Trump Returns While CNN Burns
The media are having a very tough time with President Trump taking over. A prime example is CNN, which is slashing jobs like there is no tomorrow.
According to The Wall Street Journal:
CNN is laying off roughly 200 employees, or about 6% of its workforce, part of a plan Chief Executive Mark Thompson says will shift the cable TV brand’s emphasis toward digital growth and prepare it to launch a streaming service.
Who’s going to subscribe to that? As the guy who is a co-founder of a massive streaming service, DailyWire+, I’m just wondering who is going to be a paid subscriber for CNN’s streaming offering? Who wants to do that?
The Journal continues:
The changes at CNN are part of the organization’s continuing response “to profound and irreversible shifts in the way audiences in America and around the world consume news,” Thompson wrote in a memo to staff Thursday.
Viewership is down dramatically for pretty much all of the major cable networks. MSNBC’s viewership was down 62% from its peak in the fourth quarter of 2020. Fox News is down by 27%, but CNN was down 74% from its peak in quarter four of 2020.
CNN is trying to shift their various hosts around.
It’s like changing seats on the Titanic.
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According to the Journal:
“The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer” is moving to a new time slot, shifting from evenings to replace Jim Acosta’s 10 a.m. program. Audie Cornish will now host “CNN This Morning” at 6 a.m. Evening programming will kick off with two hours from Jake Tapper, followed by the existing lineup from Erin Burnett, Anderson Cooper, Kaitlan Collins and Abby Phillip.
Why are they having such trouble getting ratings with that stellar, unbelievable line-up? They have so many absolutely charismatic, trustworthy hosts in a row. How is it that they only have seven viewers? Why, it’s absolutely bewildering.
On Wednesday, CNN anchor and inveterate Trump opponent Jim Acosta said to Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN), “I was at the White House covering the first Trump administration when they had rioting outside of the White House. I mean, that was covered on CNN. This is not Fox. Congressman, you can‘t just spin a tale and pull the wool over people‘s eyes. This is CNN. This is the news. We are asking you to come on and tell the truth.”
“And that’s why more people are watching the Cartoon Network, SpongeBob reruns right now, Jim,” Burchett fired back, continuing, “Look, I left the White House during a riot. My life was threatened. My life has been threatened within the last few weeks, yet there‘s no coverage of that. And you all continue this, this narrative of attacking Trump. You just can‘t stand the fact that he won and that America spoke.”
Jim Acosta told CNN that they couldn’t ship him to the middle of the night; he might quit. CNN answered: Would you, though? What can we do to make you quit? Anything?
According to The New York Post:
Jim Acosta is threatening to quit CNN rather than accept a reassigned time slot that would see him move from late mornings to the graveyard shift, according to a report.
Acosta’s days at CNN may be numbered as the former White House correspondent known for his combative coverage of President Trump could be heading for the exits rather than accept a move that would see him broadcast a nightly show starting at midnight, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Another CNN staffer told Fox News Digital that Acosta was “getting hosed.”
I don’t think that’s the case. He doesn’t have massive ratings. His daily program, CNN Newsroom, is going to be scrapped. They are basically airing him when public-access cable is available.
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The Post continued:
If Acosta were to accept his reassignment, he could be broadcasting his show from Los Angeles, which would necessitate him and his family moving from their current home in Washington, DC, according to a network source. The source added that the East Coast is just “one slice of CNN’s global audience” and that the media outlet is “not an Acela corridor network.”
Oh, but it is. It actually is. CNN is only available on the Acela. CNN is available in airports and the Acela. Those are the only places.
No one has ever seen CNN anywhere else.
It’s a figment of our collective imaginations.