CNN's Ratings Have Cratered Since Trump Town Hall

[kpete]

Daily Beast: “Last week, the cable news pioneer suffered its lowest-rated week since June 2015, averaging just 429,000 total daily viewers from Monday-Friday.”

“CNN was also down double digits compared to the same week last year in both total viewership and in the key advertising demographic of viewers ages 25-54. MSNBC more than doubled CNN’s daily audience, drawing 976,000 total viewers, while Fox News averaged 1.4 million.”

https://politicalwire.com/2023/05/22/cnns-ratings-have-cratered-since-trump-town-hall/

[Demsrule86]

1. serves you right CNN.

[Comfortably_Numb]

2. I am doing my part....religiously. Not one damn minute on the Collaborators News Network.

[The Unmitigated Gall]

9. Won't even click a link.

[Comfortably_Numb]

13. Right there with you. Nothing. Nowhere. Anytime. Period. CNN is dead to me.

[Claustrum]

15. I used to watch their clips on youtube once in a while.

But I blocked CNN's channel a few days before TFG's town hall. I guess I wasn't alone in doing this.

[PortTack]

22. Me too!

[SouthernDem4ever]

47. Same here

Purposely pass right by it now.

[AmBlue]

70. Same

They are dead to me.

[B.See]

87. the CRAVEN NEWS NETWORK

They're dead to me too. Will NEVER cite them as a source, ever again.

[ShazzieB]

3. I laughed my head off when I saw the title of this post! 🤣

This is just great!

[Ocelot II]

4. Guess they kinda stepped in it with that TFG interview.

[Buns_of_Fire]

5. Sounds like Licht is doing a bang-up job over there. nt

[Sky Jewels]

6. CNN has become Licht-enstein--

a very small place with a very small population.

Heckuva job, Chrisie!

[moondust]

63. They sure Licht something.

[anciano]

7. Actions have consequences.

Just saying....

[Cha]

8. Such Good News! you mean the

magats aren't Flocking there like Vultures as Licht Hoped?!!

[Cosmocat]

72. Honestly, he never expected that to happen

He is getting paid a shit ton of money either way, and he isn't stupid enough to think that would happen.

What he is doing is blowing it up.

THAT was why he was put into the position.

To destroy what was generally viewed as the "neutral" outlet between MSNBC and Faux, to further poison the view of the media and journalism.

[ProfessorGAC]

79. By Whom?

The tens of thousands of shareholders that will lose equity value?
It is a myth that CNN is owned by RWNJs.
The single largest shareholders is a massive fund management (over $7 trillion managed) firm who has but one job, and that is to maximize returns to their investors. They have no interest in "burning it down". That would be bad business.
John Malone, former CEO of Discovery, holds a pinch under 1%. Yes, he's a radical right winger but, he controls nothing at Warner/Discovery.
Licht's job was not to destroy anything.
His promotion to this role was a big mistake.
Nothing more sinister than massive incompetence by a guy who wasn't good enough for the role.
His bosses at Warner-Discovery are learning a hard lesson that he was never the guy.

[Cosmocat]

83. "shareholders" don't hire

"Shareholders" at large don't hire.

The Board hires the CEO.

And, like us they knew full well what he was going to do, and knew what the impact would be.

Yes, they own shares, but these are the same ultra rich elites that got behind Trump, knowing he'd burn the country down.

Burning down the country is their end game.

[ProfessorGAC]

84. You Clearly Don't Understand ..

...the corporate structure at W-D.
Licht is the CEO of CNN, not of the corporation. The board does NOT hire a divisional CEO.
But, you stick with your erroneous view of the situation.

[Afrocat]

10. too bad

Last edited Thu May 25, 2023, 06:00 AM - Edit history (1)

They have been trying to cater to the right wing crowd while still attempting to actually be "news". The right doesn't want "news" they want propaganda and entertainment. They want fan fiction,scapegoats and manufactured outrage and reasons to be as openly vicious and violent as possible to those they hate. CNN will never be able to compete with the insanity of fox, oan or newsmax.

The only people that want news is those to the left of the GOP. This right wing swing CNN has done started to turn that demographic off. The "town hall" they did with orange dirt has finally turned off those still watching in hopes CNN would return to its roots of just giving us the news as it happens.

[Sky Jewels]

20. Good analysis.

[flying rabbit]

37. +2 nt

[samplegirl]

11. The pricks are

talking about Trump again tonight!
I had to change the channel quick. It’s just a platform for trump!

[Blue Owl]

12. Oh really?

[Sky Jewels]

21. CNN: Not spongeworthy anymore.

[Blue Owl]

28. Bwah!

Not even close!

[BigmanPigman]

14. But, do you think they learned their lesson?

Nope!!! I hope they go bankrupt. Boycotts work. I haven't watched them since I learned Licht was going the "both sides" BS route. I wonder if their advertisers are stepping back now? $$$$ and ratings is what drives most decisions.

