Of course Fox is still attracting the most viewers. They are the only ones who have positive coverage and don't treat every Allied misstep as breaking news.

Despite CNN's overwhelming advantage in reporting manpower, more Americans — at least so far — want to watch the war unfold on Fox.

"I think it's a pretty big surprise," said Erik Sorenson, MSNBC president, on Tuesday. Because of CNN's experience with the first Gulf War, "I think people thought CNN would win, at least in its early stages. One of the executives there said they would own the story, and I don't think they do."


CNN spokeswoman Christa Robinson downplayed Fox's ratings advantage, saying Nielsen shows that more people at least sample some of CNN's coverage during the day. Fox's ratings are higher because its viewers watch for a longer time.

Yes Christa, people can't watch CNN for any more than a minute once they hear Wolf Blitzer or Aaron Brown make a statement about anything. We don't want rah rah all the time, but at least report the correct facts about us making an unprecedented run to Baghdad.