According to Nielson Media Research, the most recent episode of CNN’s Reliable Sources — hosted by Brian Stelter — saw its lowest rating of the year for the second weekend in a row. As reported by Townhall.com, Reliable Sources “failed to reach over a million viewers for the second time in as many weeks, while also boasting its second-lowest viewership of the year for its key demographic of 25 to 54 year-olds.”
This dip comes as CNN as a whole is plummeting in the ratings. Last week, the Daily Wire reported that “CNN has lost about a million viewers on average each night since President Donald Trump left the White House, and the liberal network is drawing nearly 50% fewer viewers in the key 24-54 age group.”
Fox News reported at the time that “CNN averaged 2.5 million primetime viewers from Nov. 4, the day following the presidential election, through Inauguration Day on Jan. 20. But viewers fled the liberal network once President Biden took office, and CNN has averaged only 1.6 million primetime viewers from Jan. 21 through March 15.”
It’s hardly surprising that CNN — and Brian Stelter specifically — are experiencing a brutal drop in ratings in a post-Trump world, given that much of their coverage was obsessively focused on the Trump administration, now leaving them struggling to fill the void.
In response, Brian Stelter has attempted to continue to promote the same blame-laden content of the past few years, but substituting Trump with Fox News and Tucker Carlson. During a recent show, Stelter claimed that “Tucker Carlson is the new Donald Trump,” and that the Fox News star has “taken Trump’s place” as the leader of the conservative movement.
Tucker Carlson is the new Donald Trump. Tucker has taken Trump's place as a right-wing leader, an outrage generator, a fire-starter… pic.twitter.com/y8OzdAlSlN
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) March 14, 2021
“Tucker has taken Trump’s place as a right-wing leader, as an outrage generator, as a fire-starter, and it’s all happening on Fox, just like Trump’s campaign did,” said Stelter.
“Which means Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch are ultimately responsible,” Stelter continued. “I mean think about all the ways these two men are similar. Every day, Carlson is throwing bombs, making online memes, offending millions of people, also delighting millions of others, tapping into white male rage and resentment. Stoking distrust of Big Tech and the media, generally coarsening the discourse, never apologizing for anything, and setting the GOP’s agenda. Sounds like a recently retired president, right?”
What this actually sounds like is Brian Stelter’s overwrought coverage from Trump’s administration being lazily repackaged to focus on a much-needed “new” enemy, ignoring the obvious difference that Trump was an elected official and Tucker Carslon is an opinion journalist.
Of course, much of this can likely be attributed to jealousy, with the Tucker Carlson Tonight show “drawing an average total audience of 3 million viewers — making it the most-watched cable news show for the week of March 15 through March 21.”
If Brian Stelter wants to regain the audience members leaping from the floundering ship that is CNN in a post-Trump world, perhaps he should consider talking about anything else.
Unfortunately for him, that might not be possible.
Ian Haworth is an Editor and Writer for The Daily Wire. Follow him on Twitter at @ighaworth.
The views expressed in this piece are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.