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Original Message
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[link to transcripts.cnn.com]
BECK: I tried to be honest with you. I tried.
Rosie O`Donnell has been making lots of waves lately on ABC`s "The View," especially due to her unique points of view, like her nearly daily allegations that it was the United States behind the 9/11 attacks. Really? What`s life like in Crazy Town, Mayor Rosie?
Here she is. The more she talks, the more people watch. The more people watch, equals more ratings. Ratings equals money. And as a capitalist, I say, amen, sister, go for it. So, yes, Rosie`s ultraliberal rhetoric that is in Crazy Town is selling.
The question is, not whether she should be censored or thrown off the air, but how long and at what cost to "The View" and the ABC network, if any?
First, let`s crunch the numbers with John Rash. He`s an advertising executive and columnist for AdAge.com.
John, talk specifically about the ratings for a second. What has she done with the ratings?
JOHN RASH, RASHREPORT.COM: Well, Glenn, Rosie joined "The View" on September 5th. And while any given week you may have a bump up or bump down, in general they`re about up 16 percent, particularly in their desired demographic of women 25 to 54. So regardless of how anyone feels about her, she certainly has gotten people to pay attention to this program more than they were before, and so ABC at least has to be pleased with the audience performance.
BECK: OK. So the audience is up. But it doesn`t always mean -- I mean, really, in many cases, the key is the advertiser. I mean, you can have huge numbers. There are shows that have huge numbers that can`t get advertising. You know, there are shows that have huge numbers but they`re all in the wrong demographics, and so you can`t sell them. Is she helping or hurting with the sponsors?
RASH: Well, in general, any time you have such a significant surge in a daytime audience -- and, remember, it`s very difficult to get that many more viewers during daytime, because the audience itself in general is so limited, with most people in their demographic already working, so there hasn`t necessarily been a significant backlash amongst any advertisers.
There may be a few who are at least a little bit concerned over some of the comments, but, in general, ABC has been quite successful in selling the show. And any time there`s a rise in ratings, while it`s not immediately commensurate, there can be a rise in revenue.
BECK: OK, great. John, thanks a lot.
Now joining me now is Howard Kurtz. He is the host of CNN`s "Reliable Sources" and media reporter for the "Washington Post."
Howard, I know you disagree with me on this, but there`s a double- standard in the media. Liberals like Rosie can say anything, including that we blew the World Trade Center up, World Trade Center number seven, but conservatives, you ain`t going -- they would be hung from the public square if they said anything like that.
HOWARD KURTZ, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Well, first of all, Rosie O`Donnell is getting a lot of heat, including from me, for her wacky conspiracy theory about the World Trade Center and the explosives and all of that, but it doesn`t mean that she doesn`t have a right to say it. You say a lot of things that people disagree with. You`re on the air.
BECK: Howard, I`m not saying that she doesn`t have a right. In fact, I don`t know, because I don`t watch O`Reilly, but I think O`Reilly is saying that she should be censored or thrown off the air.
I completely disagree with that. You don`t have a right to censor anybody. The problem that I have is that the double standard comes in where you don`t have these conservatives that have a right to say that on television. They don`t have a right to say those things.
KURTZ: The only way somebody gets knocked off a network show, if the ratings are good, as we`ve just established -- "The View`s" ratings have been up under Rosie O`Donnell -- is if they become so radioactive that the corporation that owns the television station says, "We simply don`t want to be associated with this person."
I wonder what Barbara Walters thinks. She founded this program nine or 10 years ago. And she has a long journalistic career, and now we`re all debating, you know, whether Rosie O`Donnell is into conspiracy theories, so there`s a price to be paid in terms of reputation. But I don`t know that - - you know, it takes a lot to get the hook on television.
BECK: See, I will tell you -- especially if you`re successful -- I will tell you that, you know, part of the problem -- and it`s a self- corrected itself in news to some degree. And I hate to say this, because news and what I do, they`re not the same thing. And I hate it when people say, "You know, well, you`re a journalist." No, I`m not. I`m nothing like a journalist.
KURTZ: Right.
BECK: You`re a journalist, I`m not. But when you watch television now, you`ll get my point of view, and you`ll get somebody else who`s, you know, completely to the left, and you`ll get their point of view, and that, I think, is healthy to have that debate back and forth.
But it took, well, honestly what it took was a guy from, where is he, Australia, to put another network on before people finally said, "Oh, gee, maybe there is something to this other point of view; maybe we should expose that."
KURTZ: Well, I would agree that, 20 years ago, you know, television in particular was dominated by people with at least a left-of-center orientation, but now, in the age of FOX News and talk radio and Glenn Beck and all of that, I don`t think the imbalance is as great as conservatives might want to argue, because it makes a good talking point.
BECK: But here is the difference. You can`t say the same thing in entertainment.
As a conservative, if you watch entertainment -- and I think that`s what Rosie is. And, again, she has every right to say what she`s saying. But when it comes to entertainment, that`s where it`s really insidious, because I`ll come out and I`ll tell you, I`m a conservative. I`m spoon- feeding you this information, and it`s coming through my prism.
When the journalists put information in that is opinion, that`s dangerous, and entertainment is constantly putting an anti-conservative message in. Do you disagree with that?
KURTZ: I mean, entertainment, sure, Hollywood obviously leans far to the left. But as far as Rosie O`Donnell, I don`t think she makes any bones about the fact that she is a proud left-winger.
BECK: I agree with you. I was just talking about the balance in entertainment.
KURTZ: And I think, you know, people can spew their opinions on the air, from the left and the right, that`s fine, but it is be nice if they were tethered to reality in some way, and this World Trade Center conspiracy theory just isn`t.
BECK: Thank you, Howard. We`ll be back in just a minute.
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