TV News & Politics, Perfect Bedfellows

By Chris Ariens 

Several TV news-meets-politics stories in the weekly newsmagazines and today’s New York Times.

Jim Rutenberg, The New York Times:

“On any given night, there are two distinctly, even extremely, different views of the presidential campaign offered on two of the three big cable news networks, Fox News Channel and MSNBC…”

Sarah Kliff, Newsweek:

“The three major cable networks-CNN, Fox News and MSNBC-have all seen their ratings skyrocket, thanks to the election. But if history’s any guide, there will inevitably be a post-election crash. Both Fox and CNN saw double-digit drops in their prime-time ratings the day after the 2004 election.”

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Alessandra Stanley, The New York Times:

“Neither CNN nor the Fox News Channel is known for comedy, or even much of a sense of humor, so it is a measure of how important a role comedy has played in the 2008 election that these two sober cable news channels now offer lighthearted Saturday night talk shows.”

David Von Drehle, Time:

“The fracturing of the media into a thousand voices — many of them strident — will further complicate the new President’s efforts to deliver on the promise of a more civil way of doing the nation’s business.

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