The NYTimes’ Jacques Steinberg writes about how the cable nets benefited from “politically opinionated talk” this year. Steinberg writes, “Keith Olbermann‘s Countdown on MSNBC — a program whose steady drumbeat of criticism of the Bush administration included a call for the president’s resignation — grew by more than 50 percent from 2006 to 2007. ”
Steinberg continues, “The audience for [Bill] O’Reilly, who tends to approach issues from well to the right of Mr. Olbermann, also grew this past year, though at a rate (about 6 percent, representing about 120,000 more viewers) that fell short of Mr. Olbermann’s gains.”
The Times piece also evaluates the political leanings of Lou Dobbs, the ladies of The View and the overall political coverage on the nightly newscasts.