CBS's FACE THE NATION Kicks Off New Season as America's No. 1 Public Affairs Program

CBS News' FACE THE NATION kicked off the new season as the #1 Sunday morning public affairs program on Oct. 1, according to Nielsen live plus same day ratings. FACE THE NATION delivered 3.84 million viewers, nearly a half million more viewers than the second place finisher, and 0.7/04 in adults 25-54, the demographic most important to those who advertise in news. (Editor's Note: FACE THE NATION's second half-hour was broadcast contiguously across 59.8% of the CBS affiliates.)

The Oct. 1 broadcast opened with an update on the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Puerto Rico following Hurricane Maria from CBS News correspondent David Begnaud, followed by an exclusive interview with Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL). Next John Dickerson had an exclusive interview with Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) at Penn Machine Works factory in Aston, Penn. Dickerson then interviewed Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY). The political roundtable featured The Federalist's Ben Domenech; Vox.com's Ezra Klein; and Cook Political Report's Amy Walter. The show closed with an interview with CBS News political contributor Bob Schieffer, author of Overload: Finding the Truth in Today's Deluge of News, which is out today.

Mary Hager is the executive producer of the Emmy award-winning FACE THE NATION, one of the longest-running news programs in the history of television.