Tag: Fox News

Gov. Cuomo refuses to come on State of the Union with Jake Tapper

by Allan, posted in CNN

CNN anchor Jake Tapper said on Sunday’s State of the Union program that he has requested an interview with embattled New York Governor Andrew Cuomo dozens of times over the past year, in addition to this week — all of which the Governor has refused.

Janice Dean, a Fox News meteorologist whose in-laws died as a result of Gov. Cuomo’s executive order, praised Tapper. “While it’s easy to get angry at other networks for not taking [Cuomo] to task early on during the nursing home tragedy, there are some that DID report on his deadly executive order and his incredible arrogance. [Tapper] is one of them.”

Dean added, “While I cannot say the same for many of his other colleagues, [Tapper] has reported fairly and without fear or fluff when it comes to covering [Cuomo].”

The Cuomo administration withheld the information from state lawmakers over the summer because it was worried federal prosecutors would “use it against us,” according to a top aide for Gov. Cuomo, the New York Post reported this week.

As I repeatedly documented at the time, Gov. Cuomo preferred the safe space on CNN — his brother Chris Cuomo’s nightly program, Cuomo Prime Time.

Zucker declares: “We are the most trusted name in news”

by Allan, posted in CNN, Ratings

zuckerCNN just enjoyed a record-breaking second quarter, the highest ratings period CNN has ever seen. CNN’s audience increased at a higher pace than its rivals, and it is also seeing strong numbers for its digital operation.

CNN’s weekday primetime audience of 1.95 million was up 120% over the same period last year, according to Nielsen. Fox News, which has led in the ratings, had an average of 4.07 million viewers, a 43% increase, while MSNBC’s count of 2.47 million was up 13% from 2019.

“We are a news organization that is built for this kind of time,” CNN president Jeff Zucker said to the Associated Press. “The others in this space are political talk channels, and so even when they’re talking about these stories, they’re talking about the politics of the stories. We’re talking about the news of the stories.”

“All of our research shows we are the most trusted name in news. Others may not believe that, others may scoff at that, the president of the United States makes fun of it, but it’s true.”

Zucker concluded, “More people are watching us than at any time in 40 years. The mere fact that there’s a handful of people left in Washington who can’t figure that out is not our problem.”

MSNBC president Phil Griffin didn’t like Zucker’s jab at him doing “political talk”: “[Our reporters are] doing a hell of a lot more than ‘political talk.'”

CNN was first place in the demo for a week straight

by Allan, posted in CNN, Ratings

cnn-anchors primetimeAfter celebrating CNN’s best May ever, CNN had another reason to celebrate. For the first time in 19 years, CNN achieved a remarkable ratings victory: for 7 days in a row, the network was first in the coveted 25-54 demographic across both total day and primetime viewers. According to Nielsen, CNN placed first with 475,000 daytime viewers in the demo and 837,000 in the demo in primetime. (In comparison, Fox News’ daytime ratings in the demo came in a distant second with 278,000, beating out MSNBC’s 245,000. In primetime, Fox News made the ratings race much closer, posting 760,000 viewers, while MSNBC came in far behind with 426,000, reports Mediaite).

“The last time this happened for CNN was October 2001, during the post-9/11 news cycle,” TheWrap notes of CNN’s high ratings. Furthermore, on Monday, “CNN hit its primetime demo high for the week, as did the other two cable news channels. CNN reported 1,560,000 average viewers.”

On Thursday, Cuomo Prime Time, which has consistently been CNN’s number one program overall, “took the cable news nightly title with 908,000 viewers in the demo, beating Fox News’ Hannity by 113,000 viewers,” Mediaite notes (despite President Trump attacking Cuomo’s show and saying how poor its ratings are). The program airing after his, CNN Tonight, also scored a ratings win Thursday with 832,000 viewers, defeating Fox’s The Ingraham Angle‘s 711,000. Although CNN still continued its primetime ratings win averaged, Anderson Cooper’s 8pm program AC360 came in second place to Tucker Carlson Tonight 773,000 viewers to Cooper’s 769,000.

Perhaps President Trump is wrong — maybe CNN isn’t, as he claimed, “DYING”, after all . . .

CNN is focusing on “what’s not important,” insider tells FOX

by Allan, posted in CNN

While criticizing CNN for its editorial decision to not cover former V.P. Joe Biden’s “you ain’t black” comments until the 7pm hour of Erin Burnett OutFront, FOX News spoke with a CNN insider who complains the network is focusing on “what’s not important” — such as President Trump not wearing a mask at the Ford plant in front of the press — and not focusing on what’s important, in this CNNer’s view, of Governor Andrew Cuomo’s nursing home situation in New York.

