FW: [Vegan_Animal_Rights] Ignorant Americans Viewing More TV Than Ever!

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i am fowarding from rick stevens.

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[is it any wonder this nation is so ignorant,arrogant, and illiterate! Rick.]Source >http://www.newsday.com/entertainment/bal-te.tv30sep30,0,5774083.story?coll=ny-entertainment-headlinesAmericans viewing TV at record levelsOver 8 hours per household, Nielsen saysBy David ZurawikSun television criticSeptember 30, 2005Members of U.S. households spent more time last yearthan ever in front of a TV set, according to a reportreleased yesterday by Nielsen Media Research. And asthe new fall season swings into action, the rise inviewing continues - a development certain to alarmthose who blame the medium for contributing to obesityin children and shorter attention spans, even as thetrend cheers industry insiders.The study, conducted by the world's largest providerof TV and audience data, found that during the2004-2005 television season, members of averageAmerican homes collectively spent 8 hours and 11minutes per day watching TV. (The season ran fromSept. 20, 2004, to Sept. 18, 2005.)The figure - 2.7 percent higher than last year and12.5 percent above viewing levels a decade ago -represents the greatest amount of time being spentwatching TV in American homes since Nielsen beganmeasuring national audiences in the 1950s.Individually, Americans watched more television thanthey have in 15 years, according to the study, whichput each person's daily viewing time at 4 hours and 32minutes. That's seven more minutes per day than duringthe previous TV season."The perception has been that TV viewing is going downand that people are using other media," said KarenGyimesi, a Nielsen spokeswoman. "But we're not seeingthat. ... Obviously, viewership for the big networkshas fluctuated, but, overall, TV watching is up."Nielsen's Matt Tatham attributed the record level ofTV time to changes in lifestyle as well as growth inprogramming choices. "More people are consuming moremedia in the home than ever - all kinds of media. Andthere is more television than ever to spend more timeconsuming," he said.Yesterday, some analysts linked the rise in TV viewingto a widely reported decline in movie attendance. InMay, the film industry reported that moviegoing wasdown 9 percent from the previous year."Based on our research of consumers and media use,we're not surprised that Nielsen found more televisionviewing than ever," said Abe Novick, senior vicepresident at Baltimore-based Eisner Communications,one of the country's most sophisticated televisionviewer research operations. "There is a connectionbetween fewer people going to movies and more peoplespending more time than ever with TV. ... Simply put,television is offering viewers so much more thesedays."But he also cited last year's presidential election,the Iraq war and recent natural disasters as factorscontributing to the increased time spent with TV:"Just look at how much viewing has been done inconnection with Hurricane Katrina."While many in Hollywood have blamed the filmindustry's box-office slump on consumers watching DVDsat home rather than going to theaters, therecord-setting Nielsen figures measured the amount oftime spent by viewers watching TV programs on the dayor night they aired, Gyimesi said. So, the impact ofDVDs is a separate matter altogether.As for this year, the number of people watching thefirst week of new fall series was 6.3 percent largerthan the audience for the first week last year - 115.8million viewers compared with 102.5 million.david.zurawik