Lot of concern here for a network, CNN, that relatively few watch

[Kaleva]

There are over 250 million adults in this country and less then a million of them are watching CNN.

Does it really matter what direction CNN's reporting goes? It is this just the newest and coolest crisis? There's something going on over at that network that has a very small percentage of a very small percentage of the adults in this country that watch the network in a tither.

[Mister Ed]

1. Right-wing media has brought the nation to the woeful state it's in today.

We ignore it, or any part of it, at our peril.

[Kaleva]

6. What are you actually doing about it?

One can be aware they have cancer but if that person doesn't take aggressive action in dealing with it, just being aware will do no good.

[Mister Ed]

16. The DU'ers whom you fault for taking note of the matter...

...have mostly each been doing their small part by withdrawing their viewership and encouraging others to do the same, in the hopes of reducing revenue for the new right-leaning CNN. Some are writing to CNN management about it, and encouraging others to do the same. Surely what they are doing is better than ignoring the problem, as you've advocated.

As for me, personally, I'm ahead of the game. I never watch the channel to begin with.

If you wish to use cancer as an analogy, then you must surely understand that public awareness about cancer is a very important tool in the battle against the disease. Who would argue against noting and warning of a new trend in the incidence of cancer?

Right-wing media have had great success with their stealth approach, taking on the mantle and aura of objective journalism while either subtly or overtly pushing propaganda. They've now gained CNN, a source which viewers have long considered accurate and reliable. If the change is kept on the down-low, viewers might scarcely notice themselves being influenced by the new rightward stance. The people who are alarmed about it are doing the right thing by calling attention to it.

And now, I turn the question back to you. What are you actually doing about it? Just advising DU'ers to ignore it?

[hlthe2b]

19. +++ Exactly

[Kaleva]

36. But is CNN worth getting alarmed about?

The percentage of adults who watch CNN is in the very low single digits. Somewhere around 1%. What we have here is a very tiny percentage of people all upset about how a little watched cable news network reports the news.

And a few DUers trying to convince the few other DUers who watch CNN to stop watching that network will accomplish what? It's like preaching to the choir. Most of us already know, and have known for a very long time, that MSM, especially cable news, is a for profit business and it's only purpose is to generate revenue for it's owners and investors. I concede that there are a few here who may not have figured that out yet.

Some members have tried to convince others to stop using Facebook but their I'd no evidence I'm aware of that suggests their campaigns have had any effect on Facebook membership. I think the same will happen with CNN.

[Mister Ed]

41. Is anything worth doing anything about? I mean, aren't we all just going to die eventually anyway?

Frankly, I'm appalled by the callous nihilism expressed in the OP and in your replies to others on this thread. They've thoughtfully and thoroughly answered the questions you pose here. There's nothing more for me to add.

[Rob H.]

43. "I mean, aren't we all just going to die eventually anyway?"

Wait, I thought that only applied to forgiving student loan debt. But, yeah, it’s tiresome either way.

[obnoxiousdrunk]

52. Well said.

[patricia92243]

8. Yes!

[TheBlackAdder]

42. Only a few million watch FOX News, yet they are carried by hundreds of other media outlets.

.

It doesn't matter the viewership. It's how their coverage is used in other articles and video clips.

Since most of FOX was bullshit, they were always being cited as mart of that both sides fairness press reporting.



So, it's not the viewership that's the issue, it's the tentacles their channel spreads throughout the world.

.

[mucifer]

3. They vote and elections are often VERY close. Ask Al Franken. This is a slow brainwashing.

[Kaleva]

4. Less then a million spread across the country will make little difference.

And that's assuming that all of CNNs viewers will be turned into Magahats.

[PortTack]

5. The new owner isn't trying to "salvage" it, or make any money. He wants a platform to spew his

RW BS and bury any accomplishments President Biden or the Dems have.

Fascist countries take over the airwaves, and this guy no doubt has a fascist bend. We all scoffed at fux decades ago as crazy and didn’t give it much thought…look at where that got us! A couple of years ago it was Sinclair buying out local stations to control the narrative, now cnn. Ppl are rightly upset for these reasons.

