CNN’S RATINGS FALL DESPITE INTENSE CRISIS COVERAGE

At a time when President Obama’s health care proposals dominated the news — and divided the nation — Fox News Channel, whose commentators led the attack on them, experienced its best quarter ever in ratings, the New York Times reported today (Tuesday). At the same time, CNN saw its rating plummet, with its primetime programming losing almost half their audience since the same quarter a year ago. Ordinarily CNN benefits from coverage of major news events, like the health care issue and the Haiti earthquakes — not so this year, the Times observed. Hardest hit was CNN’s Larry King Live, whose audience dropped 43 percent for the quarter and 52 percent in March. The show dropped to third place, behind Sean Hannity on Fox and Rachel Maddow on MSNBC. During the quarter, the Times noted, Joy Behar on CNN’s sister station HLN (formerly Headline News) beat King 21 times.