The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

Obligatory CNN Mention

Posted on | February 25, 2023 | 1 Comment

Last week on The Other Podcast, I lamented that my co-host John Hoge didn’t have time to get us a sound bite of the Paw Patrol theme song to play during our segment about the neverending woes at CNN (whose programming gets lower ratings than the Nickelodeon kiddie cartoon). A few recent headlines should suffice to convey the situation:

CNN is in a hole and they keep digging themselves deeper. This week, Don Lemon returned after a three-day absence:

Don Lemon’s three-day hiatus from “CNN This Morning” resulted in a 5% increase in viewership for the struggling cable news show, which was thrown into turmoil by the co-host’s sexist remarks about GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley last week.
Viewership of “CNN This Morning” reached a total of 617,000 households on Feb. 17 — the first day of Lemon’s absence. The next day, viewership reached 678,000 total households during the three-hour block this past Monday, according to data provided by Samba TV, the analytics firm that provides real-time data on audience measurement for streaming services.
“CNN This Morning” attracted an even larger audience on Tuesday, when it drew 709,000 households, according to Samba TV. Lemon returned on Wednesday. . . .
“Average viewership the two days following his comments was up 5% compared to the average daily viewership the week before,” [Dallas Lawrence, a senior vice president at Samba TV] said.
“In fact, two out of the three most-watched days in the past eight analyzed were the days in which Lemon was absent.” . . .
A chastened Lemon returned to the airwaves on Wednesday morning. Before taking his seat alongside co-host Poppy Harlow, Lemon posted an apology on Twitter.
“I appreciate the opportunity to be back on @CNNThisMorning today,” he wrote amid calls for him to have been fired.
“To my network, my colleagues and our incredible audience — I’m sorry.”
“I’ve heard you, I’m learning from you, and I’m committed to doing better. See you soon,” he wrote.
During Wednesday’s return, Lemon never made mention of the controversy on air.
Lemon sparked outrage during the Feb. 16 broadcast of “CNN This Morning” when he told Harlow and fellow co-host Kaitlan Collins that the 51-year-old Haley was “not in her prime.”
The remark prompted Harlow, 40, to storm off the set in disgust.

What I liked best was that part about “our incredible audience” — “incredible” meaning unbelievable, because how is it possible that a supposedly important news network could have so few viewers?

At any rate, I’ve given John sufficient warning to get that sound bite ready, so tune in at 7 p.m. ET tonight for The Other Podcast.

Paw Patrol, Paw Patrol, whenever you’re in trouble!
Paw Patrol, Paw Patrol, we’ll be there on the double!
No job’s too big, no pup’s too small.
Paw Patrol, we’re on the roll!



 

 

Category: CNN

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One Response to “Obligatory CNN Mention”

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