Bill O’Reilly led off tonight with the ratings — his and his colleagues on Fox News, and those of his competitors.
O’Reilly showed a series of full screens explaining their “dominance” including comparing his Total Viewer numbers last Thursday and those of the July average of the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric. O’Reilly added up, then rounded up, his Thursday airings at 8pmET (3.716M) and 11pmET (1.657M), which come up to 5.373M. Couric’s average from June 29 – July 31 was actually 5.424M.
But you get Bill’s point.
So, why is Fox News on a tear?
According to O’Reilly, “A major reason is the healthcare debate… When we cover the town hall meetings we don’t describe the protesters as loons. We don’t denigrate people who disagree with Pres. Obama. That’s the difference between FOX News and all the others… The Factor also gives voice to both sides, something you will never see on NBC News.” [And by NBC News, we think he means MSNBC].
Then O’Reilly talked about the ratings with Bernie Goldberg, who isn’t exactly on the other side…
Click continued to see it…
> Update: Forgot to add, it appears this segment would fall under any inter-network agreement since ratings is news…