My colleague “Pat Egan”:http://wagner.nyu.edu/egan sends along the following comments:
bq. The Obama presidency has been very good for Fox News. As shown in “the figure below”:http://tvbythenumbers.com/2009/09/30/fox-news-evening-ratings-trend-near-08-election-peak/29131, ratings for the right-skewing news network climbed throughout the summer and have now reached levels equivalent to a peak last seen during the 2008 presidential campaign. For CNN and MSNBC, it’s a different story. Once their combined viewership matched that of Fox on a consistent basis, but over the past few months the two nets have sputtered while Fox has soared.
bq. Less clear than the trends themselves, however, is whether this helps or hurts Republicans in a general sense. Undoubtedly big ratings for Fox are a sign of increased interest in politics among conservatives. But it may also signal trouble for Republican politicians like “Chuck Grassley”:http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/23/us/politics/23scene.html and “Kay Bailey Hutchison”:http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125366302706232329.html, who are having trouble being seen as conservative enough to suit the tastes of a newly energized right wing.
Makes me wonder if Fox news is actually more entertaining when Republicans are in the opposition – after all, it’s usually more fun to watch your favorite team on offense than on defense…
[Hat tip to “TV by the Numbers”:http://tvbythenumbers.com/2009/09/30/fox-news-evening-ratings-trend-near-08-election-peak/29131 for the Figure]