BloggeRhythms

Raymond Siller, longtime head writer on “The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson," wrote an article published by Breitbart  on-line in which he claims that late night comics protect Obama.

 

What’s most interesting about the piece is that a seasoned professional with insider knowledge presents valid information about how the comics and networks think and also dissects trends in the voting public.

 

Mr. Siller opines that, “It isn’t that they’ve abstained from attacking Democrats. Bill Clinton got savaged during his eight-year run and we can expect torrential yuks if and when Hillary declares. But they’re tongue-tied when it comes to roughing up the present POTUS.

 

The only plausible explanation for their timidity is a fear of being labeled racist. That’s unfortunate. What rankles some Obama critics isn’t the color of his skin. It’s the thinness. Fox News and Rush Limbaugh get under it.”

 

And then Mr. Siller points out an aberration in executive thinking because, “The networks salivate for the precious 18 - 49 age viewer but weirdly ignore the political demo. Gallup’s numbers show that 38 percent of Americans identify as conservatives, 23 percent as liberals, and 34 percent as moderates. In other words, 72 percent of Americans aren’t liberal. Yet network news anchors list to the left.”

 

The statistics involved demonstrate something I often mention, which is the significant trend toward a network like Fox, that bucks the tide of leftist propaganda in its reportage, as noted in the column as follows.

 

“In 1996, TV executive Roger Ailes saw an opening and created the wildly successful Fox News Channel. In January’s cable news ratings, FNC came out on top with its shows taking the top 14 spots in total viewers. CNN had its third worst ratings month in its history. CNN lost 39 percent of its total primetime audience from the same month in 2013 and 35 percent of its primetime audience in the 25 -  54 age demo.

 

The CNN and MSNBC talking heads are reliable Obama hackolytes whose ratings tank because they’re in the tank for Obama. They just can’t help themselves. Ideology trumps business acumen.”

 

And that’s the key point of it all. Because just like the New York Times’ rapidly declining readership shows, TV audiences are more than fed up with reporting biases. Especially where news is filtered or altered for ideological purposes. 

 

However, no matter how hard networks might try to influence viewers by protecting favorites while smearing foes, the public’s grown too knowledgeable and too large to deceive as has been done in the past. And what the statistics indicate clearly is that quite soon, biased networks will be talking only to a small band of zealots and themselves.  

  

That’s it for today folks.

 

Adios