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Sniper Story Gives News Nets High Ratings
Friday, October 18, 2002
(10:15 AM ET) (14:15 GMT)
The Associated Press

A police officer searches the top of a van near the Home Depot store in Falls Church, Virginia.
Image Credit: The Associated Press.

For all of the networks, Tuesday's audience was bigger than it was for the first anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks. "That was really a retelling of an old tale at that point, and that's not what most people turn to news networks for," said Matthew Felling, media director at the Center for Media and Public Affairs in Washington.

NEW YORK -- AP
The frightening, ongoing mystery of the Washington-area sniper is proving a compelling story for cable news networks, which have attracted their largest audiences of the year.

On Tuesday, Fox News Channel averaged 1.12 million viewers, CNN had 1.06 million and CNN Headline News had 294,000. For each network, it was the most-watched single day of the year, according to Nielsen Media Research.

That was the day after the sniper claimed its latest victim, 47-year-old FBI analyst Linda Franklin, outside a Home Depot in Falls Church, Virginia. The story dominated the news networks.

"It's a story that each one of us can relate to," said Teya Ryan, executive vice president and general manager of CNN's domestic network. "We all go out and shop at markets and homeware stores. It has psychologically gripped the nation. The ratings don't surprise me, because people certainly want to know."
(More: CNN Online News Source)
2002 © The Associated Press.

I think Felling is a little off his mark in the above statement. I’m sure there were a lot of folks who refuse to tune in to the Sept 11 anaversary simply out of sickness -- like myself. In the sniper’s case, I think they -- again like myself -- just want a cameo of the creep being gunned down.

Dan