In the interest of fair and balanced ...
Whenever one of these articles goes up about Keith Olbermann, I can always count on hearing from a small but relentless group of people across the country who are just driven crazy by any positive ink that MSNBC might get. Since the tone of these comments/emails/flaming bags of poop tends to be, shall we say, more noise than signal, I usually don't print them. But every now and then I hear from a local reader named Mike Landreth, who reads TV Barn and our newspaper. He once told me he has "never" watched "Countdown," which has not apparently cooled his white-hot hatred for it. Well, it takes all kinds, right? Anyway, I'll take all the local readers I can get.
I pass along two recent emails he sent to me (he pasted them together, not me) because there is an interesting statistic in there about the ad revenues for the three cable news networks ... wedged between a representative sample of O'Reilly talking points and 9th-grade trash talk that I often get from Keith-haters. I don't doubt that MSNBC is trailing badly in revenues, by the way. Fox News had to fight a battle for respect with advertisers and cable operators, even after it had become obvious that it was going to be No. 1 for a long time.
Jump if you dare ...
Hi Mr. Barnhart,
I thought I would provide you with some more information about the cable news networks. Advertisers project spending 1.4 billion dollars on the cable news networks. Of the 1.4 billion 47% will be spent at Fox News. Forty percent will be spent at CNN, and get this, a measly 13% will be spent at your favorite MSNBC. Apparently the lucrative advertisers have not received the memo.
I look forward to reading all about Fox News and their total domination in ratings and revenue in an upcoming column. If you need any more information on how the cable news networks operate please let me know.
Sincerely,
Mike Landreth
-----Original Message-----
From: Landreth, Michael [OMP]
Sent: Thursday, June 12, 2008 7:47 PM
To: 'aaron@tvbarn.com'
Subject: What's working for me.... FOX NEWS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Mr. Barnhart,
Since the KC Star has not reported it, I thought you would like to know the latest ratings for cable news:
For the 77th consecutive month Fox News is the #1 cable news network.
FNC is 6th highest cable station, well ahead of CNN (19), and your favorite MSNBC (27).
FNC had 11 of the top 13 rated programs.
The O'Reilly Factor was #1 for the 90th consecutive month, that is over 7 years! Total viewer ship is up 26% year to date.
These are such impressive accomplishments that I am stunned that the KC Star has not even mentioned this. Why is that?
I hope this information was helpful, and helps you do your job properly in reporting accurate information.
Sincerely,
Mike Landreth
P.S. Bill Moyers pummels a punk? HA, HA,HA,HA,HA,HA,HA,HA,HA,HA,HA,HA,HA, HA,HA,HA,HA,HA,HA,HA,HA,HA,HA,HAHA, HA,HA,HA,HA,HA,HA,HA,HA,HA,HA,HAHA, HA,HA,HA,HA,HA,HA,HA,HA,HA,HA,HAHA, HA,HA,HA,HA,HA,HA,HA,HA,HA,HA,HAHA, HA,HA,HA,HA,HA,HA,HA,HA,HA,HA,HAHA, HA,HA,HA,HA,HA,HA,HA,HA,HA,HA,HAHA, HA,HA,HA,HA,HA,HA,HA,HA,HA,HA,HAHA, HA,HA,HA,HA,HA,HA,HA,HA,HA,HA,HAHA, HA,HA,HA,HA,HA,HA,HA,HA,HA,HA,HAHA, HA,HA,HA,HA,HA,HA,HA,HA,HA,HA,HAHA, HA,HA,HA,HA,HA,HA,HA,HA,HA,HA,HAHA, HA,HA,HA,HA,HA,HA,HA,HA,HA,HA,HAHA, HA,HA,HA,HA,HA,HA,HA,HA,HA,HA,HAHA, HA,HA,HA,HA,HA,HA,HA,HA,HA,HA,HAHA, HA,HA,HA,HA,HA,HA,HA,HA,HA,HA,HAHA, HA,HA,HA,HA,HA,HA,HA,HA,HA,HA,HAHA, HA,HA,HA,HA,HA,HA,HA,HA,HA,HA,HAHA, HA,HA,HA,HA,HA,HA,HA,HA,HA,HA,HAHA, HA,HA,HA,HA,HA,HA,HA,HA,HA,HA,HA.
Clearly you have a warped definition of pummels. The radical liberal stumbled all over himself when faced with a challenge. I guess working on the PBS dole for a career and nervier being forced to provide a balanced report did not equip him to handle the questions.
