The news stories cascade over the airwaves, flooding people’s minds with too much — too much bad news, too much frightening news, too much angry news. Donald Trump has inflicted so many knife wounds to people’s minds, that it is nearly too hard to keep up with him. Americans are weary, overwhelmed, and so tired of this president.
There are the coronavirus pandemic news articles, the crashing economy stories, the jailed immigrant ones, the murders of innocent Black men and women by white police, and now Putin’s bounties on the heads of American soldiers.
The bad news has been very good for CNN, according to The Associated Press (AP). It has had the best run for “any three-month period in the network’s 40-year history.”
People see the number of diagnosed COVID-19 cases bounce up to from 50,000 a day to 100,000 a day and counting. The deaths from this terrible disease are jarring: 75,000 dead then 100,000, and 130,000 and counting. On Wednesday, reports indicated that the going price on the head of an American Marine was up to $100,000, and the middle-man escaped to Russia leaving behind $500,000 in one of his many homes.
CNN was not alone. The Fox News Channel and MSNBC also set records in the period ending in June. Still, as the first cable news, CNN showed it could increase its audience exponentially in a strong upward swing. The cable channel has also noticed a strong upswing for its digital services.
For the past four years, Donald Trump and his supporters have continuously attacked CNN as the “fake news” and the “failing” network. Chair of the WarnerMedia News and Sports and CNN Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Jeff Zucker commented:
‘All of our research shows we are the most trusted name in news. Others may not believe that, others may scoff at that, the president of the United States makes fun ofit, but it’s true.’
CNN snared a 1.95 million person audience by featuring engaging well educated prime-time hosts, according to the Associated Post (AP). That was a 120 percent increase over the same three-month period one year ago.
According to the AP, Fox has routinely been at the top of the three most-watched cable networks For the total views-per-day:
‘CNN’s viewership was up 119% over 2019, Fox jumped by 48% and MSNBC by 34%.
Zucker continued:
We are a news organization that is built for this kind of time. The others in this space are political talk channels, and so even when they’re talking about these stories, they’re talking about the politics of the stories. We’re talking about the news of the stories.’
- CNN increased its audience of prime-time viewers to win in the two-decade leader’s race, Fox. Nielsen said Fox News’ audience was up “4.07 million, giving it a 43% increase.” MSNBC came in with an audience of “2.47 million, up 13 percent” from the same time period in 2019.
- Donald Trump has promoted Fox news shows and their hosts. MSNBC has the top-rated host, the woman whose show carries her name, The Rachel Maddow show.
MSNBC President Phil Griffin claimed that the orchestration of his network has resulted in “an unmatched level of smart, in-depth analysis:”
‘Our reporters are at the heart of the story, putting themselves in harm’s way every day. They’re doing a hell of a lot more than ‘political talk.’
CNN’a trifecta of top prime-time hosts has included: Anderson Cooper, Chris Cuomo (New York mayor’s brother), and Don Lemon. Media Consultant Andrew Heyward indicated that when politics dominates, that plays more closely to “the strength of Fox and MSNBC.”
Conversely, CNN has a broader appeal to draw from, and its coverage of racial stories and the pandemic has been invaluable.” In addition, The network’s “invaluable” large stable of staffers abroad, gives the network the edge:
‘CNN built its reputation on broad coverage of breaking news. More people are watching us than at any time in 40 years. The mere fact that there’s a handful of people left in Washington who can’t figure that out is not our problem.’
When the big news stories started breaking, CNN was able to assemble its top journalists and correspondents, such as Wolf Blitzer, to work the weekend.
Zucker said;
‘CNN simulcasts the CNN International network overnight in the U.S.’
He continued noting that the White House and Trump’s Twitter followers’ challenges about CNN were wrong. Case closed.
The Pew Research Center poll identified some potential CNN problems. The company’s emphasis on opinion during prime time., for example. The results found 33 percent of the viewers were Republicans who did not trust CNN. The number shot up to 58 percent last November.
Zucker note that CNN’s own research indicated that viewers returned these past three months. an increased level of mistrust was the result of Trump’s attacks. The ratings of the past three months proved the viewers return home to CNN:
‘[V]iewers still return to CNN when there is important news. There are no red flags.’
Featured image is a screenshot via YouTube.
The Mueller Report Adventures: In Bite-Sizes on this Facebook page. These quick, two-minute reads interpret the report in normal English for busy people. Mueller Bite-Sizes uncovers what is essentially a compelling spy mystery. Interestingly enough, Mueller Bite-Sizes can be read in any order.
