Primetime TV ratings for the top cable news stations are out, and they're not good for left-leaning networks.
The latest Nielsen ratings show CNN has lost almost 70% of its viewers since January, when former President Donald Trump left office. MSNBC lost the second most viewers, down 49%.
“They’ve run for about five years now as part of the Trump resistance, and now that Trump is no longer leading the news agenda, there’s not much for CNN to talk about, or MSNBC to get crazy about,” Media critic and DePauw University Professor Jeff McCall said.
McCall says both networks are going all out in the coverage of a New York City criminal investigation into the Trump Organization. However, he doesn’t believe that will generate enough hype to rescue their ratings.
“Even if they do want to cover the investigations into the Trump organization, it’s not that big of a deal, and he’s not in power. So even if they do go forward with grand jury investigations, we’re kind of beating a dead horse so to speak,” McCall explained.
The other problem for the networks, McCall says, is that the Biden administration doesn't make a lot of news. He says President Biden himself is missing in action a good part of the time.
Ironically, the networks that hate the former president the most, could use more Trump political rallies.