News Roundup for 7/27/10

FOX's African-American audience

-Headline of the day-
"Only 1.38 percent of Fox News' primetime viewers are African-American."

Howard Dean caused a minor outrage flareup when he accused FOX News of being racist. This wouldn't have been news at all, since it's like saying water's wet, but Howard went and said it on FOX News. This was, of course, the worst thing ever... Or the most obvious thing ever. I guess it depends on whether or not you're FOX News.

Dean got a little backup for his claim from a likely source -- the facts. While researching an article for the New York Times, Brian Stelter twitterpated a tidbit of data he'd found: African-Americans made up just 1.38% of FOX's primetime audience. Which is weird, because Glenn Beck is the next Martin Luther King jr. You'd think blacks would be all over that. But nooooo!!

What could be the explanation? Think Progress' Charlie Eisenhood thinks he might have it pinned down; "Fox's coverage of race hasn't done anything to attract an African-American audience. Their 'long history of aggressive race-baiting and racially charged commentary' has perhaps alienated many of their viewers. As Stelter reported in his article, 'The National Association of Black Journalists has faulted Fox for years for inaccurately portraying blacks.' The group recently condemned the channel for their 'lack of due diligence' on the Shirley Sherrod story. The group's criticism came on the heels of Fox News contributor slamming Fox host Megyn Kelly being slammed on air for 'doing the "scary black man thing"' with her coverage of the New Black Panthers Party faux scandal."

So the reason that black people don't like FOX much is that FOX doesn't like black people much. Which raises the question, what sort of African-American watches the White People's News Network?

I guess it's guys like this. (Think Progress)


-News you can't possibly use-
Public Policy Polling surveyed voters about the California Senate race between incumbent Barbara Boxer and former McCain campaigner and Hewlitt-Packert kamikaze pilot/CEO Carly Fiorina. Among the news you can use: Boxer leads Fiorina, 49%-40%. So yay for that.

And here's the news you can't use: California voters prefer Boxer's hair to Fiorina's by five points. PPP might have thought this was newsworthy because Fiorina was caught on mic being bitchy about Barb's hair, but they were wrong. No one cares. The poll shows that 19% like Boxer's hair, 14% like Fiorina's, and 67% -- the vast majority -- couldn't give a flying fuck.

Score one for you, California voter. (Public Policy Polling [pdf], via Talking Points Memo)


-Bonus HotD-
"Climate Change May Mean More Mexican Immigration."

Is illegal immigration important? Then you better start worrying about global warming. Want to believe global warming's a hoax? Then you'd better stop worrying about illegal immigration.

Imagine thousands of wingnut heads exploding. (Scientific American)