BoycottCNN

[Kaleva]

9. Do how do you intend to fix that?

[PortTack]

11. Haven't watched cnn myself in a very long time. Other than not watching post here and on twitter

To please boycott. If I find a list of advertisers I will boycott them as well.

And help checkmyads.org do what they do best. If you haven’t heard of the two women that successfully took on brietbart and now are chipping away at fux…please take a look at their work.

[Kaleva]

14. Will your boycotting have any noticeable impact?

While Sleeping Giants may have cost Breibart advertisers, TFGs firing of Bannon followed by Brietbarts disassociation of Bannon appears to be the cause of Brietbarts decline in viewership.

Brietbarts reporting hadn't changed. It's still a diehard TFG supporter.

[tirebiter]

7. They have been the visual aid for historical scenes

Merely by having a couple reporters on sight and putting a camera in the window and letting it roll. Tiannamen Square. Kosovo, etc. I would be jazzed if they had similar situations in various places in Ukraine without giving up security. Or maybe Washington DC on Jan. 6, 2020…

[RockRaven]

10. Their TV viewership is only one measure of their influence. Their presence on social media

especially as the source/foundational material for posts made and spread by others has a far longer reach. Half of American adults "sometimes" or "often" get their news from social media, with Facebook being the biggest player. One can hardly spend any time on social media without encountering, often second-hand, the major networks/cable news/WaPo/NYT. Their editorial decisions certainly can have noxious effects on our society, and that will likely be true for CNN's current and future adjustments (making an already toxic entity, IMO, worse).

That said, the solution isn't to hate-watch or reply-post. Just disengage. Don't ever give them another page view or mention, even critical or debunking ones. It's the attention they want, so don't give it.

[Kaleva]

12. Yes, people can choose to ignore CNN

[PortTack]

13. Thank you for stating it so succinctly!

[Elessar Zappa]

15. I've only noticed a small shift in their programming.

They are giving more airtime to idiots but most of the hosts are still pretty good about calling out Republican lies.

[Meowmee]

17. Are you concerned about fux news?

[Earth-shine]

18. I actually watch the channel, so it matters to me. I'm watching right now 5:20AM ...

but not paying attention. I'm busy ... reading DU.

[LittleGirl]

20. Same same.

I do care. I’m very upset about CNN and it’s the one of the only networks my Swisscom cable provider supplies from the US. Thankfully Fox spews is a more expensive cable package we don’t have along with PBS. Swisscom actually muted RT network when Russia invaded Ukraine. We have BBC, Skynews, CNBC, Bloomberg and Al Jazeera. We also have Euronews in multiple languages along with 700 other channels in multiple languages.

I remember when cable first came out…nobody wanted to pay for tv but CNN was actually worth the price back then. MTV in its infancy was the bomb too. I’ll never forget Michael Jackson’s Thriller video at the top of the hour every hour back then.

[Earth-shine]

21. I think a lot of the CNN shows will be unchanged.

I doubt that hosts like Don Lemmon or Anderson Cooper will suddenly lurch right.

CNN is an important alternative to MSNBC, which does not offer a lot of weekend and middle-of-the-night programming.

[LittleGirl]

23. Anderson is my favorite

And I tape his show on my DVR. I watch Don occasionally because they cover essentially the same topics. I can’t get MSNBC unless I jump through a bunch of hoops with a VPN. Thank goodness, DU provides clips for me everyday so I don’t feel I’m missing anything.

[Earth-shine]

26. Maybe these links will work for you for MSNBC. Good luck.

I stream MSNBC from here ...

https://livenewschat.eu/politics/

When that doesn't work, I use this link.

https://ustv247.tv/msnbclive/

[LittleGirl]

29. Thank you! nt

[tavernier]

31. I think Anderson is safe

But Lemon is another story. He can’t be muffled and speaks his mind pretty loudly. Anderson is better skilled at nuance. I can see Lemon being asked to resign.

