If it's a day of the week ending in "y" Donald Trump has had one of his wee hours epiphanies and has tweeted out his usual blast of policy and piffle into the virtual firmament. Yesterday he posted the following at 5:30 a.m. which was responded to by CNN twenty minutes later:
Donald J. Trump ✔ @realDonaldTrump Fake News CNN is looking at big management changes now that they got caught falsely pushing their phony Russian stories. Ratings way down!
CNN Communications ✔ @CNNPR @realDonaldTrump CNN just posted it's most-watched second quarter in history. Those are the facts.
Ouch. A little early for facts at that hour. Here are some more facts from PoliticusUSA:
“In weekday prime, MSNBC beat CNN in total viewers for the 5th straight quarter and ranked #2 among all cable networks. MSNBC prime finished the quarter with 2.1 million viewers, a record for MSNBC and besting CNN’s highest quarter ever -1.9 million viewers in 4Q08. This is MSNBC’s highest cable news universe share ever and the 1st time it delivered more than 2 million viewers. MSNBC has added more viewers in weekday prime than any other cable network in the past year – 1 million, nearly tripling the #2 network in growth – FOX News.”
This could be called a Trump Effect. As the President has cozied up to Fox News while his administration is mired in the Russia scandal, MSNBC has delivered news based coverage with a primetime lineup that has focused on the many scandals of the current White House. The MSNBC growth can also be viewed as part of the public backlash against the Trump administration. Trump’s victory energized a part of the country that had been disengaged since President Obama won reelection in 2012.
Americans want their country back, and they are turning on MSNBC to get informed about what’s going on.
Wouldn't that be nice if it was true? In any event it's an encouraging sign that MSNBC is picking up more speed against Fox and that CNN had such a good second quarter. One thing is certain, ratings go hand in glove with advertising revenue and if Fox is flailing like a fish tossed on the shore it won't be able to charge the same amount of money to its advertisers. If it gets to the point where Trump is toxic enough to affect the bottom line at Fox, changes will be made. What changes and when remain to be seen. After all, there's no business like show business. Donald Trump is a has been in the making.