MSNBC // Current

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5 months ago

Sarah Palin, Michael Jackson, and Crying Girls

In his weekly roundup of the crazy world of 24-hour media madness, Conor Knighton looks at the media's desperate attempt to... more

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That's Gay: Bruno

Bruno is finally here but does it help the gay movement or put it one swishy step back? infoMania is a half-hour satirical news... more

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FOX News Is #1.... But Why?

FOX News shows own the top eleven ratings spots for cable news. Why are they so dominant? Could it be because there are more... more

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Expanding drought across Central and Southern Mississippi

The extreme heat including daily temperatures near and above 100 degrees combined with little rainfall during the month of June,... more

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4th of July/Independence Day Weekend Outlook

Mainly dry and hot conditions have been the main weather story across the state, and this trend will continue into the 4th of July... more

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Drought conditions develop across parts of the state

Central and Southern Mississippi have been under a persistent ridge of high pressure, that has contributed to very dry conditions... more

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The Most Annoying Kid on TV

In his weekly roundup of the crazy world of 24-hour media madness, Conor Knighton looks at 14-year-old Jonathan Krohn's... more

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At MSNBC, Iran isn't newsworthy on weekends

In recent days, much of the news media's attention has been focused on post-election protests and violence in Iran. But at... more

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Fox News set for best year yet

Fox News is on track to have its most-watched year ever, showing significant ratings growth despite having just come off a highflying election year.

With the second quarter coming to a close, Fox News averaged about the same number of viewers as the top three other cable news networks combined. And while rivals including CNN (-22%) and MSNBC (-18%) took hits following last quarter's inauguration-fueled boost, Fox News (-3%) remained nearly steady.

Compared with last year, the Fox News (averaging 2.1 million viewers, 509,000 adults 25-54 quarter-to-date) is up 35% over last year in primetime viewers and 48% in the demo. CNN (805,000 viewers, 210,000 in demo) fell 16% in viewers and 29% in the demo. MSNBC (787,000 viewers, 259,000 in demo) climbed 15% in viewers and about on par, -3%, in the demo. And CNN Headline News (553,000, 201,000) showed very strong growth, up 39% and 37%, respectively, and is on track for its best second quarter.

The new standings are strong enough to rank Fox News third behind USA and TNT among all ad-supported cable networks for the quarter among primetime total viewers. In its core demo, Fox News had eight of the top 10 cable news shows. It had similarly sunny increases for total day, while CNN and MSNBC were roughly on par with last year.

Earning double-digit growth after an election year is quite a feat for a news network. With Fox News best known for such right-leaning personalities as Sean Hannity and Bill O'Reilly, one might assume having a Democrat in the White House somehow helps boost viewership.

A dominant political party indeed can fuel the popularity of opposing voices -- Comedy Central's "The Daily Show With Jon Stewart" and "The Colbert Report" and liberal online news hubs Huffington Post and Daily Kos came to prominence during George W. Bush's tenure, just as talk radio conservatives like Rush Limbaugh and news sites like Drudge Report rose during the Clinton years.

But it's important to note that when Fox News took the ratings lead during the Bush era, some pundits declared that the network was winning only because a Republican was in charge. Those at the network get weary of outsiders assuming their success must be due to some fortunate external factor rather than their own day-to-day work.

"I don't look at who occupies the White House, I just look at it as news," said Bill Shine, senior vp programming at Fox News. "How well are you going to report on that news? And certainly, over the course of the last 10 years, we've done a better job at that than anybody else."

Still, Shine acknowledged that a Barack Obama presidency probably helps because viewers will "see some sides of an issue that they won't see elsewhere."

Back in January, Fox News made a trio of programming changes that also affected its numbers: launching Glenn Beck at 5 p.m., replacing Brit Hume with Bret Baier as "Special Report" anchor and having Hannity's new Colmes-free show. All of the programs are up compared with last year.

Over at chief rival CNN, in one measurement -- total viewers for full day -- the network actually is posting its best numbers since 2003. But CNN has had trouble in primetime, particularly with Campbell Brown's show, which has hit some ratings lows since she returned from maternity leave.

When asked about the competition, Shine said, "The numbers speak for themselves. ... If anything, we're paying attention to the non-news networks because now we want to catch them."Fox News is on track to have its most-watched year ever, showing significant ratings growth despite having just come off a... more

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added
5 months ago

Obama blocks list of visitors to White House

The Obama administration is fighting to block access to names of visitors to the White House, taking up the Bush administration argument that a president doesn't have to reveal who comes calling to influence policy decisions.

Despite President Barack Obama's pledge to introduce a new era of transparency to Washington, and despite two rulings by a federal judge that the records are public, the Secret Service has denied msnbc.com's request for the names of all White House visitors from Jan. 20 to the present. It also denied a narrower request by the nonpartisan watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), which sought logs of visits by executives of coal companies. CREW says it will file a lawsuit Tuesday against the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees the Secret Service.

Groups that advocate open government have argued that it's vital to know the names of White House visitors, who may have an outsized influence on policy matters. The visitor logs have been released in only a few isolated cases, most notably records of visits by lobbyist Jack Abramoff to the Bush White House, and in the "filegate" investigation of the Clinton White House.

The Obama administration is arguing that the White House visitor logs are presidential records — not Secret Service agency records, which would be subject to the Freedom of Information Act. The administration ought to be able to hold secret meetings in the White House, "such as an elected official interviewing for an administration position or an ambassador coming for a discussion on issues that would affect international negotiations," said Obama spokesman Ben LaBolt.

These same arguments, made by the Bush administration, were rejected twice by a federal judge. The visitor logs are created by the Secret Service and maintained by the Secret Service, U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth ruled in 2007 and again this January. CREW had requested records of visits to the Bush White House, as well as the residence of Vice President Dick Cheney, by leaders of Religious Right organizations.

Msnbc.com excluded from its request any private information on the White House visitors. It asked that the Secret Service delete from the logs any dates of birth, Social Security numbers, and home addresses (other than city and state). In addition, msnbc.com asked the Secret Service to exclude information on security precautions and the results of background checks on prospective visitors.

MSNBC's request: http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/i/msnbc/Sections/NEWS/PDFs/white_house_msnbc.com_request.pdf

CREW's request: http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/i/msnbc/Sections/NEWS/PDFs/white_house_crew_request.pdf

CREW's complaint: http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/i/msnbc/Sections/NEWS/PDFs/white_house_crew_complaint.pdfThe Obama administration is fighting to block access to names of visitors to the White House, taking up the Bush administration... more