I am a Limbaugh fan. Though I don't listen regularly because of work, heck, I have followed the man since his TV show and still remember reading his first book. It was a refreshingly fun piece of work and did help me to codify some of my thinking around the MSM. At the same time, I try to be honest in what I blog. And the fact is, someone emailed me something from the Limbaugh site about Rush and Hard News. As I read it, I couldn't help but realize that Limbaugh definitely spun the news.
Fairness compels me to acknowledge it, despite being a fan.
So when you boil all this down, what it adds up to is that the largest percentage of consumers of hard news listen to this radio program more so than they do the nightly news programs, and our audience is larger on a daily basis than theirs are. The Sunday morning news shows, and this is the first we've heard of it. You know what? I'm going to scan this. We need to scan this and send it up there to Koko.
That isn't correct. What the Pew study shows is that 56% of Limbaugh's audience regularly accesses hard news. That is a very different thing than the largest percentage of consumers of hard news listen to this radio program.
Limbaugh's subsequent claims are also likely incorrect. You have to flip over to section 1 Where Americans Go For News. Call in radio shows, which is what Limbaugh is, rates about 17% as a media for people accessing hard news. While local and especially network TV news programs have diminished significantly over time, all of the traditional TV news venues better Limbaugh significantly. Lastly, as they are, unlike Limbaugh's show, broken out as networks, you'd have to combine the numbers, which would then dwarf Limbaugh as a source for hard news.
You can be very entertaining Rush and I hope you stay that way. But please try not to confuse people seriously interested in hard news. Your entertainment program can be great, but hard news is not what you do. And it isn't surprising that a large part of your audience also enjoys accessing hard news.
When is the drug addict going to face a jury???
Posted by: bill gaffney | Thursday, April 13, 2006 at 11:47 AM
When is the drug addict going to face a jury???
Posted by: bill gaffney | Thursday, April 13, 2006 at 11:49 AM