Olbermann Watch - MSNBC's Countdown with Keith Olbermann: OlbyWatch in Action: USA TODAY Corrects MSNBC's Phony KO Ratings Claim

Olbermann Watch, "persecuting" Keith since 2004

October 4, 2006

OlbyWatch in Action: USA TODAY Corrects MSNBC's Phony KO Ratings Claim

Peter Johnson emailed me this afternoon to let me know the USA TODAY decided to run a correction of his column last week which made the erroneous claim that Countdown's ratings had increase 33% since August 30 when Keith first began his series of "special comments". The original column has now been "updated" to reflect the change.

Olbermann Watch readers will recall that last week we called on the paper to run a correction when we learned that the actual figure was 9-14% (it depends on how you define "week" in making the "week to week" comparisons which supposedly formed the basis for the relative increase in Countdown viewership).

I wanted to link the correction here but could not. I was unable to find the correction on usatoday.com and contacted both Johnson and USA TODAY ombudman Brent Jones. I just got off the phone with Jones and learned that USA TODAY's policy is to run a correction in the paper and make a change to the online version of the story with explanation. That seems like an odd policy since it would be pretty simple to include an editor's note next to the web version of the story indicating any changes to the original but that is a battle for another day.

Unfortunately, the "correction" is really only half a correction because Johnson somehow how came up with an 18% increase (more than double the actual). More to the point, the entire premise of the piece is that cable news hosts who "rant" on their shows get big boosts in ratings. That Keith got a SMALL boost in his ratings contradicts the premise.

The real problem is that the "trend" in rant-based ratings growth does not exists. Of the four people mentioned - Lou Dobbs, Bill O'Reilly, Nancy Grace and Keith Olbermann - the only won who really "rants" is Keith. You can possibly make an argument for Grace. At least those two have seen some recent ratings growth. Two of the people mentioned - Dobbs and O'Reilly - have not had any measureable ratings growth recently and have been doing the same schtick for many years. So where's the trend? Simple - there isn't one. Even less so when one of the two examples (Keith) had only a minor increase in ratings. While I'm glad they ran a sorta-correction, either the piece itself should never have run or they should have left Keith out of it.

Johnson assures me that he has no dog in this fight and I believe him. He also says he thinks that MSNBC made an honest mistake. I am willing to believe him. I am not willing to believe MSNBC which has been doing everything it possibly can over the past few years to create the illusion that Countdown has been some sort of ratings success or has some "new" momentum.

As USA TODAY is not pointing out the change online let me direct your attention to the last paragraph of the column which now reads:

Why he won't rant nightly: "Howard Beale (the "I'm not going to take this anymore!" anchor in Network) would come to me and say, 'Back off a little, pal.' " Olbermann's four "special comments" since Aug. 28 have driven ratings up 18% to 476,000. "You can't do it every night. It becomes insincere; people who do it become caricatures of themselves."

I am not sure where that 476,000 figure came from because my calculations show that for the week of 9/18 Keith got 456,000 viewers. The original date used was Aug. 30 which is when the first "special comment" rant; by shifting to Aug. 28 they have now included two days when KO was not even on the air and that were BEFORE the first "special comment". Worse, that week was the week before Labor Day which is traditionally the least watched week of the year. You can read more of what is wrong with this fuzzy math in the original post.

I suppose we should be happy that they at least pulled back on the absurd 33% claim.

=================

BTW - if anyone has today's USA TODAY and can find/scan that correction please email it to me. Thanks!

Posted by Robert Cox | Permalink | Comments (16) | | View blog reactions

16 Comments

By Anonymous on October 4, 2006 6:32 PM

Way to go, Bob! It's progress and we have the Olby Watch guys to thank for getting the truth out there.

By Bill O'lielly on October 4, 2006 6:50 PM

So,, Olbermann's ratings go up while O'Reilly's go down... Ok.. that is just fine.

By Carl on October 4, 2006 6:51 PM

The correction can be found on Page 2D, in the life section.

By Anonymous on October 4, 2006 6:53 PM

That doesn't erase the fact that USA Today printed untrue content. They got caught and hopefully will be more cautious about printing material that is not factual. And Bob helped!