[AverageOldGuy]

22. All the 24-hour "news" services suffer from the same problem

If you must have words coming out of your mouth, and video dancing across your screen 24/7 I don't care how wise, smart, well-informed, and the like you are, it takes only a day or two before you run out of anything useful to say.

And that, folks, is the fundamental problem with them all -- CNN, MSNCBC, Fox, you name it.

On the other hand, when your day consists of a 30-minute or one hour news program, then, you must cut out the crap, drop the constant "breaking news," and deliver what really is important. Of course then we get into the problem of what is really important and who decides.

[HAB911]

24. Tell them what you think

I did
https://help.cnn.com/us/Feedback

[JI7]

25. I agree that they are horrible but we need to focus on things like Social Media

when people were talking about reliable sources getting cancelled I thought something like that would be good to do online . It can be something people can look up to find accurate info.

Not sure exactly how to do these things and promote it but I do think it's where we need to focus on growing .

Local News is another place we can work on.

[GuppyGal]

34. Wow that's exactly what the righties say about CNN.....

[Emile]

28. Does it really matter what direction CNN's reporting goes? Yes it

does matter! We have enough right-wing propaganda channels and stations. The last thing we need is more of them!

[luv2fly]

30. Hopefully all that concern is shared with CNN directly

Preaching to the choir rarely changes anything.

[Xoan]

32. Your concern is noted.

[Treefrog]

35. Lol, people still trotting out that old chestnut?

[Kaleva]

38. Some are concerned about CNN and it's been noted

Maybe they should stop watching it rather then continue to support it by watching it.

[BannonsLiver]

46. I think it's more like mockery

Or at least it is for me when I read the breathless threads about who is hosting today or who is on vacation and what so and so is wearing and saying on MSNBC or CNN. It’s all so pitiful.

[GuppyGal]

33. How about people save the outrage for when it's really warranted. I think a lot of folks just go

along with what others are saying. Cherry picking a few segments is absurd. I've seen no such 'lurch to the right' yet and I'M WATCHING THIS GOD DAMN CHANNEL

People need to QUIT ....totally lose your credibility crying wolf like this

[Kaleva]

40. I don't get cable news so I couldn't tell one way or another.

[Marius25]

37. Only about 3 million watch Fox and look how much damage that's done

[Kaleva]

39. How much damage has it done?

Fox didn't create the audience. It tapped into it. Fox could go left and the audience will just move to another network like Newsmax.

[ForgedCrank]

44. I don't know about

other people, but to me, CNN was the original and it really would be a shame to see it fade away due to nothing more than poor management and bad content decisions.
In the beginning, it was an awesome thing to see 24 hour,news all news, all the time cable channel. I watched it a lot over the years. But then, not unlike MTV, they content slowly started shifting to more and more garbage. In the case of CNN, talking heads and opinion shows rather than news. I understand that some of that type of content is a necessary because some viewers want that, but CNN made it the core of what they do, and people just drifted away after getting tired of it.
I really would like to see them get back to being 90% real news and back off of the shows.
Its a tough business I imagine, there's only so many headlines you can repeat over and over and still keep viewers interested.

[BannonsLiver]

45. All cable news is shit.

[Lettuce Be]

47. I think I stopped watching CNN right about the time tRump rode down the elevator

They seemed to have on far too many right-wing for my tastes, even back then. That's when I discovered MSNBC, and that's been my go-to ever since. So, not sorry to hear they have made the dumbest decision yet. Why they'd think just changing their programming or news slant would suddenly result in millions of new viewers but it's never going to happen.

[Torchlight]

49. It can be frustrating when different people have different opinions about things.

Good luck.

[former9thward]

50. You could make the same argument about all news divisions.

Of cable, MSM, traditional networks, newspapers, etc. Of the 250 million what percentage watch or read any particular media?

[scipan]

51. The OP has received some very good reasons why it matters.

They have pretty much been ignored.