Weekly roundup: In the media, some tough goodbyes
Here are some of the highlights from Marketplace this week, on air and online.
Fun Fact: The average American eats about 70 pounds of chicken a year. That’s five times the amount we consumed in 1950. Meanwhile, the chickens Americans farm have nearly doubled in size.
12 crazy facts about chickens, and then some
Fun Fact: But the average American’s consumption of eggs has fallen to 250 eggs a year.
Our per capita consumption of eggs has plunged from a high of 400 eggs a year in the 1940s. The decrease has been attributed to warnings about cholesterol. But fear not, egg lovers: It appears health officials are rethinking the whole cholesterol thing.
Dietary update: Cholesterol-rich foods aren’t so bad
And finally, what a week it’s been for media.
On Wednesday, NBC announced it would suspend Brian Williams for six months as anchor of the Nightly News after he acknowledged making misleading statements about his experiences during the Iraq War. The scandal caused viewership of NBC’s news broadcast to drop by some 36 percent. But NBC isn’t the only network experiencing declines.
Changing fortunes of nightly news shows
Also on Wednesday, self-proclaimed fake news anchor Jon Stewart announced he would be leaving “The Daily Show” at some point in 2015. That’s bad news not just for fans of Stewart but for parent company Viacom, which has ratings problems with a host of its programming.
What Jon Stewart’s departure means for Viacom
And, like many around the country, we’re mourning the loss of journalist David Carr, 58, who died Thursday in New York. He was was a media and culture columnist for The New York Times, and his wit was as grand as his heart.
Another major loss for journalism: Veteran CBS News correspondent Bob Simon died this week in a New York City car crash. He was 73.
Marketplace Tech spoke to Carr last year. Have a listen.
Ferguson story highlights Twitter’s role as source
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