I'm one of the 51+ million viewers of the presidential debate on 6/27/24 and despite a lot of "hair…read moreon fire" talking head apocalyptic predictions about CNN's hosting, in my humble opinion, it went pretty okay. Nothing political to say here, just that I thought is was done in a fairly respectful and without heavy bias. I started watching CNN from their very beginning, yes that long ago, but this isn't about me or political nonsense, this page is about CNN so here goes.
CNN (Cable News Network) The cable news organization that has been providing continuous 24-hour news coverage since its inception. Founded by media mogul Ted Turner, the network has evolved significantly over the years, in my opinion, not for the better unfortunately.
CNN began broadcasting on June 1, 1980, as the first all-news television channel in the US. Its initial headquarters were in Atlanta, with a staff of around 300 employees. Since then, CNN has grown exponentially, expanding its presence and now has approximately 4,000 employees worldwide. It's now owned by CNN Global, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. Turner Broadcasting System initially owned CNN until it merged with Time Warner in 1996. After several structural changes and the acquisition of Time Warner by AT&T in 2018, Warner Bros. Discovery became CNN's parent company in 2022.
Let's talk ratings, CNN has touted maintaining a steady viewership with an average of around 1 million viewers daily. However, ratings fluctuate depending on the current events and political climate. Overall in a recent month stack up of the big three cable news channels it looked like this in prime time:
Total Viewers:
Fox News 2,262,000
MSNBC 1,165,000
CNN 587,000
But wait, there's more, CNN, which proclaims itself as "the most trusted name in news," drew just 83,000 viewers aged 25 to 54 during the week of May 13-19 from 8 to 11 p.m. -- its lowest-rated week since 1991, according to Nielsen. Rut Roh
Aside for arguably being a major catalyst for the "fake news" moniker, and making some really pour leadership and host choices it's not all their fault thanks to social media and a younger audience for news. Don't take my word for it, CNN actually posted a story, on their website, that according to the Nielsen Company in May 2024, that they maintain the youngest audience in cable in May with a median age of 67 years, 4 years younger than MSNBC (71) and 3 years younger than Fox News. Yikes!!! As for social media, Tucker Carlson, who was fired by Fox News, where his average show numbers were around 3 million, but on only his second episode of 8pm news on X, formerly Twitter, had over 54 million views. So yeah, in my opinion, age and social media is killing cable news in general.
Bottom line: It's not the same as those screens we used to watch at airports, bars, casinos, etc. especially since CNN Airport Network shut down nationwide at the end of March 2022, ending that 30-year run. The demise if cable news has been predicted for years but I reference a Politico article "Old People Love Cable News -- and They Vote" stating that the predictions of cable news' demise are dead wrong. We'll see.