What Happened to the News Media in America? Part 1 – The Golden Age of News – Defenders of Truth

There was a time between the Civil War and the dawn of the twentieth century when the American news media became so corrupted and so viciously biased that character assassination, fake news, lies, scandalous rumors, bias, racism, and invasions of privacy were the new norm.

In time the few honest news organizations and reporters decided such “Yellow” journalism tactics had to end in order to protect the integrity of the entire news industry that claimed Constitutional protection under the Bill of Rights.

For those of you ignorant of history and blinded by political correctness, the term “Yellow” at the time was used to denote gutless, unethical, immoral and outright lies promulgated by certain publishers and reporters.

The general public was sick of the nonsense and the vast majority no longer believed the news media or press.  To the public, the media had lost all signs of objectivity, were beholden to their advertisers, and intent on destroying opposing views or competition.

The newspaper business started in the 1800’s with papers being affiliated with political parties.  In time the editorial was introduced to allow papers to post articles showing the other party opinion on issues, a technique adopted more to expand the business than to result in fair coverage.  Horace Greeley, founder of the New York Tribune in 1841, is credited with inventing the idea of segregating news reports from opinion writing, by giving opinion its own page.

No national media organizations existed at the time but eventually a group that today is known as the Society of Professional Journalists, founded in 1909, first adopted a Code of Ethics in 1926 covering the print media only.

Although the Code was not enforceable except by voluntary means and had no basis under the law, it was still embraced by all major members of the news media, including radio and television networks and affiliates after the 1973 rewrite.

Three major technological advances would eventually revolutionize the news media industry with the commercialization of the radio in the 1920’s, telephone in the 1930’s, (just 32% of American households had a phone by 1937), and television in the 1950’s (in 1950 just 10% of homes had black and white television, by 1964 a staggering 94% of all homes had television).

Reporting, as a result of the Code of Ethics, took a sharp turn to become popular with the general public.  This tremendous growth in public exposure by television heralded in the Golden Age of reporting, the 1960’s and ‘70’s.

Suddenly television news anchors were among the most trusted people in America, like Edward R. Murrow, Walter Cronkite, Chet Huntley and David Brinkley who drew millions of faithful followers for their nightly news broadcasts.

Announcing death of JFK

Cronkite’s integrity was so beyond reproach he reached 57 million viewers for the Apollo landing on the Moon in 1969.  At the time there were 125 million viewers in a population of 202 million Americans meaning nearly 50% of all viewers were tuned to the CBS News with Cronkite.  In terms of average network followers, the 1969 average was about 31 million, with Cronkite pulling 11 million versus 9 million in each of the other two networks.

The population has tripled since the 1969 Moon landing but what happened to network news watchers?  As noted, 125 million people watched the Moon landing on all three networks, with Cronkite pulling 57 million.  Today, with three times as many people, we still only have about 119.6 million network viewers.

From the 31 million average network news viewers in 1969, it rose to 48 million viewers in 1985, then began a rapid descent.  By 1998 there were 30.4 million network news watchers, but today the number has dropped to about 21 million total watchers.

As for the popularity of anchors, Walter Cronkite was consistently voted the most trusted anchor on television and in 1972, he was named the most trusted man in America in all walks of life.  Today the most trusted network news anchors are only known by 21% of the TV audience.

Watch for Part 2 – The Golden Age of News – Destroyers of the Truth.
  

What Happened to the News Media in America? Part 1 – The Golden Age of News – Defenders of Truth

There was a time between the Civil War and the dawn of the twentieth century when the American news media became so corrupted and so viciously biased that character assassination, fake news, lies, scandalous rumors, bias, racism, and invasions of privacy were the new norm.

In time the few honest news organizations and reporters decided such “Yellow” journalism tactics had to end in order to protect the integrity of the entire news industry that claimed Constitutional protection under the Bill of Rights.

For those of you ignorant of history and blinded by political correctness, the term “Yellow” at the time was used to denote gutless, unethical, immoral and outright lies promulgated by certain publishers and reporters.

The general public was sick of the nonsense and the vast majority no longer believed the news media or press.  To the public, the media had lost all signs of objectivity, were beholden to their advertisers, and intent on destroying opposing views or competition.

