Reese blogs about the numbers for the week of the New Hampshire primary…

The usual disclaimer: week-to-week results don’t count, except when they indicate something else.

More than 900,000 more Americans watched cable news in Primetime last week than in the week before. Fox was the third most watched of all ad supported cable networks, moving up from sixth place from the week before, and CNN went from twenty-third to thirteenth. MSNBC dropped two slots while HLN moved up from thirty-ninth to thirty-first. For the second straight week, CNN edged Fox News in the 18-34 demographic, but both averaged over a hundred thousand viewers. Younger folks seem to be paying far more attention to the primaries than they are to the usual Primetime talkers. Market share remains consistent, but last week HLN did break into double digits in all categories—low double digits, but still double digits.

What’s hot:

Ratings rise for the primaries - All the wall to wall political coverage is paying off with what so far is the most contested primary season in a generation. Everybody’s up and everybody is cramming in as much politics as possible to take advantage of the situation. For a change, however, I don’t think this is a manufactured media event (like tabloid gossip news sagas like Paris Hilton and O.J Simpson) but an honest to goodness attempt at covering a major story of real value.

Keith Olbermann starts blogging on Daily Kos - Olbermann’s critics will point to this as yet another sign of MSNBC giving the Countdown host too much latitude. Olbermann supporters will point to this as yet another sign that Keith is going his own way in a refreshing manner. Your mileage may vary…

Fox News to do pre-Super Bowl programming on Fox Broadcast - Fox News will be airing Fox News Sunday followed by two hours of political/sports coverage anchored by Shepard Smith on Fox Broadcast before the Super Bowl on the Fox Broadcast network.

“Keith runs MSNBC” - That quote in Men’s Journal wreaked all sorts of havoc this week. First, Fox and Friends went off on the quote. This was followed by Olbermann putting the FNC program on his worse, worser, worst list and suggesting the quote came from someone who was recently “fired” by the network. This was followed the next day by an anonymous tipster quote showing up on TVNewser pinning the quote on Davidson Goldin, recently departed from MSNBC as part of the December cutbacks. Goldin has vehemently denied being the one making the quote. However, and I don’t think many people picked up on this from reading TVNewser’s entry, what may have gotten lost in all this is, according to the TVN timeline as it’s written, that anonymous tip came before Olbermann’s on the air swipe. And that detail is one that suggests an interesting pattern. A very interesting pattern…

Update: I’ve gotten a few emails on this asking me what exactly I’m refering to. I thought it was rather evident but apparently it wasn’t. I was referring to the timing (anonymous quote first going to TVN and then later on Olbermann’s on-air spiel). Nothing definitive can be concluded from this but it’s co-incidental enough to raise a flag for me.
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CNN Washington D.C. Bureau assignment editor and field producer Frances Lewine died yesterday, one day before her 87th birthday. Lewine worked had worked at CNN since 1981, joining soon after the network launched.

CNN’s “Reliable Sources” and “Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer” remembered Fran on-air today with photo and video tributes. Below are transcripts of those segments from both shows. A cnn.com article also commemorates the life and work of Fran Lewine.

From CNN’s “Reliable Sources”:

KURTZ: Fran Lewine died yesterday. She was one of the unsung figures in journalism, a longtime producer here at CNN, 86 years old.

She worked at the AP for decades. And joining me to talk about her career is Frank Sesno, special CNN correspondent and professor of Media and Public Affairs at The George Washington University.

She started in this business in 1942 at “The New York Daily News.” Not a lot of women in the news business at that time.

FRANK SESNO, CNN SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT: I was struck this morning. You were talking to Linda Douglass, Jill Zuckman and Gloria Borger, three women.
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FNC was the the first network to get John McCain. After having won the South Carolina primary, McCain appeared on Hannity & Colmes directly after his victory speech. FNC incidentally stayed live with coverage into the 11pm hour while CNN and MSNBC went to taped programming with no lower thirds indicating tonight’s results.