CNN's Rough Ratings March: Trailing Even MSNBC, HLN In Prime Demo

Portfolio:

More evidence that CNN is going to have to find a new strategy fast or risk becoming a cable news also-ran: In the month of March so far, the Time Warner-owned network has come in fourth place in prime time among adults 25 to 54, the key demographic for advertisers, more often than not.

Through March 17, CNN trailed not only Fox News and MSNBC but also its own sister network, Headline News, on nine out of 17 days. On one day, March 13, CNN even drew fewer 25-to-54 viewers than CNBC -- the first time that's happened since November 2007. And of the eight days it finished higher than fourth in the demo, five were either Saturdays or Sundays, typically the lowest rated nights for the news networks.

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Comments

[oneblackvote]

Jack is the only one that has something to say on CNN. Give him his own show on MSNBC.

[ECB]

Cool !

[oneblackvote]

Log on to HuffPost in April for news and what ever you need to know. Don't watch CNN,. Tell all of your friends to log on to HuffPost and not watch CNN in April. We can send CNN a powerful message. Besides, Huffpost has it all, we don't need CNN. I tell all of my friends about HuffPost. They love it too.

[oneblackvote]

Don't watch CNN,let's make their April numbers even worse.

[hippydippycal]

Great idea! I'm with you.

[oneblackvote]

When I want news, I log on to HuffPost. When I want to watch TV, I go to MSNBC to watch Keith and Rachel. I don't dare turn on CNN or Faux News.

[ECB]

What about " Morning Smo" ?

[rain33]

i can tolerate chris matthews but i think that he needs his mojo to calm him down. keith and rachael are my favorites because they are afraid to speak the truth as well they being hurious at the same time!.fox noise is usless and showing nothing but pure hatred as well arrogance!..lou dobbs got illegals working for him and not paying any taxes on them..hahahaha!.cnn needs to give jack cafferty a show because he expresses his opionions as well telling the truth on the situation room..he's the reason why i look at cnn but after sitiuation room, i done with cnn!.john king is biased as well campbell brown.they asked goofball questions instead interviewing guests correctly. boy, i be glad when she takes her maternity leave.no offense but i am sick of her!

[zinc11]

Yeah, I used to like John King but something happened along the way of the last election. He took a major turn to the Right, and off the objective highway. Very strange. Campbell is okay but not exciting or authoritative. CNN feels like an old fogey station now. MSNBC is much more lively and cutting edge, not to mention sometimes hilarious (Keith and Rachel). Even David Shuster is trying to loosen up. I like the latitude they give Keith to express his progressive agenda, and even though Chris Matthews can be amazingly annoying with his interruptions and talking over guests, he's got a razor-sharp mind and asks good questions. He loves what he does and is fun to watch.

[chibbles]

A few suggestions that might help:
1. Lose Dobbs and Brown.
2. Fewer pundits and so-called experts with no real answers only agendas.
3. Lose the morning show eye-candy dressed in tight sweaters and stilleto heels. That can't pronounce the names of most of the people in the stories they are discussing.
4. How about some real reporters that don't have to agree with the host of the hour. That actually get to report a story without bias and not get interrupted by the talking heads trying to push their agendas. (Refer back to Dobbs and Brown.)
5. More Don Lemon and Anderson Cooper. (OK so this is my agenda.)

[hippydippycal]

Heres another one, lose the goofy technology. I hate that board where they use their finger to point and make "magic" things happen. And whats up with making transparent people appear in the studio,, its all too creepy.

[Keurgui]

I am 100% CNN, I can't watch FOX, MSNBC is also very good. The quality of journalism does not always translate into millions of viewers. American Idol drains millions of viewers and I am not sure it can bring anything positive in this dire situation we are facing. I encourage CNN to focus on true journalism and not partisan politics like FOX. I agree Campbell can do better and Lou Dobbs sounds more like an activist Fox type journalist.

[woodsba]

Stopped watching CNN because I tired of the negative and lack of news. They harp on the same story for days and are as terrible as Fox for their outward lies. Too many times I've heard so and so said and when they broadcast the tape of what was said it's not what they reported.

Bye Bye CNN............

[dimplesmile7]

I used to flip between CNN and MSNBC during the election. I do not watch them at all now. I hate their morning anchors and the other option is Morning Joe and I hate him too. I am back to watch local news in the morning and occasional Morning Joe if he has someone I like as a guess.

