Cable news ratings, July 8, 2011:

•In the aftermath of the frenzy of coverage surrounding the Casey Anthony murder trial–and the hotly debated verdict–HLN’s Dr. Drew Pinksy seems to be hanging on to an audience, winning the 9 o’clock hour among viewers 25-54. Dr. Drew averaged 390,000 viewers, well ahead of Fox’s Hannity, which averaged 286,000. CNN’s Piers Morgan landed in fourth in the timeslot, but had CNN’s best ratings on the night, with an average audience in the demo of 174,000.

Cable news ratings, July 6, 2011:

•On the night CNN announced the cancellation of In the Arena–and host Eliot Spitzer signed off from the program–Spitzer claimed a victory over MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell, averaging 204,000 viewers 25-54 compared to O’Donnell’s 187,000. Fox’s Bill O’Reilly won the hour, followed by HLN’s Nancy Grace.

Cable news ratings, July 5, 2011:

•On the day of the verdict in the Casey Anthony trial, HLN set an all-time record for viewership, with a total audience of more than five million viewers at 2:15 p.m. when the verdict was revealed. In the evening, HLN had easily won primetime (viewers 25-54) and had noteworthy audiences for Special Report (898,000 viewers 25-54), Prime News (982,000), Issues (900,000) and Dr. Drew (940,000). HLN’s Nancy Grace, whose name became synonymous with coverage of the trial, had the highest-rated hour in cable news Tuesday night, with an average audience of 1,315,000 viewers 25-54 and nearly three million total viewers.

Cable news ratings, July 1, 2011:

•Here’s a ratings fact you don’t see often–if ever: on Friday night, HLN’s Casey Anthony coverage easily won every hour of the night in terms of viewers in the key 25-54 demographic, with the lowest-rated hour, at 11 p.m., still outperforming every other cable news show, including all of the programs on Fox News. HLN’s ratings win was of course aided by the trial reaching its conclusion–and the rest of cable news being in slow summer Friday mode. HLN’s best hour, Special Report, had an average audience of 610,000 viewers 25-54. Nancy Grace had the second-highest-rated hour, with 589,000 viewers.

Journalist David Cohn is a self-described “liberal, intellectual, communist, media-elite, Jew-bastard from San Francisco.” And yet, unlike most of his “media-elite, SF, communist bastard friends,” he never missed Glenn Beck‘s show on Fox News. At least, not for the last year or so. Cohn says he wasn’t seeking out evidence for a liberal indictment of Beck, nor was it all a blogger’s stunt. “I’ve always been open to varying opinions. In fact, I seek them out,” Cohn writes. “This is not me on a journalism high-horse. It’s genuinely who I am. I don’t necessarily like arguing (I’m not a comment troller that goes around picking political fights) but I like to try and understand people and their motivating factors.”

Cable news ratings, June 29, 2011:

•On Wednesday night, with the defense case winding down in the Casey Anthony murder trial, HLN’s 5 p.m. Special Report with Vinnie Politan had the network’s biggest ratings of the night: 2,687,000 total viewers (and 728,000 viewers 25-54), almost exactly a million more viewers than Fox News’ Glenn Beck, who had a total audience of 1,691,000 (and 377,000 in the demo). HLN’s shows won every hour Wednesday night, save one (and it wasn’t Bill O’Reilly, the usual king of cable news whose show fell to second among viewers 25-54 behind Nancy Grace). At 9 p.m., Sean Hannity narrowly beat HLN’s Dr. Drew.

Cable news ratings, June 28, 2011:

•On a night when the fight for first place went to HLN, winning most of prime time over Fox News, an interesting contest shaped up in the race for third place. MSNBC’s The Last Word, the Lawrence O’Donnell show that launched early this year in the aftermath of Keith Olbermann‘s sudden departure, was just 5,000 viewers 25-54 ahead of CNN’s In the Arena, the Eliot Spitzer show that has at times struggled since its re-launch after the departure of Kathleen Parker. Arena averaged 170,000 viewers 25-54, compared to Word‘s 175,000.

MSNBC returned to its perch in second place behind Fox News for the second quarter of 2011, beating CNN among the key group of viewers 25-54 in prime time. In the second quarter, MSNBC averaged 273,000 viewers 25-54 in prime, compared to CNN’s 234,000. Fox News easily held on to its ranking as the number one network in cable news in the second quarter, with 413,000 viewers 25-54 in prime. Fox’s win was made easy by having the top five cable news programs (viewers 25-54): O’Reilly Factor (636,000 viewers), Hannity (501,000), Glenn Beck (413,000), On the Record (398,000) and the O’Reilly repeat at 11 p.m. (384,000).

