UPDATED: 4:40 p.m. ET
Media stocks bounced higher as Wall Street recovered from another plunge caused by worries about the outlook for economic growth.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 423.37 points, or 3.95% at 11,143.31 Thursday, nearly making up for Wednesday's 516 point drop, which left the market down about 16% since its peak in April.
Companies in the television business have been subject to wild swings during the market plunge. On Thursday, News Corp. was up nearly 17% to $16.59. On Wednesday, the company announced strong fourth quarter earnings and forecast a strong 2012, which appeared to mean more to analysts than the company's highly publicized involvement in the phone hacking scandal at its British tabloid News of the World. The company also boosted its dividend. The scandal has contributed to a sharp drop in News Corp. shares.
AMC Networks was up more than 13% to $34.31 as it announced earnings for the first time since being spun off from Cablevision Systems. Cablevision Systems, hard hit since its earnings disappointed analysts earlier this week, was up almost 10% to $18.47.
Also showing healthy gains were Viacom, up nearly 8% to $46.23; CBS, up almost 7% to $24.66; Discovery Communications, up close to 6% to $38.18; and Scripps Networks, up more than 5% to $42.15.
