When 2015 began, it seemed unfathomable by the end of the year that Brian Williams would no longer anchor “NBC Nightly News” or that Donald Trump would be leading in the polls for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination. But both circumstances factored into the mixed ratings performance for TV news on cable and the major broadcast networks. Here’s how they performed in the ratings over the last year.
NEW YORK (AP) — Fox News Channel says it will host the seventh Republican presidential debate, taking place next month in Des Moines, Iowa ahead of that state’s caucuses. Fox […]
Nielsen said on Wednesday this made it the third most-watched among the five GOP primary debates that have taken place so far this year.
Exclusives
NEW YORK (AP) — Showtime says it will launch a weekly documentary series next month on the 2016 presidential campaign, calling it “The Circus: Inside the Greatest Political Show on […]
The Federal Aviation Administration has approved an application from CNN to fly drones. The agency issued the approval for CNN to use drones “to conduct aerial photography, aerial videography, and closed-set motion picture and television filming.” In doing so, it waived requirements for FAA approval of drone flights that are operated outside restricted airspace and below 200 feet.
After proposing to block Muslims from entering the U.S., Donald Trump made himself as available to the news media as he always does, despite espousing a plan more polarizing than any in a campaign that has thrived on confrontation. The stakes had perceptibly changed, though, and that made for electric, if not always informative, television moments Tuesday.
FNC No. 1 In Primetime For Week Of Nov. 30
NEW YORK (AP) — Two Fox News Channel contributors were suspended Monday for using inappropriate language about President Barack Obama while discussing his speech on terrorism the night before in […]
Cable news was set ablaze on Friday when the landlord of San Bernardino shooters Syed Farook and Tashfeen Malik surprised reporters by letting them into the apartment of the apparent terrorists. “This is kind of bizarre, this whole thing,” Anderson Cooper says about reporters being invited into the unit so soon after the massacre.
NEW YORK (AP) — Following protests online, CNN removed a description of Baltimore’s Freddie Gray as “the son of an illiterate heroin addict” in a story posted about the first […]
How Roger Ailes Built Fox News Channel
Ailes has spent a career straddling the worlds of politics and media. Today, Ailes runs one of the most valuable cable networks, on track to bring in $2.3 billion in revenue this year, per SNL Kagan, twice that of CNN. And now, the net has another jewel in its crown, boasting the most-watched non-sports cable program ever, with 24 million people tuning in for the first GOP debate this past August.
NEW YORK (AP) — Coming out of a commercial break shortly before 11:20 a.m., Brian Williams had slipped into the anchor chair on MSNBC Tuesday as President Barack Obama met […]
CNN is pivoting its sister channel HLN back toward news, abandoning the social media focus it had been pursuing in recent years. HLN’s chief executive, Albie Hecht, will depart the channel, and CNN EVP (and former HLN chief) Ken Jautz will step in on an interim basis.
NEW YORK (AP) — Bill O’Reilly and George Will have escalated their extraordinary feud this week, a dispute that encompasses the leading cable television news outlet, a publishing empire and […]
Nielsen said 14 million viewers watched the debate Wednesday night, down from the 24 million who saw the first contest on Fox News Channel in February and 23 million viewers for CNN’s second contest. Still, it’s an extraordinarily high bar: a 2011 debate with GOP candidates on CNBC had 3.3 million viewers, Nielsen said. This week’s debate also competed against the second game of the World Series.
The Republican presidential candidates repeatedly expressed frustration over the mainstream media in general and the CNBC moderators asking the questions during the third GOP debate Wednesday evening. “The questions that have been asked so far in this debate illustrate why the American people don’t trust the media,” Texas Sen. Ted Cruz said early on.