The newspaper business started in the 1800’s with papers being affiliated with political parties.  In time the editorial was introduced to allow papers to post articles showing the other party opinion on issues, a technique adopted more to expand the business than to result in fair coverage.  Horace Greeley, founder of the New York Tribune in 1841, is credited with inventing the idea of segregating news reports from opinion writing, by giving opinion its own page.

No national media organizations existed at the time but eventually a group that today is known as the Society of Professional Journalists, founded in 1909, first adopted a Code of Ethics in 1926 covering the print media only.

Although the Code was not enforceable except by voluntary means and had no basis under the law, it was still embraced by all major members of the news media, including radio and television networks and affiliates after the 1973 rewrite.

Three major technological advances would eventually revolutionize the news media industry with the commercialization of the radio in the 1920’s, telephone in the 1930’s, (just 32% of American households had a phone by 1937), and television in the 1950’s (in 1950 just 10% of homes had black and white television, by 1964 a staggering 94% of all homes had television).

Reporting, as a result of the Code of Ethics, took a sharp turn to become popular with the general public.  This tremendous growth in public exposure by television heralded in the Golden Age of reporting, the 1960’s and ‘70’s.

Suddenly television news anchors were among the most trusted people in America, like Edward R. Murrow, Walter Cronkite, Chet Huntley and David Brinkley who drew millions of faithful followers for their nightly news broadcasts.

Announcing death of JFK

Cronkite’s integrity was so beyond reproach he reached 57 million viewers for the Apollo landing on the Moon in 1969.  At the time there were 125 million viewers in a population of 202 million Americans meaning nearly 50% of all viewers were tuned to the CBS News with Cronkite.  In terms of average network followers, the 1969 average was about 31 million, with Cronkite pulling 11 million versus 9 million in each of the other two networks.

The population has tripled since the 1969 Moon landing but what happened to network news watchers?  As noted, 125 million people watched the Moon landing on all three networks, with Cronkite pulling 57 million.  Today, with three times as many people, we still only have about 119.6 million network viewers.

From the 31 million average network news viewers in 1969, it rose to 48 million viewers in 1985, then began a rapid descent.  By 1998 there were 30.4 million network news watchers, but today the number has dropped to about 21 million total watchers.

As for the popularity of anchors, Walter Cronkite was consistently voted the most trusted anchor on television and in 1972, he was named the most trusted man in America in all walks of life.  Today the most trusted network news anchors are only known by 21% of the TV audience.

Watch for Part 2 – The Golden Age of News – Destroyers of the Truth.  

Fox News beats out all Cable and Network news for Trump Inaugural - Crushes CNN by over 8 million viewers

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Fox Tops Broadcast and Cable News in Inauguration Ratings; CNN Posts Strong Primetime Numbers

by Justin Baragona | 10:37 am, January 23rd, 2017

Friday was Inauguration Day and therefore a huge day for broadcast and cable news coverage. And the undisputed winner of the ratings battle for the day was Fox News.

During the peak coverage block of 11 AM to 4 PM ET, Fox News averaged 8.77 million viewers and 2.19 million in the key 25-54 demographic. The cable news network pulled in nearly three million more than the runner-up NBC, who drew 5.90 million viewers and 2.02 million in the 25-54 demo. ABC and CBS finished third and fourth, with 4.90 million and 4.65 million viewers respectively.

As for the other cable news channels, CNN nabbed and audience 2.61 million and 942,000 in the demo in that time block. They nearly doubled up MSNBC who brought in 1.38 million and 309,000 in the demographic.

During the the Oath and Inaugural Address, Fox really dominated. The channel drew 11.77 million during that timeframe and 2.99 million in the demo. CNN, meanwhile, attracted 3.38 million viewers and 1.21 million in the 25-54 age range. MSNBC was at 1.49 million and 315,000 demo viewers.

In primetime coverage, which featured the inaugural balls, Fox News pulled in 6.96 million total viewers and 1.77 million in the 25-54 demographic. CNN enticed 4.53 million total people to watch and 1.39 million in the demo. MSNBC drew a total audience of 1.62 million and 395,000 in the key demographic.

