There are times when I wish I would record some of the political conversations I partake in, it would be Youtube gold.
As my wife tells it, I'm a magnet for conversation. People come out of nowhere and start talking sports/politics to me as she stands there giving me evil facial expressions to hurry the conversation to "good-bye."
People voicing their opinion is a two way street, the ear can tell who knows their stuff and who is regurgitating something they heard elsewhere. And with that, I always wonder about people who believe that Fox News and/or Conservative talkers are not part of Mass/Mainstream Media.
Mass Media: A means of public communication reaching a large audience by means of television, newspapers, magazines, and radio.
Over the weekend a conversation started with a "Thinker*" defending recent events about Rush Limbaugh. "All these Liberals and their money going after Limbaugh and his advertisers! That girl deserves to be called slut one time on the air."
As I stopped the "Thinker," I asked "How often to do you listen to Limbaugh?"
"I don't because his show is on while I'm working. But I heard about it on Fox," said the "Thinker."
And there folks lies the problem, one cannot defend something that their did not see nor hear, but heard about through a secondary source.
I listen to Limbaugh, only because I am not medicated like most and heard his 3 day tirade and his pitiful apology. Limbaugh and anyone else have the right to say whatever they wish, but they have to accept the consequences that follow.
Limbaugh, no matter how much he opposes the thought, is part of Mass/Mainstream Media. He is the "Drive By Media" of the Conservative Right and is the loudest megaphone.
A great example is from 2009 when Congressman Phil Gingrey stated:
"Rush Limbaugh is a has-been hypocrite loser, who craves attention. His right-wing lunacy sounds like Mikhail Gorbachev, extolling the virtues of communism. Limbaugh actually was more lucid when he was a drug addict. If America ever did 1% of what he wanted us to do, then we'd all need pain killers."
When word got back to Limbaugh, he of course went on attack to which Congressman Gingrey called into his show to apologize to Limbaugh for his harsh words.
I know it must be hard for Fox News Nation and other Conservative talkers to believe they are what they hate, but its hard to see with blinders on.
As of March 11th, 2012, Fox wins the minds of adults between the ages 18-49 with a 2.4 rating with CBS a distant second at 2.0 rating.
If that's not enough, just look at the latest Nielsen ratings for the Top 30 Cable TV news programs from February 2012:
1. Fox News/Bill O'Reilly (8pm) - 2.943 Million viewers
2. Fox News/Sean Hannity (9pm) - 2.115 Million viewers
3. Fox News/Braier Special Report (6pm) - 1.84 Million viewers
4. Fox News/Shep Smith Fox Report (7pm) - 1.753 Million viewers
5. Fox News/Greta Van Sustern (10pm) - 1.689 Million viewers
6. Fox News/The Five (5pm) - 1.647 Million viewers
7. Fox News/Neil Cavuto You World (4pm) - 1.209 Million viewers
8. Fox News/America's Newsroom (9am) - 1.206 Million viewers
9. Fox News/Bill O'Reilly Replay (11p) - 1.202 Million viewers
10.Fox News/Megyn Kelly America Live (12p) - 1.163 Million viewers
Seriously, Fox News "The Five" and a replay of Bill O'Reilly are in the Top 10!
11. Fox News/Fox & Friends (6a-9a) - 1.074 Million viewers
12. Fox News/Shep Smith Studio B (3pm) - 1.073 Million viewers
Anyone see a pattern? You have to get to #13 till another network appears.
13. MSNBC/The Rachel Maddow Show (9pm) - 1.072 Million viewers
14. MSNBC/The Ed Shutlz Show replay (8pm) - 1.021 Million viewers
15. MSNBC/Last Word w/Lawrence O'Donnel (10p)- 963K viewers
Believe it or not, CNN is listed but not till #19 with Anderson Cooper 360 replay, not the first run. The first run comes in at #22.
So who is actually controlling the conversation in our Nation on TV? Sure doesn't seem like the Liberal broadcasters, who can't even crack the Top 10.
Even on Radio and Livestream syndication, the conversation is controlled by Conservative talkers.
1. Rush Limbaugh - 15 million listeners
2. Sean Hannity - 14 million listeners
5. Michael Savage - 9 million listeners
7. Glenn Beck Program - 8.5 million listeners
8. The Mark Levin Show - 8.5 million listeners
11.The Neal Boortz show - 6 million listeners
12.The Laura Ingraham show - 6 million listeners
That's a crazy 7 of the Top 15 Conservative talkers controlling the airways. So when Limbaugh goes on a 3 day tirade about Sandra Fluke, that's 15 million listeners regurgitating what he said to co-workers or family.
Even Newsmax has seen the influence the Conservative talker and recently listed their "Top 25 Radio Hosts" results:
1. Rush Limbaugh
2. Bill O’Reilly
3. Don Imus
4. Michael Savage
5. Sean Hannity
6. Laura Ingraham
7. Glenn Beck
8. Neil Boortz
The only Liberal to crack the Top 10 was Al Franken at #9, followed by Ed Shults at #15, which is strange because I didn't think Franken was broadcasting any longer with the demise of Air America.
Even Presidential hopeful Rick Santorum, a former Fox News employee, has recently called out Fox News as pushing/leading the issues and helping rival Willard Romney gain the Republican nomination.
So by numbers alone, no matter which way one looks at the numbers, Fox News and Conservative talkers are the leaders of Mass/Mainstream Media, just the diehard listener is in denial to the fact.
Sorry to have so many facts listed that passed the motto "never write more than the average person can read during the average crap," but it was the only way for those with blinders on to see the proof.
That's it, the Guinness has gone empty... Slap the tap and pay the political tab!
Follow bigpoppapolitics on Twitter: @bigpopapolitics
* The Thinker- family members that switched political belief but refuses to believe they were/are part of the convsersational problem by listening to one source
http://w3.newsmax.com/radio_hosts.cfm
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/29/cable-news-ratings-top-30-february_n_1310969.html
http://www.mediabistro.com/tvnewser/february-2011-top-cable-news-shows_b55363
http://news.yahoo.com/video/us-15749625/2012-election-rockers-presidents-and-politics-28594786.html#crsl=%252Fvideo%252Fus-15749625%252F2012-election-rockers-presidents-and-politics-28594786.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/01/28/phil-gingrey-gop-congress_n_161964.html
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/mass+media
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