CNN rebuked and even scolded critics of a Donald Trump town hall that aired on May 10.
Town Hall initially gave CNN a rare primetime victory, with 3.3 million viewers tuning in, making it number one in the ratings among other cable news networks. But just two days later, primetime viewership plummeted, relegating CNN to fourth place behind shoestring-budget right-wing outlet Newsmax.
During Friday primetime, CNN brought in a disappointing average total of 335,000 viewers, according to Nielsen Live Plus same-day data. Newsmax easily beat it with an average of 357,000 total viewers. Both networks were well behind MSNBC’s total primetime viewership of 1.1 million and Fox News Channel’s total viewership of 1.4 million.
CNN regained its lead over Newsmax in the key cable news demographic among adults 25–54, however, with CNN bringing in 87,000 viewers in the demo, while Newsmax drew 45,000 viewers in the demo. CNN was well short of MSNBC’s demo audience of 98,000, while Fox News outpaced cable news channels with an average of 109,000 viewers in the demo.
The trend continued through the cable news channel’s hourly programming, with Newsmax garnering higher total viewership for each hour than CNN, although CNN beat Newsmax in the demo for each time slot. The largest hourly difference was at 9 p.m., when CNN’s “The Whole Story with Anderson Cooper” received 293,000 total viewers, while Newsmax’s “Chris Plante the Right Squad” received 325,000. In contrast, in the same 9 p.m. timeslot, CNN scored 85,000 viewers in the demo, while Newsmax brought in 35,000 viewers in the demo.
Backlash at the townhall began even when it aired, as critics noted how, with very few exceptions, moderator (and former Tucker Carlson employee) Kaitlan Collins accused Trump of lying, repeatedly, about abortion. and even e. allowed to discredit Jean Carroll. A day later she successfully sued him for sexual harassment and, yes, defamation,
After it ended, several prominent media commentators and reporters called for CEO Chris Licht to resign over the debacle, and there were several reports that there was backlash among CNN employees as well. But CNN responded with what can only be described as increasing smugness and irritability.
Three hours after the town hall ended—long after it became clear that its overwhelming response was harsh criticism—CNN issued a statement insisting that Collins had been “tough, fair and revealing” and that the incident An example of the network’s “responsibility” was “Hold the mighty to account.”
It naturally failed to placate critics, including CNN; Media reporter, Oliver Darcy, published a scathing assessment 15 minutes after the network sent out the statement.
The next morning, in a meeting with staff, Licht asserted, “I believe quite frankly that America was served very well by what we did last night.”
That too failed to quell the backlash, so on Thursday night, CNN’s primetime star Anderson Cooper made remarks that essentially accused those who objected to the town hall of being narrow-minded. This earned her the label of the “gaslighting rant” by critics, along with unfounded speculation that she made these comments on orders from network executives.
It was later reported that Leach had personally reprimanded Darcy for his criticism, going so far as to downplay it as “sentimental”.
