Howard Kurtz: Fox News And MSNBC Were 'Parallel Universes' During Wisconsin Recall

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Howard Kurtz opened Reliable Sources with something of a look in the mirror today' a panel on cable news ratings, and how a network like CNN (and even Fox News and MSNBC, who are also in a current ratings decline) can compete in a bad news cycle. In discussing whether the ratings problem was a programming one or a greater decline in the use of television, Kurtz pointed out that CNN is also competing by offering an image of objectivity, one that appears in stark contrast with MSNBC and Fox News, as was made obvious on the night of the Wisconsin recall.

RELATED: CNN's Howard Kurtz: MSNBC's Tamron Hall Was 'Being Insulting' To Tim Carney By Cutting Him Off

'I don't think the public will pay much attention again until the conventions or the debates, but the cable news channels don't seem to know that,' panelist Terence Smith noted, arguing that the amount of drama in the Republican primaries had dried up significantly, and there is little that news channels can do to generate more. Paul Farhi noted that most television was 'in decline,' and news networks know 'you can't reply on the news cycle' so they reply on partisanship, which led Kurtz to question whether 'viewers [are] turned off by the way cable news covers politics.' The panel all agreed they were' a point first made by Christina Bellantoni, and added to by Smith, who suggested the networks 'try some substance and see what people might see in it.'

Kurtz brought up the fact that CNN in particular had had a ratings issue, though all networks were going through a 'seasonal blip.' Farhi made the point that CNN going for partisan programming at this point may also not work, as it 'would be dividing a market' that already exists. Kurtz agreed, noting that the Wisconsin primaries proved that clearly. 'It was like watching two parallel universes,' Kurtz argued, switching from Lawrence O'Donnell calling the primaries a 'victory for Barack Obama' and Fox News' conservative commentators celebrating the win.

Farhi made the point that even in hard news cycles when this is less true, that might not mean steady growth' cable news channel viewership grew 1% last year, he noted, despite the large amount of hard news.

The segment via CNN below:

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• Snooze.

• It was a total disgrace how the DNC abandoned the fight in Wisconsin.  Both Joe Biden and President Obama let down the recall movement and the unions.    I didn't spend days working at signature collection sites in the snow. It is wrong and stupid to not move on.  There are possibly 2 Supreme Court justices up for appointment, and we must never let them overturn RoevWade. 

  We have to be grownups and look at the big picture. 

• The problem I have with FOX is they just wont admit they are a conservative network.
  At least MSNBC admits that it 'leans progressive' with it's slogan 'Lean Forward'.  And they don't try to pretend that their new hours are 'straight news'.  They know what they are doing and they are proud of it.
  On the other hand FOX's motto is 'Fair and Balanced' and they con their idiot viewers into thinking they are getting both sides.  Shifty.
  That makes it more propaganda than one-sided news coverage.

  It would be much simpler if we could all just admit we have a conservative cable news channel, a progressive cable news channel, and a channel that tries to play it fair but nobody watches (except me).

• Watching Fredricka Whitfield do hard news is like being in a parallel universe.