Happy birthday Fox
Fox news has turned ten with a 35% slump in its ratings year-on-year Other networks aren't exactly steaming, but Fox's troubles
Meanwhile, there's signs of a rebellion against the seemingly endless retrenchments happening in major newspapers, with The LA Times' publisher resigning rather than accepting more redundancies.
... run a bit deeper. For 12 straight months, its prime-time audience has been smaller than the year before, The Associated Press says, while CNN has gained 5 percent in the first eight months of this year.I have a theory about why this might be: it's piss-awful. Or maybe it's just on the "wrong side of history".
Meanwhile, there's signs of a rebellion against the seemingly endless retrenchments happening in major newspapers, with The LA Times' publisher resigning rather than accepting more redundancies.
posted by Rob O'Neill at 9:43 AM
5 Comments:
Fine one-sided view there Rob.
I saw the same or a similar article in the NZ Herald too.
But Fox still outshines the others in terms of ratings and the other channels are also suffering declines in viewers, as your article also notes.
I guess that after Fox became a leader, the others haad to copy some of its formats, which they did.
Thus it is inevitable a market leader will lose some of its edge.
That aside, it is encouraging to see management stand up to cost cutting which will utimately hasten the demise of newspapers.
I have said many times before- including on Sir humphreys a few days ago, that editorial cost cutting does not work.
I saw it happen in the UK ten years ago, where the genteel annual decline of 1-2% in readership with the regional media there led to sales slupms of 10% in several cases and the cuts had to be reversed.
Many people stopped buying the new slimmed or dumbed down papers because they had 'nothing in them.'
In this internet age, I see problems with papers filling the pages with cheap overseas wire copy. Why rehash tales from the Independent or guardian when the savvy reader can go to these international websites direct?
What Fairfax and the NZ Herald has to do is 'localise' its copy more or increase local content. they must do things the others do not, give themselves a unique reason to exist. There is no other serious source of Auckland news other than the NZ Herald, likewise Fairfax in Wellington, so they needs to strengthen their focus on these strengths. They also need to beef up their investigative reporting.
All this might mean some short term decline in profits , but readerships and hence advertising revenues will hold up better in the long run.
Ahh, I thought the "wrong side of history" comment would bring you out Darren!
I agree with most of what you say, but Fox's main problem is it's piss-awful.
That, and the Blue Death appears to be abating in the United States at long last. Roll on, midterm congressional elections...
Craig Y.
Gee Rob, a decline after 9 straight years of growth! Is that a trend now?
Every trend has to start somewhere AL.
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