New CNN Boss Wants You to Trust Him

Firing Chris Cuomo helps, I guess...

Let’s take a look at some recent cable news ratings, shall we?

RoadMN 📈 @RoadMN

Cable News Demo Ranking JULY 2022 1⃣@TuckerCarlson 2⃣@DanaPerino @greggutfeld @JesseBWatters @JudgeJeanine @GeraldoRivera @JessicaTarlov @HaroldFordJr 3⃣@seanhannity 4⃣@jesseprimetime 5⃣@Gutfeldfox! 6⃣@IngrahamAngle 7⃣@BretBaier 8⃣@maddow 9⃣@OutnumberedFNC 🔟@AmericaNewsroom

Now, I’m not a ratings expert, or a math expert, or any other sort of expert. But I can’t help but notice that 15 of the top 16 shows in the 25-54 demographic are on the dreaded Fox News Channel. Maddow pops her head up at #8, and good for her. But CNN doesn’t enter the picture until #17. It looks to me like people just aren’t watching that channel. Younger people, at that. The ones advertisers are always targeting. For whatever reason, those folks just don’t trust CNN.

Things are looking pretty grim over there:

Ben Mullin @BenMullin

SCOOP — CNN is on pace to dip below $1 billion in profit for the first time since 2016 amid crashing ratings, sources say:

nytimes.comProfits Slump at CNN as Ratings PlummetThe network is on a pace to drop below $1 billion in profit for the first time in years, according to people familiar with its operations, amid steep declines in TV viewership.

It can’t help that CNN+ lasted about as long as a fart in a bathtub, and wasn’t nearly as satisfying.

But there’s good news!

Eliana Johnson @elianayjohnson

New: Behind the scenes of @CNN chief Chris Licht's overtures to GOP lawmakers. His message: "We want to win back your trust." They're skeptical -

freebeacon.comCNN Chief’s Republican Apology Tour - Washington Free BeaconCNN’s new CEO, Chris Licht, has been attending to an audience neglected by the network for the past several years: Republican lawmakers.

According to Eliana Johnson at the Washington Free Beacon, CNN CEO Chris Licht went to the Capitol last month and tried to get Republican legislators to talk to him. He promised to encourage CNN producers to invite Republicans on the air, and that they’d be treated fairly.

Here’s what one of them said about that:

“I think he does genuinely want that to happen,” one Republican lawmaker told the Washington Free Beacon. “Put aside ideology, I think he thinks CNN sucks.”

Sounds like Licht actually watches his own network, while everybody else at CNN is glued to Fox News.

Maybe Licht is sincere. Or maybe he’s just trying to save his phony-baloney job. Either way, why should Republicans go along with it? CNN has never been fond of the GOP, but for the past decade, the demonization has just been ridiculous. Why help the people who keep calling you a fascist for disagreeing with the Democratic Party?

It’s not as if CNN will help them get their message out. Nobody is watching anyway. Why should they help CNN get more viewers?

Let Brian Stelter fend for himself. It’ll be good for him. Sweating burns calories.