CNN, which had been trailing in ratings behind Fox News and MSNBC, is set to use the upcoming first presidential debate for the 2024 elections as an opportunity to attract viewers again. According to media outlets, the debate will be held at 9 PM on June 27. For the first time in history, CNN secured exclusive broadcasting rights for a presidential candidate debate. Other competitors can only feed this broadcast under specific conditions.
According to the Los Angeles Times (LAT), the CNN logo must be displayed on the screen during the transmission, and all advertisements promoting the content must be labeled CNN Presidential Debate. All major broadcast and cable news networks must broadcast the CNN debate live. The CNN 2024 Presidential Debate will be hosted by CNN journalists Jake Tapper and Dana Bash. As the first 24-hour cable news channel in the U.S., CNN enjoyed a reputation of leading the ratings for 22 years, outpacing Fox News. However, in 2021, it came as a shock when it ranked third (based on news channels) after Fox News and MSNBC, as viewership across all news networks plummeted.
All three networks struggled to increase their audience numbers after Donald Trump left the White House. However, CNN was especially vulnerable. Its daily average viewership was only about 400,000, a third of its 2020 figures.
Mark Lukasiewicz, a journalism professor at Hofstra University, said, “If the debate goes well and the public reacts positively to it, it will undoubtedly help CNN.” However, Mark Feldstein, a professor at the University of Maryland’s School of Journalism, said it is highly likely that Trump will attack the CNN debate moderators (if he perceives them as biased).
During Trump’s administration, he criticized progressive media outlets, including CNN, for being biased against him.
Feldstein said, “When it comes to Trump, we have no idea what game he’s playing and whether this could potentially be an ambush attack on CNN.” He also warned that Trump might blame the “liberal media for banding together to fight him.”
