Why is CNN struggling so much with ratings and profit? That is what they are desperately trying to figure out.
For the first time since 2016, CNN’s profits dropped below $1 billion, well short of the target $1.1 billion. That sounds like plenty of money but it’s not enough to run a huge conglomerate like CNN. Rumor has it that CEO Chris Licht has stopped down on travel and made other budget cuts to help stop the bleeding.
But why are viewers soured on CNN?
Could it be because they pushed a Covid vaccine without asking any hard questions about it as if they were a round-the-clock advertisement? Could it be because they went all in on the January 6 committee, which has no judicial authority to punish anyone? Could it be because they hyperventilated anti-Trump rhetoric for four years and then had no identity once he was gone?
CNN is not making journalistic choices such as the ones made recently by Kim Iversen who left Rising over editorial censorship. Instead, they are trying to be a more centrist news source, not right or left, just down the middle. Which is a fine idea, sure, but only if you’ve kept and/or earned back viewers’ trust. Which, in my humble opinion, CNN has not.
