Anderson Cooper: Afflicting the Minority

According to Time's Michael Scherer, CNN has a new commercial out promoting star anchor Anderson Cooper:

The new promo…consists of a woman's voice, pitching Cooper's show as, essentially, a liberal alternative to Fox News: "I'm a lifelong Democrat," she says, "and that's why I watch Anderson Cooper." […] The voice goes on to say that Cooper is the person she can turn to hold "right wing" conservatives accountable.

I guess you'll have to tune elsewhere for TV journalism that holds accountable those who actually hold power.

So what cable news programs are people watching?

In September, according to Nielson, the top thirteen cable news shows were on Fox, led by the networks conservative pundits: The O'Reilly Factor (2.6 million households), Sean Hannity (2.1 million), Glenn Beck (2.2 million), and the less political Greta Van Susteren (1.8 million). The top non-Fox shows are CNN's Larry King (921,000), Countdown with Keith Olbermann (881,000) and Rachel Maddow (827,000). Only then, in the 17th spot, does Anderson Cooper make a showing, with 746,000 households in the 10 p.m. hour.

Link via Jay Rosen's Twitter feed.

Comments

[Jim Bob]

It's just so precious when Anderson Cooper's handlers try to pass him off as an actual journalist.

[Xeones]

Anderson Cooper creeps me out. He looks like he was designed by Aryan scientists. For desert warfare.

[Kyle Jordan]

Hahahahahahahahaha!

That was great X.

[Lamar]

Isn't he a little short for a stormtrooper?

[JW]

Mommy's designer jeans were just a massive cover-up for her designer genes project!

It all makes perfect sense now!

[hmm]

Fox has managed to own the networks on cable and signal in less than 20 years of existence. Someone needs to clue the other three networks into the notion that antiquated business and programing models are antiquated.

Cooper is one fucked up lil rich Vanderbilt kid. I guess watching your brother jump out of your penthouse apartment will do that. At least he isn't Keith Olberman. Which isn't exactly a high bar to over come.

[Tulpa]

Fox was around way before 1989. I think you mean 30 years.

[dfd]

If by "way before" you mean "three years before" then I guess so. Google (and Wiki) is your friend:

"Launched October 9, 1986"

So 23 years and three days for Fox network (much less for Fox News of course)...

[Jim Carrey]

"I'm a lifelong Democrat," she says, "and that's why I watch Anderson Cooper."

Alrighty, then.

[Flex Nasty B.I.G.]

This is why we libertarians need our own cable tv news channel. Seriously. If we can pull off a $6 million money bomb for Ron Paul in one day, we can certainly all pull together to finance a news operation.

[Kyle Jordan]

Nah. The Net is our best hope. We need to circumvent the children in order to rule.

[mitch]

Thank God somebody is there to provide a forum to people like Obama, Barney Frank, whichever Kennedy larva is currently the biggest in the hive, and Tommy Harkin. Without the Vanderbilt whelp there, how would these people's voices ever be heard?

[Pro Libertate]

Speaking truth to those not in power. Actually, more like spinning truth for those in power.

[Wicks Cherrycoke]

"Cooper is the person she can turn to hold "right wing" conservatives accountable."

Yeah! Who cares about those boring office holders, regulators and bureaucrats! Let's make sure those pundits do the job we elected them for!

[P Brooks]

top non-Fox shows are CNN's Larry King (921,000), Countdown with Keith Olbermann (881,000) and Rachel Maddow (827,000).

Larry King is a "news" show?

[Lamar]

Let's all weep for the network that puts Nancy Grace on the air.

[@]

Nancy Grace is indeed odious, but Jane Velez-Mitchell is trying hard to usurp Nancy's title as Most Evil Woman on TV. Who made the decision that Headline News would henceforth be the official women's tabloid network?

[sage]

Is she the one with the femullet?

[@]

Indeed. (shivers)

[alan]

I've always considered Nancy Grace serial killer bate. Someone that in the public eye, annoying, extremely opinionated, law and order loving, you would think she would have caught the eye of some murderer trying to make a name for himself.

I have never seen or heard Jane Velez-Mitchell before, but with the mullet talk, I had to look her up.