In this space, I have long-documented the ridiculous time Chris Cuomo has spent chatting it up with his brother, Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D-NY), on Cuomo Prime Time (with his most recent antics including the CNN anchor pulling out a life-sized cotton swab).

“I don’t know why they focus on things like [Trump not wearing a mask] when there are certainly more important things to focus on,” the CNN source told FOX, referencing Gov. Cuomo’s nursing home situation.

No, CNN didn’t remove the 1993 Larry King video with Biden accuser Tara Reade’s mother

by Allan, posted in CNN

Despite the conspiracy circulating on right-wing Twitter, and featured prominently on Fox News and boosted by President Trump’s son, Trump Jr., CNN did not spike the video of former host Larry King apparently talking to Tara Reade’s mother, who would later accuse Joe Biden on sexual assault.

“Yes, hello. I’m wondering what a staffer would do besides go to the press in Washington?” Reade’s mother asked. “My daughter has just left there after working for a prominent senator, and could not get through with her problems at all, and the only thing she could have done was go to the press, and she chose not to do it out of respect for him.”

King followed up: “In other words, she had a story to tell but out of respect for the person she worked for, she didn’t tell it?”

And then the tweet circulated. “CNN removed the August 11, 1993 Larry King Episode from Google Play, the episode featuring a call from Tara Reade’s mother. CNN is actively colluding with the Biden campaign to cover up evidence of Biden’s sexual assault.”

Of course, CNN has no control, and indeed, no licensing relationship, with Google Play at all, and the video and story was still accessible on CNN.com.

One of CNN’s top spokesmen, Matt Dornic, threw ice-cold water on that theory pretty quickly. Responding on Twitter, he said, “This is B.S. CNN didn’t remove anything. We do not have a [distribution] deal for LKL w/ Google Play. Listings on the site are not sourced thru CNN. Click any episode, it will say ‘not available to watch.'”

CNN begins August with weekly cable primetime victory

by Allan, posted in Ratings

According to Nielsen ratings, “CNN rode its coverage of the Democratic Presidential Debates to a first place finish on the cable primetime ratings chart during the first week of August,” reports Broadcasting Cable.

CNN averaged 3.2 million viewers during the week of July 29 to Aug. 4 to top all cable networks; CNN had its two-night coverage of the Democratic debates, with its July 30 and July 31 debates averaging nearly 19 million viewers combined, said Nielsen.

FOX News finished second for the week with 2.5 million viewers, with MSNBC finishing in a third-place tie with Discovery Channel and HGTV with 1.2 million viewers.

CNN’s Debate Draw did not draw the viewers

by Allan, posted in CNN, Ratings

Last night on a special edition of Anderson Cooper 360, three CNN anchors drew names out of a box — to see which Democratic presidential candidates would appear on what day in the Detroit Democratic debate, on July 30 and 31, to be moderated by CNN’s Don Lemon, Dana Bash, and Jake Tapper.

The drawers, Brianna Keilar, Victor Blackwell, and Ana Cabrera pulled the names from the box while reciting their most prestigious titles, and then tossed to Wolf Blitzer for a recap of the draw — who in turn tossed to Anderson Cooper to analyze, alongside a panel of CNN talent and contributors: John King, Gloria Borger, David Axelrod, Van Jones, Jess McIntosh, Jennifer Granholm, and David Chalian.

But the ‘draw’ didn’t draw eyeballs.

According to Forbes, the special broadcast “drew 1.031 million total viewers, finishing in third place behind Fox News (Tucker Carlson Tonight had the highest ratings of the night with a total audience of 3.232 million viewers) and MSNBC (1.658 million viewers).”

In the key demo, CNN finished third again with 223,000 viewers, behind MSNBC 239,000 and Fox News 497,000.

Former Fox reporter Conor Powell freelances with CNN

by Allan, posted in CNN

Former Fox News foreign correspondent Conor Powell is freelancing with CNN — working for CNN Newsource primarily, CNN’s affiliate news service.

Powell was with Fox for nine years. He left the network almost a year ago, saying at the time, “Those of you who have spoken to me in recent months, you will understand why I am leaving FNC. To my many friends at the channel I wish you the best of luck.”

A source at the time told TheWrap he left because he was “uncomfortable with the direction of the news organization in recent months. Fewer news shows. More opinion shows. Less resources for reporters to report.”

Powell is out covering Tropical Storm Barry for CNN’s affiliates.