29.4.09

100 Days in Narrowcast America

The liberal media watchdog website, Media Matters for America has produced a video montage of the Fox News Channel's coverage of the Obama Administration in its first 100 days. For people who don't watch Fox News much, the video is surreal. Comparing this depiction of Fox News coverage with national public opinion data reveals a truly amazing contrast. Americans as a whole have very positive feelings about the president and his policy agenda. When this fact is combined with the fact that Fox News is usually #1 in the cable news ratings, one gets a good sense of how the news broadcasting business does niche marketing. It's called narrowcasting and since no president is ever going to sustain 98% favorable ratings among voters, outfits like Fox News will always be able to succeed. MSNBC, which was nearly out of business a couple years back, has rebounded by catering to another niche in the TV news market, Fox News haters.

Is this situation the beginning of the end of journalism? I doubt it. As far as I can tell, regular and/or exclusive consumption of partisan news operations is only harmful to those doing it. I don't think there is any real danger of "second hand" self delusion that needs to be dealt with by society at large. Watch the video. Consider the source and assume it's editors took "artistic license." Still, I'm confident that at least 62% of Americans (Obama's current approval rating) will either laugh at, or cry for, the folks in the Fox News target demographic.