[ECB]

I hate Joe and Mika.

[wm1066]

CNN dosen't do news anymore. Its talking heads gossiping with a scroll on the bottom of the screen that is soundbite trivia, and then they mix in viewer comments to muddy the waters even more.

[Northreader]

I'm glad Americans looking for relief from cable news, now have the internet. I was thankful that Huf Post came out with a good analysis of CNN's Dick Cheney interview. I often find good stuff on health reform and other complex topics on such sites as truthout, truthdig and TomPaine.com.
I sometimes watch Lou Dobbs from here in Canada while hoping he remains fixated on Mexico and does not start a campaign for a Berlin Wall on the northern border. It is bad enough that we'll soon need a passport ,if we want to hop in the car for a quick shopping trip to the states.

[Bulbul]

Promlem is Dobbs and Cambell Brown, both unwatchable. Cambell`s facial manerism is worse that Paula.
Replace Brown with Zain Verjee and replace Dobbs with Ali.

[hippydippycal]

Oh dear God, not more of Ali , please. He is such a loud mouth,, actually if CNN would "turn the volumn" down somewhat, it would be more watchable. That loud mouth James Carville would be a good place to start too. I like the Zaccarri guys show, he is quiet and reasoned.

I really hate that I have to turn CNN off, but I get tired of being screamed at,, it is sooooo last century.

[marymansour]

Jack Cafferty is my raison pour la visualisation of CNN.

[Rolfe Norman]

CNN used to be my default news channel, but now I watch more MSNBC. Morning Joe, Olbermann, and Maddow are the main reasons why I watch MSNBC. I am also watching more of 1600. CNN Newsroom w/ Rick Sanchez and The Situation Room are really the only two programs I like on CNN. AC360 is a good program, but I hardly watch it. However, when it is political season, CNN is the place to be.

[kindGSL]

I think CNN's best coverage is on the weekend.

One of the shows I hate to miss most is Howie Kurtz on Sunday morning. The whole idea of CNN critiquing the news media is a study in contradictions. They only do it once a week. It is really something to see him dance all around the record on all kinds of issues.

I missed it last week and regretted it. The bank failure, how did they miss that? They do not play the show again or have a watch-able copy on line. Bummer. CNN is like that. They like to keep their viewers at arms length.

It is because they are not actually a news organization, they are a gatekeeper trying to look like a news organization.

That is why they are better on the weekends. The weekend staff are not as clued in to the facade operation, they believe they are for real so they actually deliver more news. They have some very talented reporters, it is too bad they don't give them more freedom.

[Northreader]

Can I cast a second vote for a CNN replay later Sunday of Reliable Sources with Howard Kurtz. I try to watch it every Sunday while also checking what is on NBC, CBS and ABC. A member of my family really loves the CBS Sunday Morning show that always closes with a beautiful shot of nature in action. I have to check out the last half of This Week with George S. just to see if Paul Krugman or Katrina Van den Heuvel show up to bug George Will. Somehow,I often don't catch enough of Reliable Sources and cannot understand why CNN does not repeat such a worthwhile program...even late Sunday night.

[jcwtts1]

Do you know why newspapers are dying, not because of internet and ad revenue but because about twenty years ago someone said the only good news is "objective" news, you have to tell both sides. So instead of saying George Bush got us into a useless stupid dangerous expensive in blood and treasure war we also talk about the Bush spin. Papers used to be liberal papers or conservative papers. The Wall Street Journal, conservative, the NYT liberal. Not you have cross over experiments trying to be fair. How about this. The HuffingtonPost crushes people because it is a liberal site. Not a half liberal have conservative site, liberal. I am on it because of the unabashed editorial slant, and when I heard that Ariana Huffington, someone I despised when she was married to that conservative hack, had started a liberal site, logged on because I could believe it. I stayed because this is a progressive site and discussion issues with progressives, even fighting with progressives is more productive than listen to GOP ditto heads.

[kindGSL]

HuffPost is liberal, OK. But not the most liberal. AlterNet and Firedoglake are more so.

There is still a reluctance here to rock the boat on all kinds of issues. So to an activist like me, it seems quite middle of the road.

For example, there is a reluctance to legalize drugs, and a near ban on criticizing zionism, so the 'progressive' label seems a little bit stretched to me.