LIBYA COVERAGE: AL-JAZEERA FIRST WITH CRITICS; FOX NEWS, WITH VIEWERS

Al-Jazeera English attracted most of the critical praise for its coverage of the assault on Tripoli by Libyan rebels this week, but with only a handful of cable outlets carrying it in the U.S., that’s about all it got. Among the major cable news outfits, Fox News Channel drew the most viewers, averaging 950,000. CNN averaged 701,000, while MSNBC averaged 308,000. Nielsen said that more than one million viewers tuned in to FNC during the 6:00 p.m. and 7.00 p.m. hours.