Reese blogs on the numbers yesterday…

A month ago, I noted a sharp decline in CNN primetime numbers. It might have been a one week wonder so I’ve waited a full month before putting it down on paper. There’s been no change. As of now, FoxNews averages 1,558,200 primetime viewers every day and CNN’s audience has slipped to an average of 673,200. It used to be that Fox beat CNN 3-2, (roughly 1.3 million viewers to CNN’s 800,000.) Now Fox beats CNN two and a half to one. MSNBC and Headline News were not competitive.

…and today…

So, on the very next day, I get last week’s results. CNN has made enormous gains. It’s come in tenth primetime among all cable advertiser supported networks. Of course Fox came in third but beat CNN by only a four-to-three margin. Some of this may have been the result of Larry King’s fifty year anniversary but I prefer to think that it’s proof, once again, that when disaster strikes, viewers turn to CNN.

CNN’s Political Ticker has a story on the first New Hampshire debates. Question: Obama and Clinton haven’t accepted? Aren’t they kind of important?

Every major Republican candidate and every Democratic hopeful aside from Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have accepted an invitation extended by WMUR-TV, the New Hampshire Union Leader and CNN to participate in the presidential debates that are expected to help shape New Hampshire voters’ opinions as they decide whom to back in this wide open presidential race.

Democrats will take the stage at Saint Anselm College on June 3, while Republicans visit the campus on June 5. The debates will be televised statewide on WMUR and nationally on CNN. Extensive coverage will appear in the pages of the Union Leader, UnionLeader.com, CNN, CNN.com, WMUR and WMUR.com, the media companies announced Tuesday. The debates were originally scheduled for the first week in April, but the three media partners decided to move them to the first week of June to help accommodate the candidates’ schedules.

New Hampshire’s most powerful Democratic and Republican lawmakers urged the candidates to participate in the early New Hampshire debates.

American Morning had a rough one coming in under 300,000 total viewers. HLN beat MSNBC in both the daytime and primetime Demos. O’Reilly had the highest Demo of the night. MSNBC’s new reality series Models NYC did poorly at 10 and 11pm.

Cable News Ratings for April 23, 2007

P2+ Total Day
FNC – 842,000 viewers
CNN – 411,000 viewers
MSNBC – 228,000 viewers
CNBC – 170,000 viewers
HLN – 218,000 viewers

P2+ Prime Time
FNC – 1,701,000 viewers
CNN – 639,000 viewers
MSNBC – 370,000 viewers
CNBC – a scratch with 106,000 viewers
HLN – 335,000 viewers

25-54 Total Day
FNC – 233,000 viewers
CNN – 141,000 viewers
MSNBC –84,000 viewers
CNBC – 60,000 viewers
HLN – 98,000 viewers

25-54 Prime Time
FNC – 399,000 viewers
CNN – 211,000 viewers
MSNBC – 106,000 viewers
CNBC – 54,000 viewers
HLN – 144,000 viewers

Morning programs P2+ (25-54)
FOX & Friends – 801,000 viewers (284,000)
American Morning – 261,000 viewers (91,000)
MSNBC Live- 218,000 viewers (82,000)
Robin & Co. – 173,000 viewers (115,000)
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Cable News Ratings for April 21, 2007

P2+ Total Day
FNC –734,000 viewers
CNN – 493,000 viewers
MSNBC – 297,000 viewers
CNBC – 248,000 viewers
HLN – 262,000 viewers

P2+ Prime Time
FNC – 941,000 viewers
CNN – 775,000 viewers
MSNBC – 286,000 viewers
CNBC – 287,000 viewers
HLN – 267,000 viewers

25-54 Total Day
FNC – 230,000 viewers
CNN – 193,000 viewers
MSNBC –156,000 viewers
CNBC – 76,000 viewers
HLN – 97,000 viewers

25-54 Prime Time
FNC – 254,000 viewers
CNN – 255,000 viewers
MSNBC – 159,000 viewers
CNBC – 90,000 viewers
HLN – 83,000 viewers

