OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Former President Donald Trump has lit into Fox News, one of his former favorite networks, and said that CNN should start promoting conservative news.
“Fox News is no longer Fox News,” the former president said in a Truth Social post, Mediaite reported.
“CNN should go Conservative and take over the greatest, strongest, and most powerful base in U.S. history,” he said. “Nobody is watching CNN’s Fake News now so, as I say, what the hells have they got to lose? Sadly, they’re too stupid to make the change.”
But as it stands Fox News continues to smash ratings records as anchor Sean Hannity is now the longest-running prime-time cable news host.
“Fox News’ lowest-rated show in the advertiser-coveted 25-54 age demographic nearly doubled MSNBC’s highest-rated show in the demo on Tuesday,” Mediaite reported. “Fox News not only swept the demo across all time slots, its lowest-rated show still outperformed CNN and MSNBC’s highest-rated program by a wide margin. Fox’s America Reports at 2 p.m. was its lowest performer in the demo, bringing in 221,000 viewers.”
“CNN’s top-rated show in the demo, meanwhile, was Erin Burnett’s OutFront — bringing in 147,000 demo viewers. MSNBC’s top-rated show was its 9 p.m. MSNBC Prime, which brought in 116,000 demo viewers, a little more than half of America Reports’ 221,000,” the report added.
As for the three cable news networks overall, below are the total day averages in total viewers and the 25-54 demo:
Total viewers:
CNN: 504,000
Fox News: 1.85 million
MSNBC: 759,000
25-54 Demo:
CNN: 105,000
Fox News: 297,000
MSNBC: 77,000
Here are the prime time averages — encompassing shows which air from 8-11 p.m. — in total viewers and the 25-54 demo.
Total viewers:
CNN: 577,000
Fox News: 2.68 million
MSNBC: 1.08 million
25-54 Demo:
CNN: 124,000
Fox News: 431,000
MSNBC: 105,000
And CNN’s streaming service, CNN+, failed in its first month and closed, sending former Fox News host Chris Wallace looking for a new place to work.
After investing $300 million in the failed streaming service, CNN+ shut down within 3 weeks of its launch date.
“Chris Wallace will get a second chance for his interview show after CNN+ was pulled off the air, with the series reportedly moving to HBO Max. Wallace’s show Who’s Talking To Chris Wallace will move to the HBO streaming service, where new owners Warner Bros. Discovery are focusing their cord-cutting investments,” the Daily Mail reported.
“Meanwhile, the fate of other talent recruited for CNN+ remains up in the air, including food-media star Roman, former NPR host Audie Cornish, ex-NBC News host Kasie Hunt, and sports commentators Jemele Hill and Rex Chapman. Monday marked the first official workday for new CNN boss Chris Licht, who suggested he will move the network away from opinion-led shows that have dominated over the last few years,” the report added.
Wallace, who abruptly left Fox News to join CNN’s new streaming service before it was doomed after just a few weeks, recently spoke about everything that has happened.
“I am going to be fine,” Wallace said during a panel discussion hosted by the Common Ground Committee. “I’m in good shape, whether it’s at CNN or someplace else.”
His show, “Who’s Talking to Chris Wallace?” aired four times a week since CNN Plus’s launch on March 29.
But Wallace said he was more concerned for the staff that helped him create it.
“I think you’re seeing a lot of the anchors at CNN Plus doing everything they can do to protect the people that were working on their team and to make sure they either get a safe landing at CNN or someplace else,” he said.
During a recent interview, Wallace spoke about leaving Fox News to join CNN+, which has been shut down after abysmal subscriber growth — or lack thereof.
“I’m fine with opinion: conservative opinion, liberal opinion,” he said of his decision to leave Fox News. “But when people start to question the truth — Who won the 2020 election? Was Jan. 6 an insurrection? — I found that unsustainable.”
Wallace then went after Fox News host Tucker Carlson, saying he was “so alarmed by Mr. Carlson’s documentary ‘Patriot Purge’ — which falsely suggested the Jan. 6 Capitol riot was a ‘false flag’ operation intended to demonize conservatives — that he complained directly to Fox News management.”
“Before, I found it was an environment in which I could do my job and feel good about my involvement at Fox,” he said. “And since November of 2020, that just became unsustainable, increasingly unsustainable as time went on.”