As for the business channels, Fox Business topped CNBC in the 11 AM – 4 PM block. FBN pulled in a total of 536,000 viewers and 104,000 in the 25-54 age group compared to CNBC’s 314,000 total viewers and 91,000 in the demo.

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What is in a Photo? The Media Obsession with Trump Inaugural Crowd Photos

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Never was the obsession with the Establishment media of wanting to do anything and everything possible to undermine the Trump presidency more obvious than with the blizzard of stories about the estimate of crowd sizes at the Trump inaugural.

According to the television producers at NBC, ABC, CBS, cable also rans like CNN and MSNBC,  the pillars of liberal obsession The New York Times and The Washington Post, and all the other George Soros inspired or funded media like Politico, The Huffington Post, and, well, you know the like, nothing was more important in the news.

Michael Snyder / AP / Mario Anzuoni / Markku Ulander / Joshua Roberts / Tim Chong / Jim Urquhart / Jorge Dan Lopez / Mike Segar / Carlo Allegri / Reuters / The Atlantic

One might think the status of the Trump cabinet approval might be news since only 4 of the nearly two dozen positions subject to Senate approval are complete.  Democrats have made certain Trump is far behind previous elected presidents at this point in his new administration.  Perhaps a story about how the media said many of the Trump nominees were in trouble might be interesting since conventional wisdom says every single nominee is likely to be approved.

Of course there are the flurry of Trump Executive Orders to fulfill campaign promises and priorities including those relating to immigration, job development, the economy, trade deals, foreign relations and other areas but the news media seems to ignore them.

Trump's tremendous early outreach to friends and foes alike has also largely gone unnoticed whether it was the leaders of silicon valley, multi-national business tycoons, auto leaders, or union leaders.  While many positive things are happening they seem oblivious to the media.

So here is my update on the latest dumb obsession of the the Establishment Media, the crowd photos.

Here is what CNN used as the basis for a million dumb stories.

There was no mention of the fact the security screening at the Trump swearing in was the tightest in history, nor that it was raining before the event started, both resulting in delays in the activities.

Newspaper not from the liberal elite on the East Coast posted their own photos of the Trump inaugural when it happened, not well in advance like CNN, and this is what they looked like.

You decide where the truth might lie, in the CNN set up or the photos reported by news media outside the Washington, DC Beltway.

As for me, the only news in the news being reported by the Establishment Media was never news in the first place.  It is obvious why 94% of Americans do not trust the news media.
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Fox News Tucker Carlson new Darling of News Media

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Tucker Carlson’s First Two Weeks In Primetime Outstrip Megyn Kelly On FNC

by Lisa de Moraes

January 24, 2017 10:03am

Two full weeks into hosting Fox News Channel’s 9 PM timeslot, Tucker Carlson is averaging 3.7 million viewers, 775,000 of them in the 25-54 news demo, topping CNN and MSNBC in both metrics.

Tucker Carlson Tonight’s numbers also are 37% higher in viewers and up 50% in the news demo compared with the 2016 average of Megyn Kelly’s The Kelly File in the 9 PM slot. Compared with Kelly’s performance in the same two weeks last year, Carson is up 95% in the demo and 46% in overall audience. That said, the same two weeks last year did not include Donald Trump’s inauguration. But Carlson’s numbers seem to make the point that FNC has managed to transition the timeslot after Kelly’s very dramatic tenure and departure for NBC News without seeming to miss a beat.

Against Carlson’s two-week average, CNN’s various programs logged 2M viewers and 633K news demo viewers, while MSNBC’s The Rachel Maddow Show logged 2.01M total viewers and 417K news demo viewers.

Last week, January 16-22, FNC again dominated all basic cable networks in both total viewers and in the news demographic in primetime (3.92M, 840K)  and total day (2.48M, 522K). The week of Trump’s inauguration marked FNC’s  highest-rated week since the 2016 election.

CNN (1.77M) was basic cable’s second-most watched network in primetime, ahead of HGTV (1.65M), USA (1.53M) and Discovery (1.5M).

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