Cable news ratings, June 27, 2011:

•Fox News held off a strong night of ratings for HLN, which has seen huge ratings boosts from its comprehensive coverage of the Casey Anthony murder trial, losing just one hour to HLN–the 5 p.m. hour currently occupied by Glenn Beck. HLN’s Special Report attracted an average audience of 480,000 viewers 25-54, beating Beck, who had 474,000. Despite Fox’s wins from 6 p.m. through 11 p.m., HLN’s Nancy Grace still had the second-highest-rated hour after Bill O’Reilly, with 488,000 viewers.

Cable news ratings, June 24, 2011:

•HLN’s extensive coverage of the Casey Anthony murder trial led the network to a first-place finish among viewers 25-54 Friday night, easily outperforming Fox News, MSNBC, and CNN. The highest-rated hour of the evening was HLN’s Nancy Grace, which averaged 494,000 viewers 25-54 at 8 p.m. HLN’s Special Report also performed extremely well, with 469,000 viewers 25-54 at 5 p.m. Overall, HLN won among viewers 25-54 in prime time and total day, but Fox News finished first among total viewers for total day and in prime time.

Cable news ratings, June 23, 2011:

•Fox’s Bill O’Reilly confronted GOP presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich on his viability as a candidate after false starts and an exodus of campaign staff Thursday night, and the interview was a huge draw. O’Reilly Factor attracted 2.944 million total viewers, more than twice the total audience of CNN’s In the Arena and MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell combined.

Cable news ratings, June 22, 2011:

•President Obama‘s address to the nation Wednesday night disrupted program schedules and gave Fox News an average 460,000 viewers 25-54 throughout prime time. HLN, which had extended coverage of the Casey Anthony murder trial, was second with 330,000, and MSNBC fell to fourth with 223,000. During the eight o’clock hour, Fox averaged more than half a million viewers in the demo, while MSNBC averaged 244,000.

Cable news ratings, June 20, 2011:

•Intensified interest in the murder trial of Casey Anthony has sent viewers swamping HLN, and the network’s newest show, Dr. Drew, has benefited greatly. After a slow start for the Drew Pinsky-hosted show, Dr. Drew finished in second place Tuesday among viewers 25-54, with 377,000. That pushed MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow into third place with 338,000 and CNN’s Piers Morgan into fourth place overall with 157,000. Fox’s Sean Hannity won the hour with 434,000 viewers in the demo.

Cable news ratings, June 20, 2011:

•Keith who? While the cable news chatter may have been about the return to TV of Keith Olbermann, the 8 p.m. hour had a tidal wave of viewers–and they went to Fox. Bill O’Reilly was a solid number one on the hour, winning among viewers 25-54 (ahead of HLN’s Nancy Grace) and among total viewers, where O’Reilly Factor had well over three million viewers, more than CNN, MSNBC and HLN combined.

Cable news ratings, June 17, 2011:

•Friday night saw two sister networks on opposite ends of the ratings spectrum, with HLN–dominated by coverage of the Casey Anthony murder trial–grabbing the night’s highest-rated cable news show (among viewers 25-54) with Nancy Grace (524,000 viewers in the demo–beating Fox News’ O’Reilly Factor with substitute host Laura Ingraham, which had 453,000), as CNN’s Eliot Spitzer-led In the Arena hit the lowest average rating of any show in prime time, with just 61,000 viewers.

Cable news ratings, June 15, 2011:

•Millions of people were watching cable news at 8 p.m. Wednesday, but most of them split between two shows, Bill O’Reilly‘s on Fox News, and Nancy Grace‘s on HLN. The two programs had a combined total audience of nearly five million viewers, compared to just over one million for the other two major shows in the timeslot, CNN’sIn the Arena and MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell.

O’Reilly, with 635,000 viewers 25-54, had the highest-rated hour in cable news on the night, followed by Grace, who had 530,000.

Cable news ratings, June 9, 2011:

•Interest in the trial of accused murderer Casey Anthony has intensified as the prosecution nears the end of its case and the defense–which could include Anthony taking the stand–looms. HLN’s expansive coverage of the case, led by Nancy Grace, continues to provide the CNN sister network huge ratings, coming in second place in primetime and total day on Tuesday, and giving HLN the third and fourth highest rated programs in cable news. At 5 p.m. HLN’s special coverage of the Anthony trial was a dominant number one, with 447,000 viewers 25-54, far ahead of Fox’s Glenn Beck, who had 239,000. HLN won the hour among total viewers, though by a narrow margin.

