CNN, the original 24-hour news channel and once the gold standard has fallen on hard times of late.
They lived off of Trump-deranged viewers and now debunked conspiracy theories like the Russia collusion hoax during the campaign of Hillary Clinton (right) against Donald Trump and Covid hysteria during the first Trump administration, but those viewers don't seem to be returning.
Bill D'Agostino of Media Research Center says they've been hemorrhaging cash as well as viewers lately.
“They're down at least $5 million and a bit of dignity. Now they're also down about 6% of their total workforce, as it turns out. New layoffs are coming out.
He says it doesn't help that its star anchors and reporters are making millions of dollars. The network risks losing recognizable faces if it makes adjustments.
“I think that some of their on-air talent might actually head for the door if they start cutting their salaries.
D'Agostino says part of the problem is that the level of Trump Derangement Syndrome has dropped considerably over the last four years, but part of it is the changing landscape of broadcast news. Younger Americans in particular are getting most of their news through social media, and the demand for traditional cable news is dropping.
“They're trying to ‘modernize.’ A lot of these cable and broadcast outlets are basically realizing, if our audience for that product is shrinking dramatically then we can't be pouring the same resources in them that we have.”
CNN says it will be launching a digital streaming channel, but D'Agostino's not sure where the viewers will come from.
“With CNN and MSNBC basically vying for each other's audiences at all times, if one of them starts charging people money for this online streaming the other ones like, 'yeah, you can still get it for free,' then you're basically just going to hemorrhage viewers.”
