Ken’s Take: The mainstream media seems to be ignoring it, but virtually nobody watched the Obama healthcare infomercial on ABC. Hmmm.
Couple of observations:
(1) Maybe, just maybe, Obama yak-yak fatigue is finally setting in
(2) So, ABC took a hit to it’s journalistic reputation without even getting a swell of viewers, That should teach the compliant networks a lesson.
(3) Imagine the ratings if Michael Jackson (may he RIP) had died a day earlier than he did
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From The Live feed, “ABC’s White House special struggled for viewers”, June 25, 2009
President Obama’s town hall meeting on health care delivered a sickly rating Wednesday evening.
The one-hour ABC News special “Primetime: Questions for the President: Prescription for America” (4.7 million viewers, 1.1 preliminary adults 18-49 rating) had the fewest viewers in the 10 p.m. hour (against NBC’s “The Philanthropist” debut and a repeat of “CSI: NY” on CBS). The special tied some 8 p.m. comedy repeats as the lowest-rated program on a major broadcast network.
The special was shot at the White House and featured the president answering questions about his health care plan. The president’s primary message was that those who like their current insurance will be able to keep it and that taking no action will result in higher health care costs.
The special drew fire from Republican leadership after refusing to allow an official opposition response, or even a paid ad. ABC also interviewed Obama on “Good Morning America” to help promote the special.
ABC points out that “Questions for the President” continued after the local news during late night on “Nightline” (4.3 million) and helped boost the news program to pull more viewers than CBS’ “Late Show” and NBC’s “Tonight Show.”
Source:
http://www.thrfeed.com/2009/06/abcs-white-house-special-struggled-for-viewers.html
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