Proof that rational self-interest
market maximization
is a myth
This has gone on for years already, more than enough time
for necessary corrections
to have been made. But now a cable network, Fox News, has
surpassed
viewership totals ( for election coverage ) not only for
cable rival CNN,
which it did at least 5 years ago, but also each of the
"established" major networks,
ABC, NBC, and CBS.
Hearing Tom Friedman on the Charlie Rose show on PBS
brought this home
even if the idea has been in my mind for a couple of days.
Friedman went
into a rant about "hate-filled" defamatory Fox, the kind of
diatribe I have heard
many times before, all, it seems clear, from men or
women who never watch Fox,
and presumably because it is verboten to do so among a
certain class of people.
To admit any such thing, even occasional Fox viewing,
would, if this is correct,
bring about one's ostracism from "people who matter."
In any case, whatever the motivation, there are opinion
makers who damn Fox
yet who don't watch Fox, and, accordingly, are in no
position to know. They literally
don't know what they are talking about. They are clueless
about even the best and
most objective news analysis show on TV, Fox's Special
Report with Bret Baier.
This is only the first irrationality, and it is serious
because it highlights what many others
already take notice of, these people have no credibility
when it comes to Fox News.
This being the case, their credibility can be questioned in
other areas.
Again, since I do watch Fox, I freely admit that some Fox
features make me want to
heave my guts, Hannity more often than not --despite the
high powered guests he
is able to host because of his ratings, Glenn Beck because
his blowhard style
really puts me off, and because of some major issues,
Sheppard Smith, who
is about as lightweight as any news anchor can get, and so
forth..But I also watch
CNN now and then and can report that its news shows are, by
and large,
much worse. The Political Correctness views of most of
CNN's hosts are
overwhelming, it is so bad that it is a textbook case of
ideological broadcasting,
at least as biased toward the Left as Hannity is biased
toward the Right.
But Hannity, unless you count Beck, who is actually a
libertarian and doesn't
always line up with the Right, is the only Fox anchor who
is completely overboard.
The equivalent for Hannity on the Left is normative on CNN.
Yet Fox is vilified
for its bias and CNN is often held up as a model of equity.
So you can see the problem. And , just a passing comment,
compared with
MSNBC, CNN is positively 100% balanced and objective.
Given these facts, with MSNBC in the basement, CNN only a
few
hundred thousand viewers more popular than MSNBC, with Fox
outperforming
ALL of its rivals, about 2 : 1 or 3
: 1 over CNN, more than that over MSNBC,
and now edging ahead of the major networks --despite the
nets existing
on channels 2, 5 and 7, or some other single digits
depending on location,
with Fox on channel 39 or 54 or whatever -- you'd think
that the
competition would get the message.
You would think that Fox would no longer be the only mostly
conservative
news network on TV. You would think that market
self-interest rationalization
would be well under way by now But there is no sign of any
such thing.
In fact, while this is subjective, if anything it seems as
if the other networks
have turned further Left, with the only changes to observe
being cosmetic.
No way for me to know if this will persist, but as of now,
more than 5 years
since Fox became the # 1 rated cable news service, things
are what they are.
Which is to say that rational market optimization is a
myth. Yes, it sometimes
does happen. But there is ZERO guarantee that it always
will, and a similar pattern
of non-optimization can be seen ( at least until very
recently ) in autos, real estate, and
a variety of mega-corporations like BP. You can argue about
BP that is was very
good at profit optimization but, of course, it had the
poorest safety record in
its industry prior to the Gulf spill and it was only a
matter of time before there
was a disaster, which is anything but rational
optimization. There is a near
identical story in the coal industry.
The exceptions to rational optimization are HUGE, in other
words, anything
but minor footnotes.
The theory on which laissez-faire rests is demonstrably
false.
Case closed.
Billy Rojas
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