NPR criticises the world of punditry

This is an old entry on NPR's News blog, but I thought it worth highlighting anyway.

NPR's Tom Regan blogs about how pundits have taken over the world of cable news in the US. He references American activist Bethania McKenstry, who said one of the truest things I've ever heard.

"...I'm not sure I want popular opinion on my side -- I've noticed those with the most opinions often have the fewest facts..."

It is so true. Just look at the likes of Bill O'Reilly, Sean Hannity, Russ Limbaugh and Michael Savage. So many opinions, yet so little facts to back them up. The number of times each of them has opened their mouth only to stick their foot in it, I have lost count of.

But there are countless amateur pundits out there on the net, who I catch making fools of themselves more times than I can count in a day, never mind a year. The amount of rubbish that is spouted as hard solid fact and is believed as such, is sad. My previous post, was just one such occasion when I just couldn't stand to read this, without doing a rebuttle. I've done many others, throughout the history of this blog.

Make no mistake, I am as much a pundit as any of them. My difference is, at least I do research, and have facts to back my opinions up, which most of them seem to be sadly lacking on.

US Cable News Ratings: Fox lose to CNN Republicans!

Both TV Newser and Inside Cable News have reported the cable numbers for Wednesday 28th November and show that CNN won the battle that night handsomely, with over 4 million people tuned in to watch the CNN/YouTube Republican Debate.

Despite Bill O'Reilly scoring well with over 2.2 million viewers at 8pm ET and 1.2 million viewers at 11pm ET, CNN won the night handsomely. They also have recorded the best figures for any debate this campaign season so far.

Just wait until we get to the presidential debates. Those numbers could well be much higher.

US Cable News Numbers: Tuesday 23rd October 2007

Tuesday's numbers were helped overall by the California Wildfires coverage, and by the premiere of CNN's Planet in Peril documentary.

Congratulations have to go to Keith Olbermann who for the first time ever on MSNBC, managed to score over 1 million viewers, both on Live and Live +SD numbers. But Keith was beaten in third place, legit style, by an early airing for Anderson Cooper 360, who managed over 1.3 million. Anderson Cooper was reporting live from Southern California at the scene of the wildfires.

Bill O'Reilly, pulled out a massive 2.77 million viewers, another spectacular performance for him,the second in relatively quick succession.

In the demo, O'Reilly was FNC's only success on the night, winning the 8pm hour. CNN won the demo for all the other hours. Even looking at CNNs total viewers numbers, they have 1 million viewers or more for every hour from 5pm to midnight, as did Fox News Channel.

Overall, a great night for Cable News. CNN have to be proud of their performance, winning Total Day demo and Prime Time demo, plus the fact tha Planet In Peril scored over 1.5 million total viewers and 532,000 in the key demo. Fox News Channel have to be pleased that they held up their numbers despite some extra tough competition out there, and MSNBC have to be pleased that they gained viewers as well, as well a record viewership for Countdown with Keith Olbermann.

It seems that more viewers came to Cable News that night, and everybody gained.