| | | | MEDIA WINNER:
Tucker Carlson It's a big week for big ratings, with the impeachment trial wrapping up, a Trump rally, and just days left before the Iowa caucus, there is buzz to abound.
And leading the surge this week was Fox News Channel's Tucker Carlson Tonight, which absolutely dominated on Tuesday with a staggering 861,000 viewers in the demo, 4,419,000 overall.
It wasn't just Tucker Carlson pulling numbers for Fox, though.
Sean Hannity’s 9 p.m. Fox News show came in second place with 4,120,000 viewers and 701,000 in the demo, followed by The Five at 5 p.m. with 3,692,000 viewers and 610,000 in the demo, and Laura Ingraham’s 10 p.m. show The Ingraham Angle at 3,605,000 viewers and 631,000 in the demo.
For comparison, MSNBC's top draw on Tuesday was Rachel Maddow, who garnered 2,785,000 viewers, with 461,000 in the demo. And at CNN, Anderson Cooper drew just 1,220,000 viewers and 337,000 in the demo.
Big ratings aren't always a media win, although in Fox's case, having just hit the 18th consecutive year on a winning streak it is certainly noteworthy. But the sheer volume of win on Tuesday for Carlson was a clear pick for a media win for the day.
Because it's not just about the ratings or revenue, it's about the ability to lay claim to both influence and credibility, at least with the audience. 6.5.0 |
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| | MEDIA LOSER:
Marty Baron Washington Post national political reporter Felicia Sonmez was suspended earlier this week after tweets she sent in following the tragic death of legendary basketball star Kobe Bryant, along with his daughter and several other people in a helicopter crash.
The paper insisted that Sonmez delete the tweets and put her on administrative leave. Not long after that, their own media reporter Erik Wemple wrote that the suspension was "misguided." Then, on Tuesday, Sonmez was reinstated, with a statement that called her tweets "ill-timed' but not a "violation" of their social media policy.
On Tuesday night, Sonmez took to Twitter to call out Post executive editor Marty Baron over the whole affair. In those tweets, she referenced a private email from Baron chastising her over the situation.
To put it more succinctly, the whole thing was a huge mess, and the Post, and Baron in particular, came out looking reactive and even cloddish over it.
In trying to avert what he perceived as a public relations nightmare that was "hurting this institution," Post editor in chief Baron did a much more enduring harm to the public perception, and the perception among their colleagues, of that institution's commitment to its reporters, and to the news.
It's an obvious losing moment for an organization and an individual who, of all people, should have known better. 6.5.0 |
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| Questions and Answers
On Wednesday, the Senate impeachment trial of President Donald J. Trump entered the question and answer phase. Because Senators are jurors in the trial, their questions for White House attorneys and House impeachment managers alike are not asked directly, but are instead submitted in writing, to be read aloud for the record by Chief Justice John Roberts who is presiding over the proceedings.
There were some doozies, of course. Republican moderates Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski, for example, submitted a well phrased and important question about whether the President ever brought up a link between Ukraine and former VP Joe Biden prior to Biden becoming a 2020 opponent.
Democrat Sen. Kamala Harris had perhaps the most savvy crafting of a message in her question, incorporating a quote from Trump's infamous remarks on the Access Hollywood tape.
Chief Justice Roberts even ended up having to read aloud a Trump tweet, a dubious honor but obviously unique in history nevertheless.
DershoWAT Trump team attorney Alan Dershowitz stole the impeachment show, however, when he argued that Trump can't be impeached because he believed his own reelection was in the public interest. Rep. Adam Schiff characterized Dershowitz's argument as "very odd," which in the scope of responses might be seen as an understatement.
“If you say you can’t hold a president accountable in an election year where they are trying to cheat in that election, then you are giving them carte blanche," said Schiff.
CNN's Gloria Borger upped the ante from "very odd" to "outrageous" and "ridiculous." Wolf Blitzer called it remarkable in that same, flabbergasted panel segment. Bolton, Bolton, Bolton Former national security advisor John Bolton remained one of the hottest topics in news on Wednesday, over his new book with some eye-opening revelations about Trump, Ukraine, impeachment et al.
Such big news, in fact, that the administration undertook a formal effort to prevent its publication. And earlier in the day the President accused Bolton of having been on the path to becoming a precipitating force in an eventual "World War Six," which is a hypothetical war so severe it apparently skipped right over four and five.
But the biggest Bolton news actually came from a Democrat in the House, who said on Wednesday that Bolton brought concerns over the ouster of Marie Yovanovitch to him months ago. Middle East Peace: The Book The Trump administration unveiled a peace plan for Israel and Palestine on Wednesday, the fruits of an effort led by son-in-law and and adviser Jared Kushner. Amid concerns over his qualifications for the task, Kushner reassured a reporter that he's "read 25 books" on the topic. So. Also Ice Cream, Polling, and Gambling. Former NYC Mayor Mike Bloomberg released a baffling ad about .. ice cream? Progressive pollsters ran the numbers on Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders as solo primary opponents to Joe Biden. And Alan Dershowitz proposed a $1,000 wager over impeachment to The View's Sunny Hostin in an off the rails segment. 6.5.0 |
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🎤 ICYMI: Fox's Geraldo Rivera sits down with Mediaite to talk about the upcoming docuseries on his career, not to mention President Trump, impeachment, and the future of media. Mediaite's Colby Hall has the deets... |
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| It's Like Watching C-3PO Trying to Twerk Comedy Central’s Trevor Noah laid out an hilarious and devastating case against Fox News for their huge U-turn on one time bestie and former Trump national security advisor John Bolton now that he's on Trump's bad side.
Don't miss how Lou Dobbs fails to connect the Vindman brothers. You'll die.
But the best part is the absolutely unbelievable difference of fawning, endless praise of Bolton by Dobbs before the switch. He wasn't just for him before he was against him, he was practically proposing marriage.
You really have to see the whole thing. |
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