Reply #30: If we're just talking about cable news... [View All]

[rucky]

we don't really need to worry that much. If you're one of the 1% of the population that watches it, all the noise could seem pretty overwhelming, but it's just a small slice of the pie and viewership hasn't grown since 2000:

http://www.journalism.org/charts/chart_builder2.php?id=370&ct=col&sort=&dir=&chartback=None&chartgrid=LightGray&labelincr=1&scalemin=Auto&scalemax=Auto&scaleincr=Auto&rot=0&3d=1&depth3d=10&showtitle=0&ran=10166&legendloc=1&scalemin=Auto&scalemax=Auto&scaleincr=Auto&chartsize=Large&chartpalette=Standard&r1=1&r2=1&r3=1&r4=1&r5=1&r6=1&r7=1&r8=1&r9=1&r10=1&c1=1&c2=1&c3=1&c4=1&c5=0&c6=0&c7=0&c8=0&c9=0&c10=0

Folks get residual messages - mostly from reprinting or showing clips on the internet. Looks like Murdoch is putting an end to that by taking clips off of YouTube and going after bloggers that violate copyrights. Seems they're more interested in radicalizing their current viewership - protecting it from scrutiny and keeping their faithful in the echo chamber - rather than expanding their viewer base.

Plus, they're so over-the-top now with the addition of Beck, promoting the Tea Parties, etc - they've relegated themselves to the fringe. They're not growing - in fact much of their viewership will continue to die out - literally:

http://www.pensitoreview.com/2009/05/05/average-age-of-fox-news-viewer-is-65/