Spinning for Keith Olbermann and His Dubious Ratings Gains on O'Reilly
Posted by: Clay Waters
7/12/2006 9:54:26 AM
Media reporter Bill Carter spins for liberal cable talk-show host Keith Olbermann in Tuesday’s "MSNBC’s Star Carves Anti-Fox Niche." His favorable profile begins by trumpeting the still-anemic ratings of MSNBC's "Countdown" show, hosted by Olbermann -- and conveniently avoiding actual hard numbers: "He is either the leading man of MSNBC or its leading agent provocateur, but Keith Olbermann has no problem embracing either role."
You have to read carefully to realize that the show’s ratings remain anemic: "MSNBC revamped its prime-time schedule two weeks ago, shelving many of its prime-time hosts in favor of documentary-style programs but retaining 'Countdown,' a program the network cites as its great growth story.
"That growth, while coming from a base that Fox News would find disastrously puny, is demonstrable, especially among the group that is chiefly sold to news advertisers: people between the ages of 25 and 54. For the last quarter, Mr. Olbermann, who is 47, has seen his ratings in that group grow by more than 30 percent.
"The growth has not been unfailingly steady, as competitors at Fox and CNN pointed out. They noted that Mr. Olbermann did better in February and March than he has since. Still, for the year, Mr. Olbermann has managed to climb past CNN into second place in the news channel competition at 8 p.m. among that 25-to-54 group. That qualifies as a feat for MSNBC, though Mr. Olbermann’s show remains little more than a dot in the rearview mirror of Fox News.
"Even from that far back, he seems to have been able to honk his horn loud enough to raise hackles at Fox, which, Mr. Olbermann enthusiastically acknowledges, has been his precise intention as well as a useful marketing strategy.
"He was especially able to redden the neck of the time period’s king, Bill O’Reilly, starting this winter, when the two men engaged in a widely discussed barb-filled feud.
Carter celebrates every little "victory" of Olbermann over his red-necked rival while, as Ian Schwartz points out, not providing anything in the way of actual numbers.
"Every time Mr. O’Reilly took umbrage at the slams, it seemed to add a bounce to Mr. Olbermann’s ratings -- one reason, perhaps, that Mr. O’Reilly’s reactions seem to have tailed off more recently. Nobody at Fox News wants Mr. Olbermann to get any more of a draft from Mr. O’Reilly’s popularity."
Carter finally shows O’Reilly far in the lead, but still manages to spin it as some kind of moral victory for that lovable gadfly Olbermann: "Of course, in terms of numbers of viewers in that younger age group, Mr. O’Reilly is still playing in another league, with about three times as many as Mr. Olbermann. But that does represent a small slice of the total audience for Mr. O’Reilly."
Carter ends by giving Olbermann the floor for an anti-Bush sermon.
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