Accuracy in Media

Despite the departure of Bill O’Reilly amid accusations of sexual harassment, Fox News managed to finish No. 1 in primetime for the second quarter of the year. Fox News fended off a strong challenge from the resurgent MSNBC, thanks to a relatively strong performance by Tucker Carlson who replaced O’Reilly in April. Even though Carlson […]

Normally, in the year after a presidential election, interest in news wanes and ratings of the major cable news networks drop sharply as viewers return to pre-election viewing habits. That’s not the case this year as viewers have stayed tuned to Fox News, CNN and MSNBC in order to follow the ups and downs of the […]

Two conservative websites jumped on the news that Rachel Maddow’s ratings plummeted the day after her big Trump tax return reveal, without fully explaining that the drop was to be expected after she set a ratings record for the overly-hyped show. The initial report, from FoxNews.com and repeated by the Washington Free Beacon, gleefully stated […]

GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump, who has been cable news ratings gold for the past year, is still working his magic at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland despite only briefly appearing before the delegates on Monday night. Fox News Channel led the way with 5.5 million viewers between 8 and 11 p.m., up 7% from […]

The GOP frontrunner may be taking potshots at Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly, but it hasn’t hurt the cable news behemoth’s ratings. The network has just set a new record for itself by finishing in first place in all of cable for the first quarter of this year. The record was even more remarkable as […]

Cable news network ratings soared in February, thanks largely to viewer interest in the 2016 presidential race. CNN led the way in the all-important 25-54 demo, beating perennial leader Fox News thanks to a series of candidate town halls and debates, though Fox still had the most total viewers. Fox was the most watched cable […]

Another year, another ratings win for Fox News Channel. For the 14th consecutive year Fox News Channel has finished as the top-rated cable news network by a wide margin, with gains in every major segment except for the total-day demo, which fell 3 percent compared to 2014. CNN posted significant gains—albeit from a low base—and […]

CNN Worldwide president Jeff Zucker sent a rather optimistic end-of-year email to the entire company, highlighting what he saw as successes while downplaying the challenges that the network faces going forward: December 22, 2014 As 2014 comes to a close, I wanted to take a moment to reflect on the year. This has been a […]

MSNBC, which has been struggling all year in the ratings, trailed CNN for the fifth straight month despite the midterm elections, which should have given the network an edge over its closest competitor. Compared to November 2013, MSNBC was down 13% in total viewers and 16% in the A25-54 demo in total day viewing. The […]

There is little doubt that The O’Reilly Factor is the king of cable news and helped propel Fox News to the number one position in all of cable news, but since last fall O’Reilly’s hold at the top of the cable-news heap has been challenged by Fox News’ next big star, Megyn Kelly. Kelly, whose primetime […]