Author Topic: MSNBC Goes All Out on Ferguson Coverage—Ratings Sink  (Read 743 times)

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rangerrebew

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MSNBC Goes All Out on Ferguson Coverage—Ratings Sink
« on: August 25, 2014, 10:27:50 am »
MSNBC Goes All Out on Ferguson Coverage—Ratings Sink

Don Irvine  —   August 22, 2014 
 

A new Pew Research report finds that MSNBC devoted far more time to the coverage of the events in Ferguson, Missouri than any other cable news network. Yet according to Nielsen, it didn’t help the network’s ratings.

According to Pew, MSNBC devoted an average of 68 minutes of primetime news coverage per night to Ferguson between August 10 and August 15, with a peak of 122 minutes on Thursday, August 14, compared to 48 minutes on average for CNN and 36 minutes for Fox News.

Overall, during that time period, MSNBC spent a total of five hours and 43 minutes on Ferguson during primetime, with CNN tallying nearly four hours, and Fox News bringing up the rear with just under three hours of coverage.

Yet all that coverage didn’t help MSNBC’s ratings, as the liberal cable news network finished third every evening during the reported period, and on some days a distant third.

Breaking news has for years been an Achilles heel for MSNBC, and Ferguson has proven to be no different. It doesn’t seem to matter how much time MSNBC devotes to breaking news, viewers just don’t see them as being particularly credible so they switch in droves to Fox News and CNN.

It may seem a bit ironic, but the longer the liberal media keep Ferguson alive, the more it hurts MSNBC.

http://www.aim.org/don-irvine-blog/msnbc-goes-all-out-on-ferguson-coverage-ratings-sink/
« Last Edit: August 25, 2014, 10:28:23 am by rangerrebew »