The backlash against CNN for their disastrous Town Hall, where they capitulated to obscene demands, has been tremendous. The demands included stacking the audience with sycophantic supporters and using a format to prevent fact-checking, which turned it into a mini-Trump rally. Yet selling out journalistic integrity should have at least meant a boon to CNN for ratings.
About that…
At a time when CNN has been struggling to turn around viewership decline, the telecast proved to be a ratings disappointment, with Nielsen reporting just 3.1 million viewers overall. That was a big boost over CNN’s typical 8 p.m. telecast, but a smaller audience than CNN’s town hall with President Biden last summer (3.7 million) and six previous Trump town halls carried by Fox News — calling into question both CNN and Trump’s drawing power.
--May 11, 2023, Washington Post
Ouch. CNN didn't even win the ratings for the day, when people tuned out after the debacle ended. The sad thing is that even though the audience was stacked with Republicans for Trump, many weren't happy with the performance. One Republican audience member at the Town Hall said many were “disgusted” and “bewildered” by the spectacle but were instucted by CNN staff not to boo—only applaud.
Bartlett claimed that, while many in the audience applauded and cheered the former president, “there were also people that sat there quietly disgusted or bewildered.” He estimated that while around half of the audience expressed vocal support for Trump, the other half sat in silence.
Bartlett also alleged that Trump repeatedly “lost the audience” when he spoke about topics like January 6 or the results of the 2020 election, despite the appearance on CNN that the audience was consistently on his side.
The real fallout, however, was the damage to the reputation of CNN. Even journalists on the network had to address the backlash. Despite a very condescending lecture from Anderson Cooper on why this Town Hall was a good idea, he had to include that yes, it was a fiasco.
Before we begin with tonight’s broadcast, I want to say something about what we witnessed at last night’s town hall. Many of you have expressed deep anger and disappointment. Many of you are upset that someone who attempted to destroy our democracy was invited to sit on a stage in front of a crowd of Republican voters to answer questions and predictably, continued to spew lie after lie after lie. And I get it. It was disturbing.
Recall that new CEO Chris Licht, who replaced Jeff Zucker last year, has been on a quixotic campaign to turn CNN into Fox-lite. When he took over, he immediately went to the Capitol building and begged Republican lawmakers to appear on CNN, promising he would make it more to their liking. This was another attempt to do so. It failed spectacularly. Platforming the GOP’s cult leader on CNN isn’t going to make his followers suddenly want to watch Anderson Cooper 360 or Poppy Harlow.
Instead of bringing in conservative viewers, it lost a ton of liberal viewers and potential guests who won’t be returning to CNN anytime soon. Conservatives didn’t even appreciate what Licht did. They dunked on CNN and have been hyping how Trump steamrolled the moderator. The WP article quoted CNN staffers who said the event should have been a taped interview where they could have fact-checked Trump’s barrage of lies. That way, you could have heard the Republican side but also upheld their supposed journalistic devotion to the truth.
CNN has always claimed to be the most “trusted name in news.” Despite Fox’s ratings, CNN could at least claim they were a real news network that held to a strong standard of journalistic ethics. Not anymore. Yes, in the end, this Town Hall has provided a treasure trove of soundbites for Biden to use — and not to mention gives a ton of ammunition for multiple court cases. But it was a sad day for journalism and a sad day for democracy. At the very least, Licht should have gotten big ratings for destroying CNN’s reputation. He didn’t even get that.