By **Julianne Escobedo Shepherd**
From AlterNet.Org.
Who says you need celebrities to get ratings? Rachel Maddow had a nice surprise last Wednesday when her show got a major ratings boost — as she covered the protests and injustices in Wisconsin and Ohio. With guests like WI State Senator Jon Erpenbach and OH Congressman Tim Ryan, plus a little segment on Newt Gingrich’s website, it goes to show that maybe, just maybe, the public cares about more than Charlie Sheen and the iPad 2. (No dis to the public or the iPad 2.) Mediaite:
MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow, without the benefit of a buzz-booster like Charlie Sheen, quietly
jumped to the elite levels of cable news ratings, outperforming everyone at CNN and MSNBC,
and even beating Fox’s Glenn Beck. Maddow hit 452,000 viewers 25-54, easily dominating
CNN’s Piers Morgan, who had 208,000. Maddow, who was without any Charlie Sheen-like
celebrity guest, even came close to Fox’s Sean Hannity, who won the time period with 561,000.
This comes barely a week after Howard Kurtz wrote a piece about Maddow’s role as MSNBC’s biggest star now that Olbermann’s gone to Current. Looks like the hunch was correct. To watch the show that tipped the scale, go here.
Copyright 2011 Julianne Escobedo Shepherd
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Julianne Escobedo Shepherd is an associate editor at AlterNet and a Brooklyn-based freelance writer and editor. Formerly the executive editor of The FADER, her work has appeared in VIBE, SPIN, New York Times and various other magazines and websites.
This post originally appeared at AlterNet.Org..
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