CNN Falls Below Food Network Amid Devastating Ratings Dip

Cable TV viewers would apparently rather watch a pot boil than listen to Kaitlan Collins and company.

At least, that’s what the latest Nielsen ratings are saying about the state of CNN, whose viewership has plummeted beyond previous lows in recent weeks. The numbers have become so anemic that Food Network, with its relaxing and consistent diet of baking and cooking contests, has climbed ahead of the struggling news network.

Audience scores for July show CNN sitting in 14th place, far below Fox News, which retained its streak at the top three, as well as mainstream staples like NBC, CBS, and ABC. Even MSNBC, which was forced to slash Rachel Maddow’s sizable salary and lay off once-popular hosts like Joy Behar and Mehdi Hasan, eked out a seventh-place finish.

Viewership for “the most trusted name in news” now averages just over half a million, far below Fox’s 2.6 million and NBC, which sits in second place with just under 4 million viewers on average.

After sharpening its editorial blade against President Donald Trump during his first term, CNN executives told producers to set their swords down this time around. Going forward, on-air talent is discouraged from “pre-judging” Trump based on his past criminal and civil cases, according to an order handed down by CEO Mark Thompson earlier this year.

Still, that hasn’t stopped conservative media figures from tracking every faux pas uttered by anchors.

Erin Burnett became an ignominious center of attention during last week’s Manhattan shooting when she falsely described the shooter as white. And Trump’s focus on the Russia hoax over the past month bewildered CNN correspondent Jeff Zeleny, who struggled to maintain his composure about covering an issue that is nearly a decade old at this point.

“I’m not sure that this White House wants to, uh, talk about, and I’m not sure that we should spend that much more time on it,” he stated.

Nobody embodies antipathy toward CNN better than Collins, the 32-year-old senior White House correspondent who has become somewhat of a punchline among the White House staff and press corps. She has been shushed by President Trump for talking out of turn on multiple occasions. When her questions are allowed, Trump frequently turns them against Collins, as when he accused her of “disrespecting” military service members by asking if the bombing of Iran’s nuclear facilities was effective.

More recently, the network took heat for hosting a far-left medical school graduate who insinuated she was a practicing doctor despite having never done so. Her appearance came during a segment where she claimed that Trump’s recent diagnosis of chronic venous insufficiency is worse than the White House is making it appear.