Cable News Ratings for April 22, 2007
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The San Francisco Chronicle’s Peter Hartlaub writes that there was a lot of confusion and/or misinformation regarding whether the shooter had played video games. Hartlaub goes on to note that Chris Matthews was one of the few who was skeptical about the video game angle…

Dr. Phil McGraw went on “Larry King Live” on that Monday evening, also before a suspect was identified, and gave his own anti-video game speech. And a year ago, Thompson was telling the same cable news anchors that the Rockstar video game Bully was a “Columbine simulator,” even though the lawyer had never seen the game. When Bully was released in October with a Teen rating, the most formidable weapon was a slingshot, and the body count in the game (zero) was lower than several G-rated Disney films.

How does this happen? Unfortunately, I have some insight. In a previous life as a news reporter covering courts, I remember the strong temptation to go to lawyer Gloria Allred for quotes. Sure, half of what she said sounded like blathering nonsense, but she was so easy to get on the phone before deadline.

But the Thompson situation is infinitely worse, because his misinformation mostly goes unquestioned by anchors who clearly know nothing about video games. Most just nod their heads gravely or don’t seem to understand what he’s saying. And while Allred is one of many lawyers who offer opinions on legal issues, when it comes to video games, Thompson’s seems to be the solitary number in the mainstream media’s massacre-coverage Rolodex.

Studio B with Shepard Smith got a major graphics overhaul today. Do not what’s not there….yup, no crawl. YAY!

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Variety’s Michael Learmonth writes about the first Democratic and Republican debates to air on MSNBC…

With three cable networks and the broadcast nets vying for debates, and hundreds of political organizations and state parties trying to sponsor them, the candidates have been deluged with requests, making it uncertain if any of the announced events would actually materialize.

MSNBC made sure the invitations were ones that candidates would find very hard to refuse. The Democratic debate is being sponsored by the South Carolina state party, an influential group in a state that holds the first presidential primary in the South. Joe Biden, Clinton, Christopher Dodd, John Edwards, Mike Gravel, Dennis Kucinich, Barack Obama and Bill Richardson have committed to the debate.

The Republican debate is being held in the Reagan Library, important to Republicans for its obvious symbolism, and the candidates were personally invited to participate by Nancy Reagan. Confirmed Republicans include Sam Brownback, Jim Gilmore, Rudy Giuliani, Mike Huckabee, Duncan Hunter, John McCain, Mitt Romney, Ron Paul, Tom Tancredo and Tommy Thompson.

There will be no opening or closing statements, just the candidates’ reactions to questions and to each other.

Both MSNBC and NBC News are planning to make the most of it.

The Salt Lake Tribune’s Derek P. Johnson writes that Sean Hannity signed the agreement to debate Rocky Anderson and there may be a documentary film crew there after all…

“I’ve signed the [revised] contract,” which stipulates accredited media only and ostensibly locks out the filmmakers, Anderson said. “He’s running out of excuses.”

Turns out, Hannity signed the tweaked pact “within 20 minutes,” according to Kevin LaRue, program director for KSL Newsradio.

What’s more, the independent filmmakers, who have freelanced for CNN and ABC, insist they will chronicle the whole thing.

“People like Sean Hannity not wanting us to be a part of the story is a story itself,” said Rhea Gavry, who has produced and directed self-funded independent films with husband Douglass Monroe for 20 years. “We can be credentialed as media - we are a corporation. If we were restricted, that would become part of the story as well.”

Buried in this Hal Boedeker piece in the Clarion Ledger on a Bill Moyers documentary is news that Roger Ailes is writing a book on FNC.

Fox News Channel has used punditry with lucrative results. But Roger Ailes, the channel’s boss, declined to appear in Moyers’ program. An assistant said Ailes is “writing a book on how Fox has changed the face of American broadcasting and doesn’t want to scoop himself,” Moyers says.