Some readers may be wondering why the frequent reporting lately on cable news ratings – in an online political publication that is not well known for catering to the business side of media – is worthy of their attention. The simple answer is that the ups and downs of the three cable news channels’ rankings are increasingly important to the future of high-information citizens and voters. Cable television news channels – like all of cable and broadcast TV – live and die according to the ratings, generated by the Nielsen Company, which are the basis of advertising rates and ultimately corporate profits. The introduction of the Fox News Channel (FNC) in 1996 started a sea change in television news. Finally, after decades of center-left dominance of the mainstream media, there was a high-profile, widely available alternative – “fair and balanced” with generous and generally respectful coverage of conservative points of view. By 2001, a...(Read Full Article)