Media top headlines June 22
The Washington Posted getting panned for report on Stacey Abrams and Democrats’ ‘evolution' on voter ID, Dave Portnoy bashing ‘dishonest loser’ who ignored Barstool Fund in criticism of the founder, and Meghan McCain being troubled by Biden’s abortion stance round out today’s top media headlines
The Father’s Day edition of CNN host Brian Stelter’s struggling program averaged only 656,000 viewers for its smallest audience of the year as "Reliable Sources" continues to suffer in the ratings department during the Biden era.
The dismal turnout marked the first time in 2021 that "Reliable Sources" failed to attract 700,000 viewers and Stelter’s left-wing media program has now fallen short of the one-million viewer benchmark for 12 straight weeks.
The Father’s Day edition of CNN host Brian Stelter’s struggling program averaged only 656,000 viewers for its smallest audience of the year. (Photo by David Becker/Getty Images) (Photo by David Becker/Getty Images)
Fox News’ "MediaBuzz," which is Stelter’s direct timeslot competitor, averaged 1.14 million viewers to top "Reliable Sources" by 74 percent.
JOE ROGAN TORCHES CNN'S BRIAN STELTER: 'HEY MOTHERF---ER, YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO BE A JOURNALIST'
The 35-year-old Stelter’s program managed to lose 13 percent of viewers from its June 13 episode which had previously been the show’s smallest audience of the year. The CNN host has found it difficult to attract viewers despite a recent book tour that included hobnobbing with Jeffrey Toobin days after CNN welcomed him back from an embarrassing masturbation scandal.
The stunning drop came days after podcast host Joe Rogan blasted Stelter’s program for sounding the alarm that certain YouTube personalities have more viewers than CNN "as if it was some horrible thing."
"They didn't even understand the way they were describing it," Rogan said on Thursday. "They were describing it as if they're entitled to viewers. They were saying, ‘There are people on YouTube right now that get more views than this show. This is because the market has spoken and your show's f---ing terrible. Well, Brian Stelter's show keeps slipping and slipping and slipping in the ratings."
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"Reliable Sources" also had a rough week among the viewers from the key demographic of adults age 25-54 that is coveted by advertisers, averaging only 124,000 for its second-worst performance of the year in the category.
The audience that has stuck with Stelter’s embattled show were treated to segments on the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, Attorney General Merrick Garland promising to crack down on spying on journalists, various criticisms of non-liberal media, and comments former President Barack Obama recently made about the media industry.
Fox News’ Joseph A. Wulfsohn contributed to this report.