From one page:
Jane Velez-Mitchell at CNN's Headline News is a true-crime author, a television talking head, a lesbian, an animal activist, a recovering alcoholic and a ...

Vegan.

She. sounds. fun.

[alan]

oh Freudian slip time. I've always considered Nancy Grace serial killer bate.

[@]

a recovering alcoholic

She never tires of reminding her audience and guests of that fact. She should add "narcissist" to her list.

[FrBunny]

Someone needs to clue the other three networks into the notion that antiquated business and programing models are antiquated.

I agreee that their business model is getting whipped, but I really don't want six FoxNews-es. And it has nothing to do with slant.

Not being number one isn't the same as being a bad product. And being number one certainly isn't the same as being a good product.

[FrBunny]

One thing's for sure: FOX's football coverage needs more animated robots.

[?]

This is why we libertarians need our own cable tv news channel.

The accumulated wealth of all the world's libertarians combined won't buy an infomercial on G4.

[Old Bull Lee]

Isn't ALL the cable TV news "essentially, a liberal alternative to Fox News"?

[@]

Yes. Yes it is.

[Tim Yates]

Maybe CNN could improve their ratings if they aired The best of Jerry Springer or Cheaters every 5 minutes during AC360.

[James Ard]

I've always thought that the robot was just a guy in a robot costume. Why waste time animating it when there's plenty of ex-jocks hanging around needing work.

[JW]

The new promo...consists of a woman's voice, pitching Cooper's show as, essentially, a liberal alternative to Fox News: "I'm a lifelong Democrat," she says, "and that's why I watch Anderson Cooper." [...]

Wait, they had to advertise this? What kind of half-wit really-needs-it-spelled-out-for-them demo are they going for?

[Full Wit]

They're called Democrats.

[Xeones]

What kind of half-wit really-needs-it-spelled-out-for-them demo are they going for?

Democrats.

ba dum CHING

[Lamar]

Somebody who brags about being a lifelong partisan strikes me as the kind of person who goes to a high school reunion and says they haven't changed a bit since high school.....like that's supposed to be a good thing.

[FrBunny]

"I haven't changed since high school and suddenly I'm uncool!" -- Homer Simpson

[Abe]

I used to be with "it." Then they changed what "it" was. Now what I'm "with" isn't "it," and what's "it" is NEW AND SCARY.

[parse]

I guess you'll have to tune elsewhere for TV journalism that holds accountable those who actually hold power.

Is the suggestion here that right-wing conservatives don't have any power in this country?

[@]

The suggestion, hammered relentlessly by the media left, is that entertainers like Limbaugh and Beck are calling the shots for the party that is currently in the wilderness. Never have so many "progressives," holding so much power, whined so piteously.

[R C Dean]

parse, at the moment, right-wingers don't have much power at all at the federal level. They are completely shut out of the White House, and are shut out of the negotiations on any major legislation.

So, if you're in the "speaking truth to power" biz, you should be focussing on someone else.

[Lamar]

GOP doesn't have the power to do things, but they have the power to scuttle things. Not necessarily a bad thing, but still power nonetheless.

[Magical Number 60]

A power mysteriously forgotten back when Democrats supposedly weren't in power. (They scuttled Social Security reform, for one.) Of course, these douchebags have been playing the victim for so long they really don't know how to do anything else. It's not as if the GOP can filibuster them in the Senate the way Democrats were always doing to the GOP. For my part, I hope all of you idiots who raised these traitors to power are the first to suffer and die from their evil policies. May the Iranian nukes, Gitmo "graduates," and Cuban-style "health care" these traitors have brought on us find their way to you first.

[parse]

Oh, I forgot the part where elected officials were the only ones who had any power.

And I forgot when the negotiate on major legislation, lobbyists hired by right-wing conservatives can't ifluence any of the participants.

And I forgot--well, you can see where this is going.

[slice]

Just don't forget to pay your taxes... unless you're a Democrat and being considered for a Czar's position. If we catch any of you peons doing what we do instead of what we tell you to do, we'll show you just how powerless you really are. Boy, will we ever!

