of CNN have a decision to make, they can make the necessary changes, or go the way of the Dodo. It’s up to them.
No comments:
Post a Comment