Cable news ratings, June 10, 2011:

•It’s hardly news when Fox’s Bill O’Reilly has the top-rated show in cable news, but it’s definitely newsworthy when no other Fox show between 5 p.m. and 11 p.m. hits number one. On Friday night, HLN’s programs stole away the top spot among viewers 25-54 at 5 p.m., 6 p.m., 7 p.m., 9 p.m. and 10 p.m.–mostly on the heels of the network’s intensive coverage of the Casey Anthony murder trial. HLN’s Nancy Grace had the second-highest-rated program in cable news, with 388,000 viewers 25-54.

Cable news ratings, June 8, 2011:

•With HLN’s Nancy Grace getting fantastic ratings with her coverage of the Casey Anthony murder trial, lots of viewers seem to be sticking around to try the network’s newest show, Dr. Drew. On Wednesday night, Dr. Drew had an average audience of 337,000 viewers 25-54, beating MSNBC star Rachel Maddow (307,000) and CNN’s heavily promoted Piers Morgan (184,000). Fox’s Sean Hannity won the hour with 528,000 viewers in the demo. Overall, Dr. Drew was HLN’s second highest rated show Wednesday, after Grace, who hit 436,000 viewers 25-54.

Cable news ratings, June 7, 2011:

•Fresh off his five night suspension without pay, MSNBC’s Ed Schultz is performing strongly in the nightly ratings, with an average audience Tuesday of 261,000 viewers 25-54, not far from the 10 p.m. hour’s winner, Fox’s Greta Van Susteren, who finished with 297,000. CNN’s Anderson Cooper finished in third place (one of only two CNN shows Tuesday night to escape a fourth-place finish–the other was John King, USA). Van Susteren’s On the Record was the only Fox News show on Tuesday night to finish with fewer than 300,000 viewers in the demo. Bill O’Reilly finished first among Fox shows, with 633,000 viewers 25-54.

Cable news ratings, June 6, 2011:

•The saga of Rep. Anthony Weiner boosted ratings for Fox News, and sent CNN’s primetime shows into fourth place Monday. Between 5 p.m. and 11 p.m., only CNN’s Wolf Blitzer was able to climb into third place. CNN’s highest rated show on the night, Anderson Cooper‘s AC 360, had 270,000 viewers 25-54 at 10 p.m., but was beaten by HLN’s Joy Behar (298,000), MSNBC’s Ed Schultz (326,000) and Fox’s Greta Van Susteren (475,000).

Glenn Beck‘s getting Friday off, as Fox News plans to pre-empt his FNC show in favor of a special, Bad Behavior: Political Sex Scandals, to be hosted by Greta Van Susteren. The special will delve into the current stories of Rep. Anthony Weiner and former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, as well as scandals involving John Edwards, Mark Sanford and Eliot Spitzer.

Cable news ratings, June 3, 2011:

•HLN’s coverage of the murder trial of Casey Anthony continued to deliver huge ratings, sending Nancy Grace into first place among all cable news programs Friday night among viewers 25-54. Grace had 371,000 viewers 25-54, easily winning the 8 p.m. hour, and outpacing shows on all other news networks. HLN also took first place at 5 p.m., 6 p.m., and 7 p.m.

Cable news ratings, June 2, 2011:

•HLN took first place at 5 p.m., 6 p.m., 7 p.m. and 10 p.m. Thursday, as interest in the murder trial of Casey Anthony sent huge numbers of viewers (25-54) to the network. HLN’s Nancy Grace was very close to catching the king of cable news, Bill O’Reilly at 8 p.m., with O’Reilly winning the hour with 590,000 just ahead of Grace’s 517,000. Among total viewers, Fox remained number one through primetime, but HLN’s ratings took the network into second place overall, with Nancy Grace hitting an average of nearly 1.8 million viewers at 8 p.m.

Fox News anchor Shepard Smith says it’s insulting for outgoing New York Times executive editor Bill Keller to call Fox’s “Fair and Balanced” slogan “cynical,” as he did back in March. In an interview at the New York Press Club, Smith was asked about those comments. “I don’t enjoy being insulted by people who talk in generalities,” Smith said to journalist Rich Lamb. “My guess is that the people on his opinion page don’t get that kind of broad and sweeping review.”