News channel trailed NBC and ABC, but edged out CNN, MS Now and CBS in primetime hours on midterm election night
On a midterm election night that was a huge disappointment for Republicans, with Democrats taking control of the US House and Senate, the country’s most prominent conservative television network seemingly felt the brunt of viewer disillusionment with Donald Trump and his party, according to final audience numbers released on Thursday.
The Fox News channel, which often leads among all news networks in viewership on election nights, fell behind two top broadcasters on Tuesday. According to ratings dating from the Nielsen firm, the network averaged 4.3 million total viewers between 8 and 11pm, behind broadcast networks NBC (6.7 million viewers) and ABC (5.2 million viewers), though it edged out fellow cable networks CNN (4.1 million viewers) and MS Now (3.7 million viewers). Fox News handedly defeat CBS News, which attracted just 2.8 million viewers. CNN performed better in the 25-to-54 age demographic prized by advertisers, besting Fox News, MS Now and CBS.
If the ratings aren’t high, is it even news?
If the “news” agency successfully argues in court that it’s an entertainment channel and that no rational person would consider it to be actual news, is it even news?
News shouldn’t be allowed to have ratings if it’s actually news. Or rather, ratings should be provided by third party audits rather than crowdsourced opinions. The opinions of people en mass is overwhelmingly flooded with the desire to be entertained and have nonstop feeds. I hate saying what other people should do… but those people should be looking to other sources for such content, and news should be using more mature sources for feedback than their potential audience. News prioritizing such feedback is bound to grow by feeding off those people’s attention, provided by succumbing to their desires. It’s not a good model for news.