“What happens,” asked one MSNBC on-air personality, “when you don’t need us?”
The disquiet extends to the highest echelons.
CNN’s president, Jeffrey A. Zucker, is weighing whether to exit the network amid some tension with his new boss, Jason Kilar, the WarnerMedia chief executive whose background is in tech, not journalism. Mr. Zucker is mulling his options over the holidays and is likely to make a final decision early in the new year, according to several people briefed on his thinking. Last week, MSNBC announced a replacement for its leader of more than a decade, Phil Griffin, the architect of its popular liberal lineup.
This portrait of news networks in flux is based on interviews with nearly a dozen current and former on- and off-air staff members at CNN and MSNBC, most of whom requested anonymity to speak frankly about issues bedeviling top executives. Most agreed there would be a ratings slide in 2021, saying the only question is how big it will be.
Mr. Trump’s refusal to leave the political stage quietly has kept viewers watching through the postelection daze. In recent weeks, CNN is regularly beating Fox News, the longtime No. 1 cable news network, in total viewers. CNN has also led in the advertiser-friendly bracket of adults under the age of 54 every day for more than a month, its longest such streak since the aftermath of Sept. 11, 2001.
MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” has bested a Trump favorite, the Fox News morning show “Fox Friends,” for four weeks straight, and MSNBC’s top-rated anchor, Ms. Maddow, has racked up her biggest wins in nearly two years. The unending pandemic has also kept the ratings up, a common pattern at cable news networks during events like wars, hurricanes and mass shootings.
Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/14/business/media/cnn-msnbc-cable-news-trump.html
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