Politico’s Deceptive Headline Slams Beck and Promotes Maddow
What would you assume “the rest of the story” was based on this headline:
Beck hits ratings low, Maddow tops Morgan
Did you expect to learn that Glenn Beck was in the dump and that Maddow was surging?
Here’s the full article:
The January ratings are in and Glenn Beck had his worst performance since his Fox show started in January of 2009, drawing just 397,000 viewers in the 25-54 demographic and 1.762 total viewers. He still wins the 5 p.m. time slot, though, with MSNBC’s “Hardball” coming in second.
Despite the fanfare surrounding the rollout of CNN’s “Piers Morgan Tonight” at 9 p.m. and some strong ratings out of the gate, it came in third place during its first two weeks, behind “Hannity” and “The Rachel Maddow Show.”
Some facts this article could have included had it wanted to tell the full story:
- Glenn Beck has been losing viewers since his high of about 3 million when he started. He still crushes the competition however.
- On January 27th: Beck had 1.733 million viewers. “Hardball” had 654k viewers.
- On January 31st: Beck had 2.671 million viewers. “Hardball” had 628k viewers. Nearly 2 million more viewers that day for Beck.
- As for the 25-54 age bracket touted in the story: On January 27th Beck had 460k while Hardball had 120k
- Beck’s viewer totals usually outnumber the next 4 shows below him combined
- Rachel Maddow’s numbers held consistent for January at about 990k
- Hannity trounces Maddow’s numbers:
Jan 27th: Maddow 983k Hannity 1.87m
Jan 31st: Maddow 1.1m Hannity 2.57m
So given these facts, why was the news that “Maddow tops Morgan”? Her numbers didn’t change. It was Piers Morgan’s drop from his big debut that put him behind Maddow.
Looking to promote more than inform? I SEE BIAS.
Link to article: http://www.politico.com/blogs/onmedia/0211/Beck_hits_ratings_low_Maddow_tops_Morgan.html?showall
Short URL: http://iseebias.com/?p=5
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