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Looking
for Love in All the Wrong Places
August 14, 2001
by
C. Schiffler
There is nothing like a good love story. Whether it is a
formula tear-jerker, (boy meets girl, girl meets boy, girl
develops brain tumor), or an off-beat romantic comedy, (boy
meets girl, girl meets boy, boy misses wedding when he is
abducted by aliens), audiences everywhere delight in having
their pheromones tickled by a vicarious brush with Cupid's
tiny arrows.
But there's a new romance genre in the media these days,
one in which the media itself plays the starring role. The
plot is familiar to anyone who owns a small dog - you know
- the kind that develops a spontaneous leg-humping crush on
your mother-in-law. For such is the relationship between new
CNN chief, Walter Isaacson, and the Republican party.
Isaacson, who early this month made an unprecedented pilgrimage
to the G.O.P. Chapel of Love on Capitol Hill, denies there
are any ulterior motives behind his visit to Republican Congressional
leaders. Nope. Just in the neighborhood and thought he'd drop
by. "I definitely did not say, 'How do we attract the
conservative viewer?'" Isaacson tells reporters, ("CNN
Courts G.O.P.," by John Bresnahan and Mark Preston, Roll
Call, August 6). Yet the same article quotes a top Republican
congressional aide, who in turn quotes Isaacson, "He
said, 'Give us some guidance on how to attract conservatives.'"
The problem, apparently, is that while CNN, like a spurned
spouse, sits on the sofa guzzling beer and eating bonbons,
FOX News mogul Rupert Murdoch is slithering around the manly
loins of Tom Delay and Trent Lott with a come-hither look
in his eyes. Like most jealous lovers, Isaacson claims not
to care. "It really doesn't have to do with any other
network. It wasn't some programming strategy or our relationship
with FOX or anything like that." But he does care, because
it seems that FOX is slowly and relentlessly eroding the CNN
viewer base. At least that is the impression we get from our
helpful congressional aide who reports Isaacson "is panicked
that he's losing conservative viewers."
But let's look at the numbers. According to Nielsen Media
Research, between January 1 and August 1, 2000, there were
140,000 FOX News viewers. During the same time period this
year, those numbers doubled. CNN, on the other hand, while
still leading FOX by some 39,000 viewers, only picked up 13,000
newbies this year. The final tallies for the Nielsen Research
2001 reporting period stand at FOX, 282,000 viewers, and CNN,
321,000 viewers. FOX has certainly closed the gap.
Now let's consider where these new viewers might have come
form. Both stations gained this year, therefore it is unlikely
that CNN's core audience is defecting to FOX in droves due
to a paucity of foam-at-the-mouth right-wing conservative
programming. And almost certainly 142,000 people did not just
stumble upon FOX news while scouring the air waves in search
of pundits still discussing the adventures of Bill Clinton
and his mischievous penis. Surely Walter Isaacson did not
get where he is today by believing that kind of nonsense.
No. The way to acquire new viewers in Michael Powell's Magic
Deregulated Media Kingdom is to simply purchase them. No more
messy polls. No more catering to the keening and braying of
the unwashed masses. No more sleepless nights fretting over
clever, creative programming. Deregulation is a beautiful
thing when you have money in the bank and you are the deregulator's
favorite concubine. Just ask Rupert Murdoch.
In August of last year, Murdoch threw down the gauntlet when
he announced his intention to purchase Chris-Craft. With this
purchase, Murdoch exceeded the news market share allowed by
federal regulations by a good six percent. Junior Powell,
obedient little Borg that he is, waived the rules for Rupert
because - well, he can.
Now perhaps some - and perhaps a good portion - of the new
FOX viewers are folks just watching the same stations they
have always watched, except now those stations belong to FOX.
The article does not say. Not does it say exactly what news
these people are watching. According the Columbia Journalism
Review who monitored FOX for several weeks "the news
segments tend to be straightforward with little hint of political
subtext." For the most part, FOX's conservative bias
is only blatantly evidenced through its bilious choices in
pundit programming. Are the 142,000 newcomers to FOX News
watching Hannity and Colmes, or are they just watching the
evening news with steely-eyed anchor Biff Braindead? In the
absence of evidence to the contrary, we cannot assume that
because the FOX news audience doubled this year, it is a sign
that more viewers are lusting for right-wing vitriol.
Whatever the reasons behind the groundswell of FOX news consumers,
it is clear that Walter Isaacson is way too busy making cow-eyes
at congressmen to consider these subtleties or to solicit
opinions from anyone outside the Beltway. And whether we like
our elected representatives or not, it is hard to believe
that any of us went to the polls with the idea that we would
be choosing someone who would speak for our television viewing
preferences.
Here's a novel concept. If Walter Isaacson wants to know
what television viewers want to see on the news, why doesn't
he just ask them? Sometimes a fella travels all the way to
the Big City only to find that his true love has been right
under his nose all along. And sometimes, like the small dog
and the ill-fated leg, he spends his whole life looking for
love in all the wrong places.
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