By Bill O'lielly on October 4, 2006 6:54 PM

Yeah.. that is such an important matter to be involved in.. of all the things one can be obsessed with TV ratings should certainly be one of them.

By Anonymous on October 4, 2006 6:57 PM

What's the matter, O'Lielly? You seem perturbed that the lies about your god, Olby, were exposed.

Well, if Olby is one of your gods, I think we've figured out at least one thing that is bothersome about you.

By Bill O'lielly on October 4, 2006 7:03 PM

I have no heroes to put one person in fromt of another is wrong. KO is the only guy in the MSM who dares to speak out on many issues. Not a hero at all, nice try oh simpleton.

By Anonymous on October 4, 2006 7:25 PM

Whoa - you've called him "god" on many occasions - not "hero," you buffoon. If you're going to name-call, at least get your facts straight.

It appears you've been taking double-speak lessons from your fat-ass overlord, Lie.

By scot on October 4, 2006 7:26 PM

To put one person in front of another is wrong. Have you ever seen George Lucas's THX1138 or read 1984 bill?

By Bill O'lielly on October 4, 2006 8:27 PM

It is amazing what people consider fat.. apparently KO is morbidly obese the way you chuckleheads talk about him. Yes it was silly for Keith to make so many Jabba the Hut jokes about Roger Ailes. Ailes invites many sladerous barbs and arrows and his stupidity has nothing to do with his weight. I have called Keith god because it aggravates the hell out of you simple-minded twits. I am an athiest, thus I do not believe that KO is god,, there is no god.

By Anonymous on October 4, 2006 9:37 PM

O'Lielly, your name suits you well.

By Anonymous on October 5, 2006 1:02 AM

Funny poll. They also thought Bill O'Reilly and Fox news were fair. Try a scientific poll next time... this shit is meaningless.

By merkle923 on October 5, 2006 9:54 AM

Krazy Keith is the news laughing stock
He paid Bubba then gobbled his cock
Keith's master stroke
A journalistic joke
His credentials include sniffing jock

By Brandon on October 5, 2006 10:24 AM

Ah, but you Keith fanatics would be singing a different tune wouldnt you if he'd come out on top in this poll? See the thread elsewhere on this blog where Sarah touts "quality" of his reviews on Amazon as evidence of how wonderful he is. LOL. Really I can't make you people up if I tried. You just make it way too easy.

By Anonymous on October 5, 2006 11:00 AM

UBER PATRIOT CHENEY PROTECTS CONSTITUTION ONCE AGAIN

-- Personally Defends the Very Freedom Terrorists Love to Hate --

WASHINGTON -- A man in Denver Colorado is suing the Secret Service because of an incident that occurred involving Vice President Dick Cheney. Last summer in Beaver Creek, Colorado, Steven Howards, 54, approached Cheney and told him he thought administration policies in Iraq were "reprehensible" and then left. A few minutes later a Secret Service agent questioned Howards and arrested him, saying he would be charged with assaulting the vice president. Howards was taken to jail but only charged with harassment, which was dismissed in court a month later. Howards is suing, claiming his First Amendment right to free speech was violated as well as his Fourth Amendment right to protection from unreasonable search and seizure. In response, Cheney has tasked the U.S. Attorney General with drafting a presidential finding which grants the VP the right to waterboard American citizens who disagree with him in public.

By Anonymous on October 5, 2006 1:38 PM

>Ah, but you Keith fanatics would be singing a >different tune wouldnt you if he'd come out on >top in this poll? See the thread elsewhere on >this blog where Sarah touts "quality" of his >reviews on Amazon as evidence of how wonderful >he is. LOL. Really I can't make you people up >if I tried. You just make it way too easy.

Some might I wouldn't because people who look to polls for quality are morons.

OlbyWatchTweets

Former Obama Support/Donor Releases Song Supporting Romney/Ryan: "We'll Take It Back Again" by Kyle Tucker

Blue-Blog-a-Palooza: Ann Romney Edition!

No Joy in Kosville...Mighty Olby Has Struck Out

If It's Sunday, It's Meet the Obsessed

Keith Olbermann: An Infantile, Dysfunctional, Empty Vessel

Olbermann Watch, "persecuting" Keith since 2004

16 Comments