Stay Connected
Atlanta Black Star/News
NewsTV

Oprah's Lance Armstrong Interview All Hype Little Reward…

Posted byBy Stan Castle | Published on: CommentsComments (0)

All the hype, all the talk, and all the new coverage about part one of the interview with disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong wasn’t enough to help Oprah Winfrey’s OWN ratings Thursday night. Well, it helped a little, but the ratings didn’t come close to the numbers that they had predicted.

Only 3.2 million viewers tune in to the first part of the Armstrong interview — almost half of the 6 million she averaged daily on her syndicated show last year. Bobbi Kristina Brown’s session with Winfrey last year March was even a bigger draw for OWN, which landed more than 3.5 million viewers.

There may be an excuse or rather a reason the Armstrong interview didn’t live up to the hype. It was up against some stiff competition from Fox’ season debut of American Idol and ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy. The interview ran into more hurdles as its re-run at 10:30 pm that same night also had to face a clash. While it did pull in an additional 1.1 million viewers, that number was less than the 3.55 million who watched the Heat-Lakers NBA game on TNT at 10:30 p.m., and the 1.59 million who watched The Daily Show on Comedy Central at 11:00 p.m.

OWN did however meet a new accomplishment, the interview drew the most male viewers in the history of the station.

Democracy needs journalism it can trust.

This election season, the stakes are higher than usual — and so is the pressure on newsrooms to soften their coverage, stay quiet, or just disappear. Independent reporting, the kind that answers to readers instead of advertisers or political pressure, matters more in a moment like this, not less.

For over 14 years, Atlanta Black Star has stayed independent and reader-funded. We have no corporate owner and no shareholders telling us what to cover or how to cover it. That independence is also our biggest vulnerability: nothing protects it except readers choosing to fund it directly.

Newspaper ad revenue has fallen more than 80% since 2005, and local newsrooms are closing at a rate of roughly two a week nationwide. When outlets go under in a moment like this, it's rarely the independent, reader-funded ones that get to stick around.

We know a request for support isn't why you came here. But without readers choosing to fund this work directly, the depth of reporting we can do at home and abroad shrinks along with everyone else's. If you're not in a position to give, that doesn't change how much we value you as a reader.

If you are able to, a recurring contribution does more for us than a single one-time gift, because it lets us plan the next investigation instead of just the next invoice. It takes about 30 seconds, no long form, no account. Thank you for continuing to support independent journalism and freedom of the press.

Give once Give monthly Support another way

Related Stories

Back to top