CNN Comes In Last
26 October 2009 7:46 pm by Taylor Marsh
The network that literally invented cable news just came in dead last in ratings, with MSNBC heading in the wrong direction too.
The official monthly numbers will be finalized at 4 p.m. Monday and will include results from Friday. CNN executives conceded that will not change the competitive standing for the month. CNN will still be last in prime time.
That means CNN’s programs were behind not only Fox News and MSNBC, but even its own sister network HLN (formerly Headline News.) That was the first time CNN had finished that poorly with its prime-time shows.
Anderson Cooper’s rising star has now been grounded, but when you think about Larry King, their morning show, which can’t hold a candle to “Morning Joe” even when you’re yelling at your screen, CNN also loses out, especially when Dylan Ratigan appears. By the time Wolf Blitzer shows up nobody cares.
Then there is Lou Dobbs, who CNN threw weight behind when he was squealing invectives about immigration. Will he or won’t he go to Fox? CNN doesn’t look like they could lose either way.
Then there’s new media, beating TV and traditional media to the punch. Look at what Huffington Post is doing, as well as Politico, though many progressives hate the coverage there, with the new media community making a huge difference, for which I add many stories no one else dares to cover.
But CNN’s rating’s collapse is really stunning. It used to be the cable show I watched all day, even when I had the others on mute. Now I spend a lot of time watching Al Jazeera English, which covers the world. When I click back over to MSNBC it’s kind of surreal. It’s as if the U.S. is the only country on planet earth.