[sarcasmo]

16. Good, hit them where it hurts.

[Skittles]

17. who would have known that catering to a traitor would cause them to crater

[BOSSHOG]

24. Oh Skittles

You got the first two lines, now finish the song. The material is endless. You could make it a love song, ya know. Or broken love. Or cheating love.

[Aristus]

30. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is what's known as

an ass-kicking!

[SouthernDem4ever]

49. At least E Jean Carrol might get some extra cash from it.

LOL

[barbtries]

18. i almost didn't click to rec the post

because that's how much i don't care WTF happens to cnn. the worst already did imo

[BlackSkimmer]

19. My CNN addicted friend stopped watching them. I couldn't believe it.

She seemed in mourning for about a week, but was already a fan of Rachel and Lawrence, so I think she’ll survive.

She was really NOT pleased at the town hall.

[helpisontheway]

48. My mom watched CNN every single night but stopped once they fired Cuomo

and moved Lemon to the morning show. Now she does not watch CNN at all.

[PXR-5]

23. Can't wait till the gold and catheter ads appear

LOL 😆

[NBachers]

60. The late-night Toe Fungus Q-List Actors' Marathon fundraiser will be a giddily-ridiculed low point.

[Sky Jewels]

77. and Tom Selleck for reverse mortgages.

[Joinfortmill]

25. Good.

[Takket]

26. Good. This is the only real weapon we have against horrible journalism and right win propaganda

turn off your TV and you turn off the ad revenue with it.

[ecstatic]

27. And it's all self inflicted

I know not everyone will agree, but for me: Strike 1 was firing Cuomo, Strike 2: Don Lemon was MIA for weeks and then was moved to mornings. Prior to that, someone I liked a lot was moved from 3pm to mornings. That didn't work for me. I can't even remember her name now, but I have to be in a certain mood to hear certain personalities. There really wasn't a strike 3. I just completely stopped watching CNN, even before they fired Lemon, which would have been strike 3 but now it's just a moot point.

[moonscape]

61. For me, cancelling Reliable Sources.

[progressoid]

29. I remember when right wingers would call CNN the Clinton News Network in the 90s

What a change.

[gratuitous]

31. People prefer the straight stuff to the watered-down imitation?

If only someone had warned CNN that putting a raving idiot on the air for a full hour the day after he got socked with a $5 million judgment might not be a ratings bonanza.

[summer_in_TX]

32. Christiane Amanpour gave quite the speech to Columbia School of

Journalism Class of 2023 students as she accepted the Columbia Journalism Award. For a CNN International journalist of many years to gracefully address the Trump Town Hall, Licht, and network failings yet uphold the importance of journalism so eloquently was brilliant.

[LoisB]

33. I used to go to their online site several times a day, no more.

[LiberalLovinLug]

34. They assumed they needed more right wing viewers

But I think there were still many moderates/left watching CNN. They do have some good hosts still.

All they did was turn off all those more liberal hanger ons, and didn't get any new MAGAts watching, who they will never trust no matter how they grovel to them with an hour long campaign lie-fest with his cult audience.

Such a bizzare move. If they wanted to do their civic duty then hold a town hall with an R candidate that didn't, you know, started an insurrection. Liz Cheney and Mitt Romney or another actual old school Republican would have been good, and a platform so that regular R voters can get a "moderate" R reasoning. And begin to help those moderates take back their party

[Renew Deal]

35. The Don Lemon impact?

[KatK]

36. I've stopped CNN 100%. No more listening, no more clicking. GREAT NEWS that others have too! n/t

[Initech]

41. I haven't watched any cable news in like 10 years.

Last edited Mon May 22, 2023, 10:21 PM - Edit history (1)

Don't miss it one bit, either!

[Tetrachloride]

45. my mother never had cable television. We did public television. the

television

One day a technical snafu and I stopped broadcast TV watching as well.

[Martin68]

38. Yeah!

[Initech]

39. That's the point - it was a deliberate political hit job.

Trump wants his revenge on CNN for the sexual harassment trial, and he got it. And this did what it was designed to do - sow trust in CNN and turn swing voters in favor of extremist online news sources. No doubt Steve Bannon was behind this. Fuck that guy.

[Hekate]

40. They've still got some quality people -- Fareed Zakaria & Christiane Amanpour are standouts.

There is such a thing as DVR and selective viewing, and we employ that

ETA: their decision to give Trump a free hour was horrible, horrible judgment — a sin against journalism. They deserve the cratering of their viewership, and I hope they continue to tank.

[SouthernDem4ever]

50. They should find a real news network

CNN has become Fake News.

