O’Reilly vs Colbert: Which Show Has A More Intelligent Audience?

My daughter is now 16 months old. To horror of many, I do not send her to bed exactly at 8:00 pm. Most nights she stays up until 9:30. I usually have the TV on in the background as I play with her or feed her.

In early August, I had The O’Reilly Factor on TV (yes, I alternate between FoxNews, MSNBC and CNN) as I heard him make an unbelievable claim. I’m just getting around to blogging it.

The background to this story is that in July of 2008, The San Francisco Chronicle reported that The Comedy Channel’s political shows (The Daily Show and The Colbert Report) enjoy audiences that are “better educated than O’Reilly’s.”

Of course, you can imagine how Bill O’Reilly would take exception to that claim. Referring to the Chronicle’s article on his August 4th show, O’Reilly dismissed that “Colbert’s audience is smarter than the Factor audience.” He went on to say that “according to a Pew Research study, a whopping 83 percent of Factor viewers have a high or moderate knowledge of current events, as opposed to 79 percent for little Stevie.”

Thank you O’Reilly. What a great gift for a blog! First, aren’t you embarrassed to even admit that your audience is a mere 4% better than those listening to a comedy show? I’m embarrassed for you.

Second, The San Francisco Chronicle claimed that Colbert’s audience is better educated, not more knowledgeable about current events as Bill claimed. He’s comparing apples and oranges.

Third, according to the very research O’Reilly referred, the following information can be extracted. Winners of each category are highlighted in red:

Viewership among highly knowledgeable: ← clickable link

Daily Show / Colbert Report: 54 percent vs. O’Reilly Factor: 51 percent

Viewership among those who regulary watch/read/listen: ← clickable link

Daily Show / Colbert Report: 16 percent vs. O’Reilly Factor: 17 percent

Viewership among College graduates: ← clickable link

Daily Show / Colbert Report: 31 percent vs. O’Reilly Factor: 24 percent

Feel free to fact-check me if you wish.

Bill! Buddy! As I said earlier, I’m embarrassed for you. Clearly you haven’t learned that, sometimes, you just have to let some things go. Times have changed. The new generation of political junkies and news-hungry adults desire some satire along with unusual approaches. The Factor is more of a traditional show. Just let it go Bill . . . let it go.