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Palin Effect: ‘World News’ Ratings Soar

Sep 12, 2008  •  Post A Comment

Part one of Charles Gibson’s interview with Republican vice presidential candidate Alaskan Gov. Sarah Palin substantially jazzed “ABC World News Tonight’s” preliminary ratings last night.
Rising nearly 35% compared to the average of its last two weeks of Nielsen overnight metered household ratings in 55 markets, “World” captured a 7.0 rating/14 share, beating the closest competitor, NBC, by 27%.
This data is preliminary, and subject to change throughout the day.
This isn’t the first time a Gov. Palin appearance has spiked ratings, as her appearance at the Republican National Convention brought in droves of viewers curious about Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain’s surprise pick for vice president.
More than 37.2 million viewers watched Gov. Palin’s speech during the RNC Sept. 3, only 1 million less than watched Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama’s speech the week prior.
Interest in the RNC carried over into Sen. McCain’s speech Sept. 4, as 38.9 million turned out to set a political convention record for most-viewed speech ever.
Click here for updated numbers.

14 Comments

  1. Mr. Gibson
    Your oh so serious demeanor and attitude towards Gov. Pahlin was not appreciated, asking questions about her qualifications is one thing but trying to set her up is another.
    Are you going to give the same time and treatment to Biden? I seriously doubt it.
    I thought you would have been more honest and forthright when I heard that you were going to interview Pahlin, but you are just like all the rest of the drive by media, biased and dishonest. You are nothing more than a liberal maskerading as a reporter.
    Ron M.

  2. Palin. No H.
    This is the reason why this election is so… dodgy. People are treating it like we’re cheering for sports teams and yelling at refs.
    Didn’t we all get that discussion about NEVER saying “You all” or “All of you” as no one ever always or nevers?
    And further, yes Charles Gibson was huffy at her. Were you upset when O’Reilly was yelling and trying to cut off Obama? It’s fine if you weren’t – I wasn’t, but then again O’Reilly’s always yelling. Interviewers are people and people have personalities and opinions that show through. And, yes, some of her questions were hard. People aren’t sure about her and so she’s going to have to really stand up and say “Yes you should be sure of me!” and they’re going to poke her and prod her and force her through the fire. AS THEY OUGHT TO DO.
    The media isn’t here to hand hold your favorite candidate be them Obama or McCain or Palin or Biden. They aren’t here to make you feel special and beautiful inside for who you’re voting for. They’re supposed to be here to grill. To expose holes in judgment, lies stated, to let us know what stance a candidate is taken (and consequently, if they change stances, so what? When I was 5 I thought Ohio should be cut off from the rest of the USA because the rest of the USA was causing problems. I gained more information and experience and changed that view. That’s what intelligent people do.) and to let us know what we will get when we vote for them.
    Simple as that.

  3. I am appalled at Charlie Gibson’s interview with Sarah Palin. He interviewed her with a smirk on his face and a “got-cha” attitude. The professionalism that I expected from Mr. Gibson did not appear. I am neither a Democrat or Republican; I vote for the person I believe is best for the position. Was Charlie trying to win a race to see who could be the first interviewer to throw Palin off course? In my eyes, he did not get the job done; in fact, he lost a long-time fan in me.

  4. Since when was it wrong to insure that the vice-president of the united states has a fundamental understanding of our foreign policy of the last 8 years. She didn’t have a damn clue when asked about the Bush Doctrine. What was he supposed to ask her? What her favorite color was? What color her babies room is? How she likes her mooseburger cooked? Give me a break. The journalistic standards in the past two weeks have fallen off on both sides. It’s wrong to question her family and personal life, but it’s also wrong to not question her credentials for leading the most powerful country in the world!
    GO GET HER CHARLIE!

  5. I thank Charles Gibson for the excellent interview that he conducted with Palin. Yes, we the people of the US need to know is Palin really ready to take on this great responsibility as VP.If she can’t handle the questions that were given how are we expecting her to perform when tuff situations arise. From the interview conducted I personally received answers to questions or concerns I had about Palin. After listening to her last night it really showed lack of experience. It’s not about Palin being a woman, republican,democratic or what ever it’s about we the American people getting back on track. We as a country are dealing with many issues and we need someone that can speak under pressure, a quick thinker and who can make an intelligent decision when their back is against the wall.I’m confident in saying that I’m sure Mr. Gibson would have conducted the same type of interview with whom ever, I wouldn’t have expected anything different from a season reporter.

  6. Charlie,
    We were disapointed with your interview with Mrs Palin.You are not the Charlie we’re accustomed to listening to.We heard one of your fellow reporters this morning saying that he wondered how many Senators and congressmen could answer the question about Bush’s Doctrine.To us it seemed like you were trying to get her in a corner.You were not the Charlie we know.

  7. Dear Charlie,
    I was disappointed in your manner, while interviewing Governor Sarah Palin. Your open sighing was very over the top. I wonder are you vying for a job with the very biased reporters on CNN? If so, you would fit in nicely.

  8. Mr. Gibson was extremely unfair to Mrs. Palin when he asked if she believed in the Bush doctrine. The word doctrine was not in her vocabulary. Mr. Gibson should have used common language in the interview.

  9. Charlie
    What is the Bush doctrine? It seems that CNN has one definition and Fox news another.

  10. Thanks ABC you made up my mind as to who to vote for and which network I will not be watching in the future. To Charlie Gibson I am sorry you sold your soul to the abc network. I thought you were better than that.Not until I see ABC grill BARACK HUSSIAN OBAMA in this way I will not watch any program on ABC. Too bad I guess I won’t be watching the train ride of ABC GMA. Shame on you. I’ll just watch CNN “not” But I do know what they are all about. Has there been a merger than I haven’t heard about?

  11. Charles Gibson did what a reporter should have done. You sell your soul when you compromise and you are willing to settle for less. Thank you Mr. Gibson for not settling and trying to make Palin what she’s not. Mr. Gibson accomplished his task,well done Charlie. I appreciate you bringing out the truth about this woman it’s simple, SHE’S NOT READY!!!!

  12. Thank you Charlie Gibson for giving such a fine interview, You were very fair because this is not a personally contest. This the most important job in the nation and we need to know what kind of person she is, and mainly how much does she really know. Wake up America this is not a personally contest or a beauty contest. It is about running this country we all love. Lives are at stack. If Charlie Gibson can’t ask her questions who can. This is a mean world out here and she will have to talk to some leaders from all over the world, if she is expected to run this country. Why are we pampering her, if she wants to run this country she has answer all kind of questions to get my vote. I am not going to vote for her cause she read a good speech. I want to know what going on in her head to run this country.People need to know where she stands? People wake up this is serious!

  13. Charlie Gibson, I thought you were a good guy & would be the best fair person to be the first to interview Sarah Palin. How wrong I was!!!! You were the most condecsending piece of humanity I’ve seen in a long time. Why would you ask Sarah 3 times in a row if she would approve of using nuclearpower on Iran if Israel decided to? You absolutely wanted to try & trip her up into finally saying, on the the third try, that she would approve it, just so you could make headlines The Great Charlie Gibson got Sarah Palin to admit she would . I say shame on you. I wasn’t set on my vote but I certainly am now.

  14. It wasn’t the questions, it was the manner in which they were asked. What did ABC do, hang up a picture of Gibson’s mother being hanged in order to give him that snarly face? I’ve never seen ANYONE, not even my worst boss, hold a sneer for that long! Surely changed my opinion of the man!

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