CNN, MSNBC Fear Network Ratings Will Crater Without President Trump in Office

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Dec 15, 2020

As CNN and MSNBC prepare for a political era without Donald Trump as president, employees of the networks are concerned about the future and tenability of their business model. Both channels attained viewership ratings they had never reached before during Trump’s presidency, with liberals tuning into the cable news channels in pursuit of a predictable stream of content that reinforced their own biases and preexisting beliefs about Donald Trump and conservatives.

The New York Times cites a dozen on-air personalities of the corporate news networks, all of whom believe that their channels will suffer a dip in ratings in 2021 without President Trump.

Longtime CNN executive Jeff Zucker is also considering exiting the network, citing management conflicts with figures associated with CNN’s parent company, Warner Media.

In private network meetings hashing out a plan for the network without Trump, one MSNBC on-air personality suggested the network’s viewers would no longer care or need the channel. “What happens when you don’t need us?” CNN became the highest rated cable news channel for the month of November in the first time in its history, eclipsing Fox News through a stroke of luck only when Fox alienated a large portion of its viewer base by prematurely calling states like Arizona and the election for Joe Biden.

Liberal mainstream media channels have faced serious threats to their business model before, with CNN and MSNBC struggling to stay afloat and avoid layoffs during Barack Obama’s second term. In spite of constant editorializing against President Trump, the corporate news outlets are loathe to criticize Joe Biden and Democrats, as indicated by their recent refusal to cover stories surrounding Hunter Biden’s laptop and the evidence of Biden family corruption it contained.

It ranges from possible to likely that the average CNN or MSNBC segment in 2022 is still fixated upon personal grievances against President Trump, who may already be running in the 2024 election at that point. Coverage of Biden administration corruption, poor governance, and Mr. Biden’s enduring pattern of severe cognitive decline will largely be left to alternative media organizations.

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