Below is a paragraph - see blue text - from today's New York Times. It is wrong. It is a lie at worst - and sloppy reporting at best. I don't know if New York Times "is in bed" with CNN or the other way around. But you all know, I will stand up for our team at ON THE RECORD at 10pm when anyone gets it wrong about us. The more falsehoods get repeated, the more likely they are thought to be true (and they go "viral" on the internet and already has) so it is imperative to simply set the record straight. FACTS! Our staff on ON THE RECORD at 10pm deserve that the truth - FACTS - be written about them - including their accomplishments. No sugarcoating -- just the FACTS.
The way this paragraph is written - see below - conveys a thought that is just plain wrong. Even "sugar coating" when it is designed to give the wrong impression is a lie.
Here is the fact: ON THE RECORD at 10pm is #1 at that time slot for 7 straight years no matter how much the New York Times and CNN wish it were not.
".....The change Mr. Klein made at 10 is CNN s best story. Anderson Cooper, who began a newscast at that hour, has been a success. He was winning there until recently being overtaken by Greta Van Susteren on Fox.
Mr. Klein said that CNN had focused on 10 p.m. as an hour where we could win...".
Mr. Klein has focused - spent zillions of shareholder money on marketing - on 10pm and guess what? He has failed. Here is what he does not get: we are in the NEWS business, not the MARKETING business. There is a big difference.
Here are the facts:ON THE RECORD has been #1 at 10pm for 7 straight years -- that means EVERY MONTH. It is just plain wrong that "he was winning there until recently." In the 84 months ON THE RECORD at 10pm has been #1 at 10, CNN has won the demo category (a carved out category) maybe twice at most. That is hardly "winning there until recently...."
The truth? we crush CNN at ten pm (see below for proof )...and we are doing that despite the fact we have 12 on our staff to their 63 staff (that was the number their President told me they had more than a year ago when I ran into him.) I am not going to have our staff work as hard as they do and get the 'back of the hand' from NYT or CNN. I admire our staff for the great job they do and they should get full credit for their accomplishments.
Sugar coating or telling partial information that is designed to convey a falsehood is a lie.
Here are recent samples of the ratings AVAILABLE to both Bill Carter of the New York Times and CNN:
Wednesday
The above is in the thousands -- which means our staff of 12, versus CNN's 63 (and let's not forget the millions spent on promo for their anchor which even included pasting his picture on T shirts, plastic bags and even demeaning life size cut outs in airports ) got 2,263,000 viewers to CNN's 1.2. That is a TREMENDOUS difference.
And what about the so called demo (the younger viewer number)? Here it is in the thousands:
And here is another sample (Thursday):
Why does it matter that NYT get it straight and not "cover" for CNN's continuous thrashing at 10pm by 12 people? Because it is the truth. I wish NYT Bill Carter had done some old fashion research. Yes, I know that the article says Fox did not talk to him, but why do we have to do his work? Those ratings numbers are on line....and have been for years...
One other thing....ON THE RECORD at 10pm wins the old fashion way...we hit the road reporting (weather, politics, crime, etc) and not by spending zillions of dollars on marketing....CNN was rumored to spend 27,000,000 on the promo its first year for its 10pm (including recently putting their anchor on plastic bags as though he were a food product and not a reporter...I don't blame their anchor for this ) and still it did not work. (By the way, I wonder what Aaron Brown is thinking....)
