Although CNN’s ratings have been on the decline, they reached a new level of descent after it became obvious from the Mueller report that there was no evidence of collusion between President Trump and Russia during the 2016 election.
The news network has attempted to regain some traction by promoting various boycotts against Fox News, but to no avail. Their rating numbers are bad — really bad.
Recent ratings numbers have just been released, and according to figures from Nielson Media Research:
“CNN had its lowest primetime weekly ratings overall and in the key age demographic last week. From April 8-12, the network only averaged an audience of 690,000 people and 180,000 in the key 25-54 age demographic. Their coverage last week included three presidential town halls with New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee and Former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro.”
The week should have been a hit for the network. However, even with the many noteworthy specials, they only managed to net 690,000 viewers. To put this number in perspective, there are some blogs that get more eyes on them than that on a given weeknight.
According to the researchers, the following is a breakdown of what networks did best viewership wise during the week:
“The top networks for primetime viewership last week were led by Fox News, followed by MSNBC, The Home And Garden TV, USA Network and TBS Network. CNN finished 15th place behind networks like Discovery Channel, Food Network, TLC and A&E Network.”
Many of the networks listed have already ended their biggest shows for the season as well, and are heading into summer reruns. This means they are beating CNN with reruns at a time when CNN should be pulling in late breaking coverage, and specials including getting the Mueller report.
The question that begs to be asked is can CNN keep paying hosts like Anderson Cooper and Chris Cuomo millions of dollars when they are not getting any more viewers than a rerun of 90 Day Fiance’? In many ways, they are almost monopoly when it comes to international cable news — or at least they were…
What is happening to CNN is an example of how a once powerful network can quickly fall when they spout narratives that are easily disproven. When the Mueller report came out and revealed that there was in fact no evidence of collusion between President Trump and Russia, which is directly opposite what CNN had been claiming, that makes it hard to maintain credibility. Also, President Trump has done a pretty good job of exposing what he calls the “fake news” who frequently spin issues to make Trump look as bad as possible.
The way in which people get their news has changed greatly. Now, many access social media or online platforms to learn the latest about what’s going on in the world. It is just not as common as it was in years past for families to sit around and watch the nightly news. That fact might also have something to do with the decline of viewers CNN is experiencing.
However, when Fox News and MSNBC are both still doing well, it’s clear CNN is doing something wrong. The network would do well to refrain from slandering innocent teenagers, assuming hate crime hoaxes are facts before a shred of evidence is presented, or constantly pushing a narrative to pander to a base.
~ Liberty Planet
