Cable Nets Try to Spin the Ratings

Fox News sent out emails to some of the websites that they know will buy into their spin, touting the fact that their ratings were up double digits in the May book.

One website, buying the Fox News spin wrote, "FNC is up a whopping +42 percent vs. May 2014 in the A25-54 demo."

But, what neither the website or Fox News would say is that the May 2014 ratings was the worst rating book that FNC had in the past 13 years. 

FNC's May 2014 were their worst since August 2001. In May 2014, every Fox program in primetime dropped by double-digits, with Bill O'Reilly taking the deepest dive. Sean Hannity posted some of his lowest numbers ever in his then new 10:00 pm time slot.

Now FNC touts out that their ratings are up in May 2015 over the past year. Of course they are, May 2014 was one of the worst rated months ever for Fox News. 

It's all about the spin.

Fox was not the only one to spin the numbers. CNN had an awful May 2014 as well. Yet there was that website that regurgitates whatever the network PR people tell them, writing, "May 2015 Ratings: CNN Up 55% Vs. Last Year."

May 2015 was a month that had riots in Baltimore and a number of other big stories. There was little doubt that CNN and Fox News were going to see the numbers increase over May 2014. Last May was one of the worst rated months for both networks.

Bill O'Reilly calls his show the no spin zone, but as we can clearly see, the spin is on full cycle at both Fox News and CNN. 

Just saying....