Media top headlines June 8
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez refusing GoFundMe money for abuela, a judge ordering Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot to clarify policy that only granted interviews to journalists of color, and MSNBC’s Nicolle Wallace agreeing that not passing Democratic voting bill would be like the ‘fall of the Roman empire’ round out today’s top media headlines
CNN desperately needed a ratings boost from its interview with former President Obama on Monday after the liberal network failed to reach 1 million viewers for an unprecedented six consecutive days.
The 44th commander in chief sat down with CNN anchor Anderson Cooper for an hour-long special, earning 1.4 million viewers according to Nielsen data. Despite booking one of the nation's most popular Democrats, Cooper was still trounced by Fox News' "Tucker Carlson Tonight," which earned 2.97 million viewers, more than double of the Obama interview during the 8 p.m. ET timeslot.
"Anderson Cooper 360" averaged just 895,000 viewers from June 1 through June 4.
Chris Cuomo was able to hang on Cooper's coattails in the timeslot following the presidential interview with "Cuomo Prime Time" reaching 1.16 million viewers but still trailed in last place among the three cable news networks with "Hannity" winning the 9 p.m. ET timeslot with 2.74 million viewers followed by MSNBC's "The Rachel Maddow Show" with 2.38 million viewers.
Cuomo, who's been embroiled in multiple scandals in recent months involving his brother, Democratic New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, has seen his audience dwindle, averaging just 858,000 viewers last week.
Monday marked CNN's first time exceeding 1 million viewers so far in the month of June. In May, CNN failed to reach a seven-digit audience 13 out of the 31 days, roughly 42% of the month.
CNN has seen a whopping 70% drop in viewership since January after President Trump left office. "Cuomo Prime Time" suffered a devastating 74% loss in viewers.
During his CNN interview, Obama went after conservative media and mocked Republican concerns of critical race theory being taught in schools across the country.
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"I also think that there are certain right-wing media venues, for example, that monetize and capitalize on stoking the fear and resentment of a White population that is witnessing a changing America and seeing demographic changes, and do everything they can to give people a sense that their way of life is threatened and that people are trying to take advantage of them," Obama told Cooper. "And you're seeing it right now."
He continued: "You would think with all the public policy debates that are taking place right now, the Republican Party would be engaged in a significant debate about how are we going to deal with the economy, what are we going to do about climate change, what are we going to do about—lo and behold, the biggest single most important issue to them apparently right now is critical race theory."
"Who knew that was the threat to our republic?" he chuckled.
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