Tuning Out
There is a definitive trend line of lessening interest at each mile post of the Mueller investigation.
“Facts don’t care about your feelings” is a popular line these days. While that snarky bit of internet juvenility is part truth, part “sick burn, brah” self-flattery, ratings can be an interesting metric of how people are vetting issues based on their most precious commodity: time spent paying attention to it. In other words, they are as good a metric as we have about what facts folks are feeling enough to care about.
News coverage of special counsel Robert Mueller’s testimony before Congress Wednesday drew a sizable audience — but not as big as some other recent televised hearings.
The 7 1/2 hours of hearings, from 8:15 a.m. to 3:45 p.m. ET, drew an average of just under 13 million viewers (12.98 million) on ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, Fox News and MSNBC.
In the hearings, Mueller reiterated the findings of his report on Russian efforts to influence the 2016 election and contacts with members of Donald Trump’s campaign — including that the report did not clear the president of possible obstruction of justice.The 13 million viewers falls short of some other recent televised hearings: Former Donald Trump lawyer Michael Cohen, for instance, drew about 16 million viewers when he testified…
