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Desperation is setting in for executives at CNN’s parent company.
The liberal television network is projected to profit $950 million this year, which falls short of its $1.1 billion goal.
This will be CNN’s lowest yearly profit in years, prior to the network “reinventing itself with 24/7 criticism of Trump in 2016,” Western Journal notes.
CNN has averaged a primetime viewership of 639,000 this quarter. This is a 27 percent decrease from a year ago.
MSNBC has also seen a decline in viewership by 23 percent, but remains ahead of CNN.
Predictably, Fox News dominates both CNN and MSNBC with an increase in its primetime viewership. Unlike CNN and MSNBC, Fox News isn’t afraid to criticize Joe Biden and the Democrats who have destroyed the U.S. economy.
More on this story via Western Journal:
Executives of the media company Discovery have sought to set a new course for CNN after merging with the network’s former parent company, WarnerMedia, earlier this year.
Warner Bros. Discovery management wanted CNN to eschew the network’s “red-hot liberal opining” and instead focus on hard news, Axios reported in February.
Some of the network’s most partisan commentators, such as Brian Stelter and Jim Acosta, are on shaky ground, according to a report in June.
Chris Licht, an experienced television news executive appointed as CNN’s chairman after the departure of Jeff Zucker, has faced questions about his long-term plans for the network.
Some of Licht’s advisers have suggested that CNN sell sponsorships to tech corporations and other advertisers, potentially jeopardizing the network’s claims of editorial independence free of corporate influences, the Times reported.
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CNN also is considering expanding its operations in China, a country where freedom of speech is severely curtailed by the communist government.The collapse of failed streaming service CNN+ has taken a chunk out of the network’s profits. Some personalities the company hired for the service came at a significant expense.
