New level of Fox News dominance demands analysis, not dismissal

◼ (T)here are three ratings stories the last two weeks that taken together show Fox News rising to a new and remarkable level of dominance - and they have been underreported in the mainstream media. - David Zurawik/Baltimore Sun

First, Fox News beat not just CNN and MSNBC, but also ABC, NBC and CBS on Nov. 4, the night of the mid-term elections. It did so in both total viewers and the key news demographic: viewers 25 to 54 years of age.

Fox more than tripled the audiences of MSNBC and CNN in total viewers, while beating ABC, NBC and CBS by more than 3 million, 2 million and 1 million viewers respectively. (See figures at end of post.)

On a watershed political night, more Americans tuned to Fox for information about the vote than anywhere else.

I have been covering media long enough to remember when CBS, NBC or ABC was the big story on election night in the 1970s and ‘80s.

And, as a critic, as late as 2008, I was thinking no channel mattered more than CNN. This year, for all the reporters it had on the ground election night, CNN barely did better than the we-lost-our-credibility-in-our-slavish-devotion-to-Obama MSNBC. That’s pathetic....

Step One in assessing this sea change is for the media establishment to admit the dominance of Fox News today. Ignoring its success doesn’t make it any less real.

And then, we need to start seriously trying to figure out how and why it has come to pass that Bret Baier and Megyn Kelly matter more to Americans on election night than Brian Williams, Scott Pelley, George Stephanopoulos, Anderson Cooper or Wolf Blitzer – way more than the latter two.

I think one of the reasons for this latest evolution of ratings dominance might be that Fox was a far better watchdog on the Obama White House than any other TV news organization. It took the heat and the blowback from an administration that showed an enmity for the press not seen on Pennsylvania Avenue since the dark days of Richard Nixon, but it stayed the course. And now with viewers seeing the contempt this administration had for them and the truth, they respect what Fox did the last six years.... KEEP READING

NOTE: The County's web address has changed

◼ It's now humboldtgov.org

◼ And the elections office has a new address as a result: humboldtgov.org/890/Elections-Voter-Registration

◼ SmartVoter has updated their page: Check it out... (and keep checking back, they're likely to update the Props and Measures with info)

Humboldt County voters are strange political animals.

We linked to this Editorial back on Election Day, but thought several points were worth revisiting:

◼ Especially when it comes to their own backyard. - Times-Standard EDITORIAL from 11/08/2013

The numbers tell the tale: When it comes to national and state elections, Humboldt County voter turnout regularly exceeds statewide turnout.

November 2012, presidential election: California 71.3 percent, Humboldt County -- 72.6 percent.

June 2012, California primary: California 32.4 percent, Humboldt County -- 41.99 percent.

November 2011, Humboldt County consolidated election: Humboldt County -- 22.47 percent.

When it comes time to pick a candidate in a national contest in which California's electoral votes are pretty much a foregone conclusion, or when it's time to put our pinky on the scales of Golden State politics when other, larger communities are piling thumbs and whole limbs atop the works in Sacramento, that's when Humboldt County voters flock to the polls.

When it comes to picking the women and men among us who will direct the course of schooling, water, sewage and firefighting in our own neighborhoods? Crickets. Voters disappear in droves.

The Humboldt County Clerk/ Recorder's Office says that 67,450 of you are eligible to vote in (November's) election. Recent history says most won't.

Any one of you can help change that.

It's food for thought.

Wisconsin Supreme Court recount finished — and Prosser wins again!

◼ With all 3,602 reporting units recounted, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel is reporting Justice David Prosser has beaten challenger JoAnne Kloppenburg by 7,006 votes, 310 votes less than the pre-recount 7,316-vote margin. - HotAir
◼ The Wisconsin Supreme Court recount is finally over, Prosser has won by over 7,000 votes, but Kloppenburg may move the battle for judicial power into court....

It would seem that the only reason for taking this into the courts would be to delay in order to produce this vacancy. The vacancy has special value because of the hot controversy over the budget-repair bill: - Althouse

INTERACTIVE ELECTION RESULTS MAP

◼ FROM nrcc.org/