Broadcasting & Cable’s John Higgins talks to News Corp. president/COO Peter Chernin:
| What’s behind Fox News’ ratings slide? The ratings are still remarkably strong. We still have a huge leadership position over our competitors, and we still have phenomenally talented people both on the air and running the channel. There’s maybe a little bit of burnout in the current news cycle right now. Americans are a little worn down by the war, a little worn down by whatever this week’s Washington scandal is. How much does the political cycle, the decline in Bush’s popularity, affect Fox News’ ratings? Probably not as much as people think. There is a core political audience, and maybe they’re a little burned out right now. But what tends to really drive the ratings of these things are sort of non-political stories, human-interest stories, whether it’s Katrina or Natalee Holloway in Aruba. |
Advertisement