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Wednesday, June 28, 2017

What A Difference A Debate Makes

In the second quarter of 2017, Fox Business Network drew more viewers than CNBC for the third consecutive time during the key parts of the day.  For year after year in the past, Fox Business trailed CNBC, and then something major happened:  there were debates among the Republican presidential candidates on both networks.

The CNBC debate was seen by most viewers as the most vicious attack by the media on the GOP candidates.  It seemed more like a debate between the candidates and the moderators than one among the candidates.  By contrast, the Fox Business debates were reasonable, direct and informative.  The audiences for the debates on both networks were either the largest or second largest number of viewers ever to see a program on the network.  Once those debates took place, the numbers for CNBC started to sag and the corresponding ratings at Fox Business started to soar.

It's interesting to think that the display of bias by CNBC in the debates would affect business viewers to such a great extent, but it surely did.  It's nice to think that for once, the media can clearly see the results of one-sided coverage. 

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