[Isaac Bartram]

Sounds to me like at least one of the demographics Anderson Cooper would appeal to is the NPR-listener "I don't own a television set" crowd.

No wonder they're in trouble.

[T]

I guess he afflicts the minority that watches him. Does that count?

[R C Dean]

GOP doesn't have the power to do things, but they have the power to scuttle things.

With a sizable minority in the House, and 40 Senators, just what power does the GOP have to scuttle anything?

[Lamar]

The power to persuade.

[USA]

Well if they don't have the power of numbers they must rely on the power of their ideas.

[Lamar]

Well if they don't have the power of numbers they must usually rely on the power of their ideas rhetoric.

Fixed that.

[Ramal]

Eeeyeah, that's real powerful. Try seeing how persuasive you can be with a brick wall by talking to it, idiot!

[hmm]

I hear they shot down the all cheese pizza order and insisted on peperoni just to screw with democratic vegetarians when Congress ordered pizza for lunch.

[mediageek]

Well, it's taken the better part of four decades, but now we've finally got an admission from an MSM nooze source that they're biased.

Way to go, CNN! Admitting you have a problem is the first step to recovery.

[Ryan M]

I think Fox News counts as MSM. They gave up on their "fair and balanced" tag line years ago, and they're embraced their role as the conservative cable news network. And they've done wonderfully. I can only hope that with the introduction of Stossel and the Freedom Watch show of Napolitano, maybe they can swing some conservatives in the libertarian direction.

[Audrey the Liberal]

"I can only hope that with the introduction of Stossel and the Freedom Watch show of Napolitano, maybe they can swing some conservatives in the libertarian direction." Remember Red, hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things.

[Chuck Beeno]

IN this day and age, I cant help but wonder who the minority actually is anymore!

RT
http://www.true-privacy.net.tc

[The Gobbler]

Junkies.

[JB]

Anderson Cooper speaks suck to Obama's dick.

[0bama]

Hey everybody, have you seen my balls?
They're big and salty and brown!
If you ever need a quick pick-me-up,
Just stick my balls in your mouth.

Ooh!
Suck on my chocolate salty balls!
Put'em in your mouth and suck'em!

[Robert]

He was the best host of the American prod'n of The Mole, which is how he came to my att'n.

[DWCarkuff]

Who doesn't remember how this POS treated Ron Paul during the debate he moderated? I had no opinion about the man until I saw that debate. Neither he nor those imbeciles Romney and McCain are fit to breath the same air as Dr. Paul

[cam]

Michael Scherer just corrected his piece, which was false. The ad features a woman who says she watches 360 because she is a lifelong democrat who likes to see him hold the right accountable, but it ALSO features a man silmultaneously saying he watches 360 because he is a lifelong republican and like to see 360 hold the left accountable.

The ad is claiming the show is impartial.

You can see Scherer's retraction at the link in Matt's post (http://swampland.blogs.time.com/2009/10/11/cable-news-irony-alert-cnn-fox-and-the-disappearing-general-audience/)

[Steven Smith]

It's apples and oranges, Matt. Fox is a propaganda outlet, not a journalistic endeavor. And it's not because it has a politcal slant, either; your magazine, as well as New Republic and the Murdoch-run Weekly Standard, have points of view as well, but at least there is an attempt to explain the world in a truthful manner, which I always assumed was the goal of journalism. Such a viewpoint doesn't hold true on Fox, which has shown no compunction in the past for broadcasting out-and-out lies. Fox is no more a "news network" than professional wrestling is a sport, and the fact that more people follow SmackDown than tennis doesn't make the latter lesser athletes.

[hmm]

The more interesting story is how the current administration is going after Fox Nixon style. The problem being Fox has a much larger slice of the people pie than any of Nixon's media enemies. Talk about amateur hour in picking a fight you can't win. The administration is going to hang itself here, just like it is everywhere else.

[Anon]

Have you actually seen the ad? Well neither has he. It's actually a left/right ad with two voices talking over each other, one democrat, one republican.

[Anon]

Have you actually seen the ad? Well neither has he. It's actually a left/right ad with two voices talking over each other, one democrat, one republican.