Mel Gibson's drunken, anti-Semitic tirade was a big boost to the top syndicated TV entertainment and news magazines, with four of five posting ratings gains for the week ending August 6. And the
scandal brought gains to a genre that has generally performed well all season, the magazine adds. King World's "Inside Edition" got the biggest bump--climbing 13 percent for the week and 21 percent
from the same week a year ago, to finish at a 3.5 national syndication barter rating. That moved it into second place behind CBS Paramount's "Entertainment Tonight"--a program that hit its best mark
in five weeks at a 4.6, up 5 percent for the week and 10 percent for the year. "The Insider" was also up, but NBC Universal's "Access Hollywood," which provided the least nightly coverage of the
Gibson scandal, actually dropped for the week.
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