A New, And Intellectually Dishonest, Attack on Olbermann

The media site TV Newser had an interesting story today about a new attack piece on Keith Olbermann, this one from Jed Babbin from Human Events Magazine.

Most of the article gives us the now-hackneyed right-wing boilerplate against Olbermann--NBC has become a cesspool of secular liberalism because of him, they are so mean to the president, blah blah blah.

But, Babbin then tries to draw a business comparison, and winds up looking like a buffoon in the bargain.

He actually says that Olbermann, whose show has seen meteroic ratings growth over the last few years (even drawing close to parity with longtime ratings leader O'Reilly in the critical ad demo as of late), is killing the company financially.

And, in an even more epic moment of comedy gold, he gives BILL O'REILLY the freaking credit for it.

Behold:

O’Reilly’s high-temperature criticism of GE and Immelt -- calling him a "despicable human being" responsible for the deaths of American troops in Iraq -- may even have contributed to GE’s stock slide.  From a high of $42.15 on October 2, 2007, GE’s shares have lost 36% of shareholder value, closing last Friday at $26.83.    

That fall is comparable to the New York Times’ loss in shareholder value under Pinch Sulzberger.  Liberal bias and media political activism don’t benefit shareholders.

Of course, it took about nine seconds on The Google to completely undermine the arguments of this particular bold, fresh piece of...well...something.

NEWS CORPS STOCK, AS OF 8 AM THIS MORNING: $15.35
PERCENTAGE CHANGE SINCE OCTOBER 11TH: DOWN 38.5%

So, for those who have math phobias, News Corps stock has actually performed WORSE than GE's in a comparable time period.

And, just for fun, let's look at ratings in the key ad demo for the last three months:

MARCH 08: O'Reilly up 6.9% from 2007, Olbermann up 37.8% from 2007.
APRIL 08: O'Reilly down 8.8% from 2007, Olbermann up 6.5% from 2007.
MAY 08: O'Reilly up 33.5% from 2007, Olbermann up 85.4% from 2007.

Do you think that the wave of anti-Olbermann reportage, particularly from conservative outlets, is the clearest indication yet that they are shitting their pants because their conservative hegemony over the opinion-oriented news media is in serious peril?