CNN Ratings Hit 4-Year Low in Total Viewer Average

TV Newser is reporting tonight that CNN hit new low viewership totals during prime time Friday night (8-11 p.m.) in both Total Viewers and A25-54 viewers.

Up against NBC's Olympic Opening Ceremony coverage, CNN averaged just 85,000 A25-54 viewers during Campbell Brown (8p), Larry King (9p) and Anderson Cooper (10p). An average that low has not been seen since May, 23, 2001. And the Total Viewer average of 382,000 was the lowest since Dec. 23, 2005.

And while all the cable news channels saw reduced viewing levels due to the massive audience that flocked to NBC -- only CNN saw its audience cut in half from Thursday night in both younger viewers and Total Viewers.

Blog or No Blog, Olbermann's Taking a Beating

I've been struggling with my health lately, so I'm behind the times on this note (and the whole blog actually). But I thought I'd share this.

Here's Keith Olbermann defending his ratings last week:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Olbermann doesn't have nice things to say about blogs, and the people who use them to gather information for their own publications. I must say I'm guilty of that, as I have a regular job, a family and not much time to make independent phone calls to sources. I just don't get paid for this.

But Olbermann does. The funny thing about his show is that it's usually just a rehash of the Daily Kos. Basically, I've stopped watching Olbermann because I have usually read most of the materials hours ago ... on a blog.

Be that as it may, here's the latest cable news ratings, from (I'm sorry ... the blog TV Newser).

If you look at them, Olbermann is having his lunch served to him in both the 25-54 demographic and the total viewer demographic. Now, I know it's a blog, but the source cited is Nielsen.

In January, Olbermann fell behind Nancy Grace! The numbers were as follows: The O’Reilly Factor Fox News 983,000; Nancy Grace Headline News 282,000; Countdown With Keith Olbermann MSNBC 263,000; Campbell Brown CNN 233,000.

Huffington Post Apologizes for Item Claiming John Gibson Compared Holder to a Monkey

The Huffington Post ran a correction today saying the video that supposedly showed FOX News commentator John Gibson comparing Attorney General Eric Holder to a monkey was a hoax:

The Huffington Post has learned that the below video has been doctored. We regret the error and apologize to Mr. Gibson. John Gibson never compared Eric Holder to a monkey with a bright blue scrotum.

Rather, as seen in the unedited video below, Gibson played audio of Holder saying "nation of cowards" -- so his full, unedited remarks were:

"We were talking about Eric Holder today on the radio and his comment that this is a nation of cowards."

The video was doctored to include Trace Gallagher's voice saying, "bright blue scrotum" where Gibson played Holder's "nation of cowards" remark. The Huffington Post does not know the source of the video's doctoring — it was picked up off TVNewser.

This is the unedited video:



The doctored video has been deleted from YouTube.

Here is TVNewser's correction, along with Gibson's reaction:

Yesterday we posted a Fox News clip involving several references to a "bright blue scrotum." The nature of our story was how anchors Julie Banderas and Harris Faulkner got through the story. What we didn't realize at the time is that the very end of the clip includes an exchange with Trace Gallagher and John Gibson. And that portion was doctored to put words in John Gibson's mouth that he did not say.

The Huffington Post, which picked up the clip from us got hundreds of comments on their version of the story which focused on that part of the clip.

HuffPo has issued a full correction:

The video was doctored to include Trace Gallagher's voice saying, "bright blue scrotum" where Gibson played Holder's 'nation of cowards' remark. The Huffington Post does not know the source of the video's doctoring — it was picked up off TVNewser...The Huffington Post regrets the error.

We don't know either. It came from YouTube user "john13210" and arrived in the anonymous tip box. We regret the error as well. The clip has since been removed from YouTube.

Gibson tells TVNewser, "The Huffington Post, in its zeal to slime me, went over the line and posted a phony, fabricated quote, attributed it to me, and which actually constitutes a lie, and a slander. The Huffington Post plays fast and loose on a regular basis, but this time it was caught in an out and out fabricated falsehood."