[moonscape]

62. Same here with Fareed. I watch

Christiane’s show on PBS

[Hekate]

67. Exactly -- she's on PBS. Thumbs up.

[Hortensis]

75. :) Agree. We've been recording Zakaria and Amanpour for years.

She's also on CNN International at 1 p.m. ET. Used to watch Lemon in the evening sometimes.

But that's mostly been it for CNN since they so blatantly worked to elect tRump/Repubs and defeat Hillary/Democrats.

Same for MSNBC for the same reasons, though. They also work to elect Republicans while gathering a LW share of the market to influence and sell to advertisers. We record the 9 through 12 p.m. slots that have more powerful anchors and more sophisticated audiences who seemingly won't let them get away with as much as they can in the daytime, especially during election seasons.

[Grumpy Old Guy]

42. The worst news judgment ever.

I worked in TV news for forty years. I've never seen a worse judgment call, ever. CNN will never recover as long as Chris Licht is in charge. He has shown no remorse for his ineptitude.

[dalton99a]

43. No more links to CNN.

CNN should be treated like Fox News

[C Moon]

44. I used to go to CNN.com if there was some big news.

Not anymore.
And now I'll never go to their tv channel, either.

[Warpy]

46. It wasn't nearly this dramatic the last time they got stuck on stupid

As I recall, it was a slow death spiral that lasted several months before they realized if they needed to attract advertising dollars that they needed to go sane again.

This time, the miscalculation was staggering, offering absolutely the worst person an hour long infomercial presided over by a true believer. It wasn't a mere disaster, it was catastrophic.

I'm just wondering how much longer Chris Licht is going to be able to convince people to keep letting him do the wrong thing in the hopes that it will suddenly work the way he advertised it.

[BlueLucy]

52. It's not just CNN

It seems to be everything owned by Warner Brothers. CEO David Zaslav wants to take HBOmax and everything else on a hard right turn.


https://boundingintocomics.com/2022/08/25/now-former-hbo-max-execs-claim-david-zaslav-plans-to-move-warner-bros-discovery-away-from-producing-divisive-left-wing-content-there-was-just-a-massive-we-dont-need-you/




https://nofilmschool.com/lack-of-diversity-at-hbo

[Warpy]

68. I thought you were going to mention CBS News

Rather was set up so they could fire him, even though he'd done nothing wrong and had issued multiple disclaimers. They brought in Katie Couric and crowed about finally being the network with a woman anchoring the evening news, then saddled her with a rather chatty format and nightly guests, the first one being Rush LImbag. The clicks as America switched off probably souned like Chinese firecrackers around the first week of February.

So yes, this stuff has happened before, but CNN is the first news channel to do it twice.

It will be a year next month that my TV has sat silently gathering dust. If I do turn it on again, I suppose it will be for DVDs or movines online. I got disgusted with what passed for broadcast news 20 years ago and switched off. I have never been presented with a reason to turn any of it back on.

[BlueLucy]

85. I admire your ability to turn off the TV completely.

I wish I could but it's my only entertainment I get. I did stop watching CNN completely though. I still watch MSNBC but not much of them anymore either. I stay informed by reading here and a few other places I trust. When politics and world events get too stressful I take some time off and watch junk TV like crime shows, interesting trials, etc..

[Warpy]

88. You can be informed online

and it's even easier to nope out of a page than it is to turn the TV off.

DW, France 24, and Al Jazeera have English streaming. The latter features in depth stories you won't find anywhere else, stories we used to get on shows like 60 Minutes and Nightline. I do have a digital subscription to The Washington Post, and I read offshore papers in languages I can still understand. In Asia, papers are put out in English, like the Straits Times (Singapore) and The Seoul Times/Korea Times. I'm not reading as much as I used to, my vision is going tits up, but I know US broadcast news is the least informative out there.

Back in 2016, when the EC sleazed TFG into office and DU got hacked by the Russians, I watched disaster movies over on YouTube, the sillier the better, because those are always done from the POV of survivors. There's a lot of good material over there, and it's the main reason I don't miss TV.

[I_UndergroundPanther]

81. Fascists are buying up all the press

To destroy any notion a bought and owned corporate press was ever a free press

[BlueLucy]

86. Yes. Also, big public platforms like twitter. nt

[Whiskeytide]

51. Anyone else raising an eyebrow after a rich guy ...

… bought Twitter and disemboweled it, then a rich guy took over CNN and disemboweled it? I suspect that, all the way back to Newsweek, this has been part of the playbook. Discredit and destroy anything that gains media popularity and begins to make people think. CNN was once a pretty decent source of news and commentary.

[live love laugh]

66. BINGO‼️ It's so obvious. At least I am not alone.

Snuffing out the truth is their mission.

It’s very important to archive, document, etc. because information that used to be readily available on the internet is not. I just posted how the true ownership of mainstream media was easy to find on the internet ten years ago. Now it’s impossible — the same REPUBLICAN rich guys hide behind conglomerates and CEOs — the real owners’ identities are never revealed.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

53. That's a shame because they inadvertently performed

A service. All said and done... They showed what a nutcase he is and they motivated us to stop him.

