20 January 2004

So a few months ago, the television networks were complaining about a mysterious drop in 18- to 34-year-old male television viewers, a key demographic in selling TV commercial time to advertisers. About six percent of this demographic just disappeared from the viewing audience, leading some industry observers to speculate that the Internet was siphoning away their viewers, or that a flaw in the Nielsen rating system might be to blame. Where did all these young men go? Well, it turns out that the explanation was right in front of everyone's nose: almost six percent of young males have stopped watching television because they're, uh, fighting and dying in Iraq.

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