BTRTN: No News Is Not Good News... Liberals are Tuning Out

[reggieandlee]

Born To Run The Numbers on the fact that cable television ratings -- particularly for CNN and MSNBC -- have fallen so dramatically in the past year. Is it all just that Trump is gone?

http://www.borntorunthenumbers.com/2021/10/btrtn-no-news-is-not-good-news-liberals.html

Excerpts: "On September 28, 2021, Forbes reported on third quarter Nielsen ratings for the three major Cable News Networks (Fox, CNN, and MSNBC) and found that “all three networks were down year-over-year, with Fox News dropping 32% in prime—the smallest decline overall, compared to MSNBC (down 40%) and CNN (down 46%).” That means CNN has essentially lost half its audience in a year… a year, need I remind you, that we all spent way too much time locked indoors...
"Sure, you say – one year ago, we were locked in an election that would determine the fate of democracy, the American economy was on shaky ground, and the President of the United States tested positive for COVID 19. Of course we were glued to the news! Well, here’s cause for concern. There's a strong argument that we should be a helluva lot more worried about the safety of our democracy now than on January 6. Then, our system of government was threatened but the pillars held. Now, it is under an even broader, more insidious, and more orchestrated assault… from voter suppression legislation, to the Republican institutionalization of 'The Big Lie,' to the ever increasing momentum for Trump to run again in 2024. Now, we should be ever more focused on what is happening...
"So, the explanation is easy, right? Trump left, and he took all the television ratings with him. There’s certainly truth to this view, but it does not explain why the erosion in the two left-leaning cable news channels is far more pronounced than Fox..."

[Omnipresent]

1. But my morbid curiosity for watching the news and feeling sick, for doing so!

I like to stay informed, but the negativity and misinformation could possibly make some folks take time off of work, in the middle of the week, and storm the capital.

So yeah, let’s all turn it off.

[bamagal62]

2. Because we're tired of the bullshit.

I’ve stopped watching. Put somebody in jail and I’ll be glued 24-7. We want consequences and it isn’t happening. The media is dropping the ball and they wonder why we aren’t watching? Are they talking a out what’s in the BBB plan? NOooooo. And, they wonder why no one knows what’s in it. Do your job and we’ll tune in again.

[blue neen]

11. Bingo!

[Hugh_Lebowski]

3. Many things wrong with this so I'm not sure where to start ...

But the idea that the country is anywhere near as 'locked down' as we were a year ago is laughable.

[reggieandlee]

6. Direct quote?

When you use quotation marks, it implies that you are making a direct quote from the article, in so doing, you are implying that there is a factual inaccuracy in the article. But I could not find the phrase you are quoting anywhere. The article does say that the number of Covid cases in September 2021 was three times as high as 2020, which if factually accurate.

Where did you find the quote?

[Hugh_Lebowski]

9. Those are single quotes, not quotation marks

We have other tags for direct quotes, like this one

CNN has essentially lost half its audience in a year… a year, need I remind you, that we all spent way too much time locked indoors

But you're right, when I said

But the idea that the country is anywhere near as 'locked down' as we were a year ago is laughable

... I should've said 'locked indoors' instead of 'locked down', because that was not perfectly accurate. And those are two super-different ideas

And since I was not 100% accurate in my post, let me elaborate.

What I MEANT was ... it might actually be logical that CNN's numbers are down versus a year ago, because the situation a year ago was ... a lot more people were staying home a lot more of the time 1 year ago ... versus today. You know, home, where peoples TV's are?

Ergo, I feel like

CNN has essentially lost half its audience in a year… a year, need I remind you, that we all spent way too much time locked indoors

is essentially misleading in its implication.

It actually makes sense that the Ratings might go down, given that a) the world is much more opened back up, and b) "we all spent way too much time locked indoors" in the past year. IOW, people are getting away from their TV's ... more.

Does this make sense now?

[reggieandlee]

12. thank you!

Hugh,
Thanks very much for the explanation. Yes, now your point is very clear and a very fair interpretation. What remains a puzzle is why CNN's audience erosion is significantly more dramatic than Fox over the same period, which leads to the suspicion that other factors must also be at work. But thank you very much for taking the time to provide your perspective!

[Budi]

4. Ha. No mystery to it. CNN & MSNBS have tanked in viewer #'s because people aren't that stupid anymor

The bullshit bias & lead stories are trashing the Party & President that swept the fascists out of power.

That's the story these half bit purchased media channels completely miscalculated in pushing the messaging of 24/7 hate for President Biden & the Party that brought him.

By the time they finally figure it out, their viewers will look just like Fox viewers, & the 3 Media propaganda networks will be down to sharing guests between them.

CNN & MSNBS intentionally eliminated an entire populace of viewers who had, btw, just managed to replaced a Fascist Trifecta in DC, with a functioning Democracy.

That's why.

[Hugh_Lebowski]

10. This ... they've become insufferable, and are not actually addressing the points brought up in the

article as being uber-important ... NEARLY enough of the time.

So liberals are tuning out from Corporate Media, even those supposedly 'left-leaning' sources ... cause they're not addressing what we think is important.

And it sounds like there's still WAY too much Trump, from what I've been able to glean from what people talk about having seen ... here on DU.

[GoodRaisin]

7. CNN took Afghanistan withdrawal and set out to destroy

Joe Biden with it. I haven’t watched CNN since.

I still watch Rachel and Lawrence and that’s about it, all my other news comes from DU.

[Elessar Zappa]

13. That's also when I stopped watching.

They tore Biden apart for weeks over the Afghanistan withdrawal. It was so unfair that I could hardly believe I was watching a supposedly “neutral” network. Disgraceful and I’ll never watch again.

[Mad_Machine76]

8. "Left-leaning"?!

[joetheman]

14. Liberals stopped watching CNN and MSNBC becuse Trump was mentioned and covered too much!

I am one of them.