[Doc Sportello]

56. So you're just learning what a nutcase he is?

And NOW we're notivated to stop him? Really? No. We knew what he is seven years ago and have been trying to stop him ever since he ran the first time. CNN only provided a service to him and it wasn't inadvertent. The real powers behind it are trying to change the narrative and in so doing normalize him and his ilk.

I thought all the "CNN did great by exposing him" crowd had figured out by now that is BS.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

73. Sure do wish there was a "just plain rude"

alert

Different perspective - The CNN event happened and we can't change that it happened. There are a wide variety of consequences to that occurrence - aside from the obvious. Some can see that beyond giving him a platform (he outwitted them)which is a done deal, some good can be recognized. To me, it's a re-motivation of a Democratic base. And that people are reminded of how dangerous he is - worst than ever.

[Doc Sportello]

74. It's not rude to point out the obvious

If you disagree, do a poll here. Ask how many here needed to be reminded of how awful dump is and that we need to be motivated to defeat him. I think you would be lonely over there in the "a great town hall" section because people are now aware of how dangerous dump is. You would get many responses that you would think of as rude.

You also conveniently ignore that the town hall may have actually served as a normalization for those on the fence. You think you are "seeing beyond". I think these positions are viewing with blinders on. But go ahead and alert if you like.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

76. Ya, there's a way to disagree and there's a way to

not act civil I suppose. You either get that or you don't

Did not know I was responsible for listing ALL the consequences - to me they have already been widely stipulated.

Many negatives. To CNN as a company. To CNN as a legitimate news source. To Kaitlin Collins as legitimate newsperson ( although trump knew he could over-talk her). (He didn't pull her WH press pass when he got rid of all the good journalists.) To MAGAts for reinforcing their own cause ( in their own mind only) . Spooky the way he has fully assimilated his nutty ideas. He doesn't even blink anymore.

But there are positives too. Reenergizing against crazy and reminding the masses how dangerous he is are two. Stoddard said basically the same thing - good wake up call for Dems as to how serious the situation is.

By the way, didn't the gap between trump and President Biden grow after event?

[BaronChocula]

54. Now they can do an interview

with the bones of P.W. Botha to try to get in with the defunct National Party of South Africa.

[flying_wahini]

55. Yeah funnel all the News into one Propaganda show running scripted shows back to back.

The people behind the scenes can say, direct attention and do anything necessary to keep the public off the trail. Repeating key phrases over and over without any real reasons or facts.
Worked at Faux news for decades.
Most certainly Bannon is a key figure behind it all.
Why is this man still breathing air? I wanna know.

[vlyons]

57. Ditto for me

I'm a loyal MSNBC watcher, and only with some of its programs

[budkin]

58. I hope Chris Licht gets his ass fired

But if he does they will replace him with someone WORSE, because John Malone and David Zaslav.

[jcgoldie]

59. Seems like... CNN made a play for fox news conservatives...

... and all they succeeded in doing was losing more liberal minded people to MSNBC.

[SleeplessinSoCal]

64. The Media Writ Large Controls the Message.

Not one brand is willing to speak forthrightly about the Fascism percolating in every region of the USA.

There is way too much money/power dished out to the talking heads.

https://www.thestreet.com/lifestyle/highest-paid-news-anchors-15062420

Not sure how reliable The Street is. But we know how powerful and unregulated the news media is.

Looked up and found this:
https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/thestreet/

[live love laugh]

65. And though convoluted, primary ownership is traceable to Republicans.

They will offer entertainment to generate revenue but journalism is all but dead. And they will try to hide their misdeeds by buying up social media which — despite its flaws — is still where truth can be found.

Ten years ago you could easily find information on the web about media ownership. That readily available information has been scrubbed. In its place is a chart that resembles a funhouse maze full of conglomerates not readily identifiable. Still, they lead to Republicans — the same ones who want a No Labels party and who don’t even identify their political affiliations in campaigns and ads.

[SleeplessinSoCal]

69. I vividly recall an old Mary Tyler Moore Show

...where the premise was about a competing station to WJM. They had the bigger budget and went for giddy news reporting and infotainment. It was definitely trending around 1974. And that's before cable news. It was the end of the Vietnam War. Cronkite was the most influential man in America and that wasn't acceptable to the media/military industrial complex.

[Emile]

71. That's what happens when you prop up a traitor!

[flying-skeleton]

78. Only thing that'll same CNN.....

Is a national calamity‼️

[I_UndergroundPanther]

80. We dont need another

Damn right wing network pretending to be news and if thats what they want,let cnn go into the dustbin of history.

[NotVeryImportant]

82. Good!