CNN’s ratings continue to fall after the network’s controversial interview with Donald Trump at the network’s town hall.
Last week, its first full week since the May 10th town hall, CNN experienced its lowest-rated week since June 2015, averaging just 429,000 total daily viewers Monday through Friday, according to ratings quoted by the Daily beast.
MSNBC had more than double the daily viewership, with 976,000, while Fox News had a daily audience of 1.4 million, despite a dip in viewership following the firing of host Tucker Carlson earlier this month.
Trump’s Town Hall on May 10 attracted 3.3 million viewers, making CNN the most-watched cable news network that night, according to Nielsen data. aftermath.
At the live event, Trump repeated falsehoods about the latest election to a cheering audience, angering critics, but CNN Chairman Chris Licht has defended City Hall as newsworthy and important.
Last week, the first full week since the May 10th town hall, CNN experienced its lowest rated week since June 2015, averaging just 429,000 total daily viewers Monday through Friday
Trump’s May 10 Town Hall drew 3.3 million viewers, but the network has been embroiled in controversy over the event and saw ratings drop in the aftermath
A CNN spokeswoman declined to comment, but pointed to ratings that showed that for the month through May 20, CNN reached its most unique viewers ages two and older (39.173 million) and in the key audience of 25-54 ( 10.529 million), faster than Fox. News (35.422 million P2+ and 7.950 million P25-54).
Fox News has struggled with its own ratings in the weeks since Carlson’s departure, and last week the network was down 41 percent from a year ago in its key age demo, and 24 percent fewer viewers.
The past three weeks have been Fox News’ lowest three weeks in total daily ratings in the main demo since prior to the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.
Many Fox News viewers appear to have fled the smaller right-wing channel Newsmax, which has seen a ratings surge in three weeks since Carlson’s firing, with viewership in the demo up 120 percent compared to the previous one. four weeks.
For both CNN and Fox, the damage appears to be greatest in primetime, and CNN has seen some of its primetime hours fall behind Newsmax since City Hall.
At CNN, the internal controversy over Trump’s town hall has spilled over to the public, with some of the network’s top personalities loudly criticizing the decision to interview Trump in front of an audience of his cheering fans.
Last week, veteran correspondent Christiane Amanpour became the most prominent CNN journalist to publicly criticize her network over the town hall.
On May 12, two days after town hall, CNN averaged 325,000 prime-time viewers, while Newsmax averaged 357,000 viewers.
Chris Licht, CNN’s new boss following the merger that created parent company Warner Bros Discovery, has defended City Hall
CNN’s ratings continue to fall after the network’s controversial interview with Donald Trump at the network’s town hall
Amanpour told a group of graduating students at Columbia University’s graduate school of journalism on Wednesday that she “would have dropped the mic” at “annoying person,” a reference to when Trump uttered that insult to moderator Kaitlan Collins.
She criticized CNN for hosting Trump at the New Hampshire live event where the 2024 presidential candidate repeated lies about the last election to a mostly adoring audience.
“I still respectfully disagree with allowing Donald Trump to appear in that particular format,” Amanpour said of the event.
Suggesting that live TV may not always be the right format for such events, Amanpour said: ‘Some of the very best and even most fiery, immersive interviews have in fact been recorded and edited, not to change the context or the content. or truth or intent, but editing for filibuster and a flood of misinformation.”
Citing the precedents of previous candidate debates or forums, CNN should have insisted “that our invitees behave as they are — no hooting, no shouting, no whooping, no cheering.”
Licht, CNN’s new boss following the merger that created parent company Warner Bros. Discovery, has defended City Hall.
In an internal conversation with CNN employees last week, Licht noted that people in the town hall audience represented much of America, according to the Associated Press.
“The mistake the media has made in the past is that they ignore that people exist,” he said. “Just like you can’t get around the fact that President Trump exists.”
Trump repeated an insult he often used on the 2016 campaign trail when he called interviewer Kaitlan Collins, the network’s new anchor at 9 p.m., “annoying”
Last week, veteran correspondent Christiane Amanpour became the most prominent CNN journalist to publicly criticize her network over the town hall
Last week, Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav said CNN plans to get more Republicans on the air as it seeks political diversity.
Zaslav said he and CNN chief Chris Licht have told Republicans “they won’t get a vote on Fox News anymore.”
“Our view is that there are advocacy networks on both sides,” Zaslav said at the SVB MoffettNathanson Technology, Media and Telecom Conference. We have the best journalists in the world. We have to show both sides of every issue.”
Advertisers “don’t want to be part of an advocacy network,” but they do want to be part of a news network, Zaslav said.