Monday Ratings: MSNBC Beats CNN Total-Day

MSNBC and CNN dueled again on Monday. In total day, MSNBC averaged 398,000 viewers to CNN's 387,000. (FNC had 943,000.) "Olympics or no Olympics, CNN has to be pretty embarrassed getting beat by MSNBC in 24 hours of coverage," a source said. In primetime, it was still no race -- FNC had 1,911,000 viewers to CNN's 852,000 and MSNBC's 370,000.

> The 7 and 8pm hours were competitive: Hardball averaged 534,000 viewers, while 360 had 410,000; Zahn averaged 422,000, while Countdown had 410,000. (That's a statistical tie -- the demo was only 2,000 viewers apart.)

> Other show #'s: O'Reilly: 2,442,000; H&C: 1,792,000; Greta: 1,498,000; Larry King: 1,396,000; NewsNight: 679,000; Norville: 237,000; Scarborough: 369,000
> Update: 11:20pm Wednesday: "This horse-sh!t about MSNBC beating CNN on Monday is meaningless," an e-mailer says. "If CNN were to broadcast the Super Bowl. It would beat the networks, but that wouldn't mean anything about CNN's product. Get real."

CNBC Ratings: Miller & McEnroe Scratch

CNBC's primetime had a rough time Monday night. CNBC's Olympics coverage at 7pm earned a 0.6 and 643,000 viewers. But the lead-in didn't help: Donny Deutsch's "Big Idea" had 141,000 viewers. (The hour usually does better with Apprentice reruns.) At 9pm, Dennis Miller scratched with 103,000 viewers, and at 10pm, McEnroe scratched with only 67,000.

Is Shep Suggesting There's A Double Standard?

An interesting exchange between Shep and Jane Skinner on Studio B today:

SHEP: You know, in that last place, they only let one network be down on the floor. Remember that? JANE: I do remember that. SHEP: Remember that? And I was wondering at the time, and I'm sort of off the reservation here, but I was wondering at the time, if the RNC had been held first, think of it, and Fox News Channel were to get the only position on the floor of the convention hall, I think all of the people who love to hate us would be jumping up and down. There'd be banners up; there'd be protesters. But when that network gets the only place on the floor with the DNC, oh well, look at them, isn't that interesting? It's interesting, all right. It's very, very interesting. But anyway, we'll be wandering around, and there'll be there too. We all work and play well together.

(Thanks Mark)

The Ticker: "And For Dessert, The Candy Crowley"

> Forbes Magazine named Greta Van Susteren one of the world's most powerful women in its latest issue. She ranked #84. No other cable newsers made the cut, though heavyweights like Katie Couric, Barbara Walters and Diane Sawyer are also included...

> Lost Remote has suggestions for CNN's diner: "I'll have the Larry King Crab, with a side of Tucker Carl-slaw, and an Aaron Brown Cow to drink. And for dessert, the Candy Crowley."

> Jon Stewart interviews John Kerry on the Daily Show tonight. It gets C1 treatment in the WP...

"Preventive Measures" Outside FNC H.Q., Others

Security concerns have led Rockefeller Center to position fixtures outside Fox News headquarters ahead of the GOP convention. "About 12 large round concrete fixtures doubling as oversized flower pots were positioned in front of the Fox News studios on 6th Avenue" recently, an e-mailer says. "These are obviously positioned to prevent any vehicles from the street to jump the sidewalk and get close to the building." Rockefeller Center runs the News Corp building and many others around 6th and 7th Avenues. They started installing the fixtures around their buildings on Friday. 30 Rock, home of the Today show, already had "preventive measures..."

Ratings: Olympics Boosts 'Nightly News'

NBC is heralding a "huge" Nightly News ratings win last week. The program "had one of its most dominant weeks of the year -- powered in part by the remarkable success of NBC's Olympic coverage of the Summer Games in Athens," press release says. NBC averaged 10.275 million viewers to ABC's 8.067 and CBS's 6.472. More...

GOP Convention: ABC's Preferential Treatment?

This Daily Kos'er is angry about ABC for "preferential treatment" of the RNC convention. Peter Jennings is slated to anchor a "special live convention report" during Monday Night Football. "ABC didn't offer any special "live convention reports" during the Obama speech at the Democratic convention," he complains. Hmm...

Cable Provided "Echo-Chamber" For Swift Boat Story

Blaming the media, and in particular cable news, for abusing the Swift Boat story seems to be a trend today. Howard Kurtz contributes in his online column: "...The media, which can't get enough of Vietnam, picked up the issue and ran with it on a hundred cable finger-pointing shows -- without having the slightest idea whether it was true. Without that echo-chamber effect, this dinky little ad would have sunk without a trace."

The Matthews/Malkin Story Rolls On...

Lloyd Grove on Michelle Malkin: "Since her raucous appearance the other night on the MSNBC show [she] has been on a rampage against 'Hardball's' host, Chris Matthews. Malkin wouldn't comment to Grove, but Matthews says: "I am morally, if not legally, responsible for what is said on the show. If someone is saying something that factually can't be proved, it's my job to call them on it."

"There Is The Fog Of War, And Then There Is The Fog Of Cable"

Alessandra Stanley's New York Times lead: "Over the last few weeks, 24-hour news networks have done little to find out what John Kerry did in Vietnam, but they have provided a different kind of public service: their examination of his war record in Vietnam illustrates once again just how perfunctory and confusing cable news coverage can be." She says FNC has "relished the controversy the most..."

Swift Boat Coverage A "Case Study In Bias"

"The conservative media's handling of the Swift boat dispute is a case study in bias," Ben Wasserstein writes in the LA Times this morning. He analyzes what happened on Fox News on the day new evidence surfaced "cast severe doubt on the charge that Kerry fabricated the events that earned him one of his Vietnam War medals."

Wasserstein notes that Studio B and The Big Story talked about the "ongoing spat," without mentioning "the new evidence about Thurlow's contradictions." He says that The Fox Report offered "the first 'fair and balanced' treatment of the story after hours of derision or avoidance on Fox." You decide...

Chris Cuomo: Auditioning For The Daily Show?

Quoting Jeannette Walls on MSNBC.com: On Friday morning, Good Morning America's Chris Cuomo "delivered a story about Senator Ted Kennedy's name turning up on the homeland security no-fly list:"

"The Senator says it took him weeks to get his name off the list and homeland security director Tom Ridge later apologized," Cuomo reported. And then he deadpanned: "However, it must be noted, Diane and Robin, that then Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge was seen laughing into his hand and high-fiving several of his colleagues. That is untrue, but that’s the news at 8."

"And just so you know, this will never be seen on the West Coast, what you just saw," co-host Robin Roberts responded. An insider says that "he really got chewed out for it pretty bad," but a spokesperson says he was "just having a little fun." (Via NewsBlues)

Olympics: Watching MSNBC At 1am

Dallas Morning News columnist Barry Horn says it "turns out cable at 1 a.m. is the perfect time slot for some Olympic sports." He was watching MSNBC early Monday morning. "Because 1 a.m. in sleepy Dallas is 9 a.m. in bustling Athens, MSNBC breathlessly went to live coverage of track and field. No introduction. No studio. The cable network went immediately to competition coverage at the starting line of -- the women's 20-kilometer walk. Some people will tell you this is the way TV should treat viewers from start to finish. Damn the time zones. Show it live and let athletes' feats do the talking."