Simon Heffer ponders the decline of the Obama Administration’s credibility, arguing in part thus:

"Obama’s big problem," a senior Democrat told me, "is that four times as many people watch Fox News as watch CNN."

The Fox network is a remarkable cultural phenomenon which almost shocks those of us from a country where a technical rule of impartiality is applied in the broadcast media. With little rest, it pours out rage 24 hours a day: its message is of the construction of the socialist state, the hijacking of America by "progressives" who now dominate institutions, the indoctrination of children, the undermining of religion and the expropriation of public money for these nefarious projects.

The public loves it, and it is manifestly stirring up political activism against Mr Obama, and also against those in the Republican Party who are not deemed conservatives. However, it is arguable whether the now-reorganising Right is half as effective in its assault on the President as some of Mr Obama’s own party are…

What is even more amazing than the claim that the US public ‘love’ Fox News as it wipes the floor with CNN?

The puny cable TV ratings numbers themselves.

Take 4 March:

P2+ Prime Time
FNC        2,880,000 viewers
CNN        649,000 viewers
MSNBC   850,000 viewers
CNBC     382,000 viewers
HLN        546,000 viewers

So Fox News with its angry rhetoric is managing to sway some 300 million Americans by accessing less than 1% of them? Admittedly a damn sight better than the USA’s pitiful domestic CNN Lite achieved, but even so..?

Still, if you decide that you need to get news over to people in only 18 seconds, the channel which is most noisy and amusing is likely to do rather better.