-Caveat Lector- American Newsreel Another conservative myth bites the dust By DOUG THOMPSON Apr 2, 2003, 06:00
One constant exists in the Internet universe: Pick on something near and dear to conservatives and they will flood your email box with nasty messages, calling you a "traitor" or "unpatriotic" or "anti-American" or all of the above. Case in point: a recent item about journalistic joke Geraldo Rivera and his equally-laughable employer: FoxNews. No, the right-wingers didn't jump to Geraldo's defense. They remember his tenure at MSNBC where his vitriolic defense of Bill Clinton stopped just short of kissing the former President' s ass in prime time. No, they got upset over criticism of Fox News. Not surprising. Right-wingers love Fox. They consider it their news channel because the so-called news network cheerleads for anything Republican or conservative. You can't expect anything less from the news channel run by former Richard Nixon political flack Roger Ailes. A favorite mantra of conservatives is that the media is, for the most part, run by left-wingers who hate America. This is why they flock to right-wing demagogues like Rush Linmbaugh, Sean Hannity and other conservative talk show hosts who believe news is only "fair" when presented with a decidedly partisan point of view. Right-wing talk radio thrives because conservatives will follow their own into the jaws of Hell as long as he or she spouts the party line. Limbaugh touts himself as the top-rated radio talk show in America, which is true, but when you look beyond the numbers you find that talk radio audiences represent a really small part of the total population out there. Most talk radio shows run during the daytime when real people are at work and audiences consist primarily of listeners who are retired, unemployed or goofing off when they should be working. An Arbitron study of Limbaugh's audience found it was mostly over 60, mostly male and mostly retired or unemployed. Fox News currently ranks number one among cable news channels but being number one on cable is like being the top bowler in a town with one alley and one league. Cable TV news audiences represent less than one-fourth of the television viewership and, despite a temporary bump from Iraqi war coverage, cable news ratings have been in a free fall for the last 18 months. "Fox News has a loyal viewer base that is highly partisan and feels the channel represents their views," says TV researcher Scott Adamson. "The average Fox viewer is a 63-year-old white Republican conservative male whose religion tends to be fundamentalist Christian." Conservatives tell me that Rush Limbaugh and FoxNews are so popular because they reach "mainstream" America and are popular with the "real majority." But a closer look at ratings show some interesting facts. For example, the St. Louis Post-Disptach is considered one of the most liberal newspapers in America and Rush Limbaugh's talk show is the most popular syndicated show on KMOX-radio in that Mississippi River city. Yet ratings reports and circulation figures show more people in St. Louis read the Post-Dispatch than listen to Rush Limbaugh or watch FoxNews Channel. In fact, Access Hollywood, a mindless entertainment news show, has higher ratings in St. Louis than Fox News and Rush Limbaugh combined. Go to any city with a newspaper that conservatives consider "leftist" or "too liberal" and you will find the same thing. But don't bother presenting these arguments to any of your conservative friends. I learned long ago that facts, like truth, are too often wasted on partisans. Facts get in the way of causes and screw up perceptions and no partisan wants their jaundiced view of the world messed up by the truth. © Copyright 2003 American Newsreel <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html <A HREF="http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html";>Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED]</A> http://archive.jab.org/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ <A HREF="http://archive.jab.org/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/">ctrl</A> ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
