
<p>I recently wrote that the new owner of CNN might be smart to shift the Network more to the center to improve ratings – which are currently in the toilet. ; Before analyzing the CNN/Lemon strategy of continuing to attack FOX News, we need to see the overview of cable news ratings. ; According to the recent official ratings:</p>



<p><em>“Fox News has outdrawn ;</em><a href="https://www.foxnews.com/media/cnn-fires-senior-producer-charged-with-inducing-minors-for-sex"><em>CNN</em></a><em> ;and MSNBC combined in all categories for 17 straight weeks as a heavily promoted CNN special failed to resonate with Americans.”</em></p>



<p>As far as cable news is concerned, FOX is the people’s choice.</p>



<p>So … what about Don Lemon.</p>



<p>Back in January of 2021, Lemon topped FOX’s Laura Ingraham in the 10 p.m. time slot for a ratings nanosecond. ; Since that time, his ratings have fallen faster than President Biden’s. ; A mid-year name change – “CNN Tonight with Don Lemon” to “Don Lemon Tonight” – proved to be a distinction without of difference in terms of viewership. ; The rationale behind the minimus name change is imponderable.</p>



<p>The other evening, Lemon brought on CNN media critic and obsessive FOX hunter, Brian Stelter, and the alleged conservative member of the CNN family, S.E. Cupp, to go on a frontal attack on the cable news champion Network.</p>



<p>The result was a combination of competitive jealousy, political bias, cancel culture and head-scratching irrationality. It brought on one of those, “what are this people thinking” responses.</p>



<p>I understand that the Network wants to overtake FOX. ; But it is more than a media ratings war. CNN wants FOX to be destroyed. ; Why you may ask? ; Because FOX is the voice of opposition to the left-wing false narratives and political propaganda that CNN and others are deploying in the desperate hope of defeating Republicans in the 2022 midterm elections.</p>



<p>While patting themselves on the back as a paragon of journalist integrity, they are trying to convince viewers that FOX is not a legitimate cable news service. ; The folks at FOX – the number one by far in cable news &#8212; should be kicked out of the Fourth Estate.</p>



<p>Lemon – in his inimitable whiny fashion &#8212; questioned why FOX is even allowed to ask questions at White House press briefings. ; “Why are they even allowed in the room?” Lemon wondered.</p>



<p>That’s right. ; The number one cable news network – preferred by millions of viewers – should be canceled … censored … shut down. ; That is not only outrageous, but also downright stupid – and if their opinions had any gravitas with the American people, it would be dangerous. ; ;</p>



<p>Lemon, Stelter and Cupp are the voices of authoritarianism. ; They do not want to engage in open debate on the critical issues – an essential ingredient of democracy. ; They want critics and opponents to be silenced. ; As with all authoritarian thinking, you crush what you cannot defeat in the marketplace of ideas.</p>



<p>The second feature of authoritarianism is the disregard and distrust for the opinions of the people – the masses that they see as incompetent, unintelligent, unethical and evil in their judgment. ; A public that must be controlled and managed by a more noble elite class. ; People like Lemon, Stelter and Cupp – to name a few.</p>



<p>If you were of the opinion that journalism was about the reporting of various viewpoints with the pole as the judge of what they choose to believe, you are very mistaken.  ; MSNBC’s Mika Brzezinski famously blurted out the foundational belief of the elitist media when she claimed that it is “our [the media’s] job to tell people what to think.” ; ;</p>



<p>Every day, however, the American people are voting with their remote controls. ; They are deciding which of the cable news networks they believe are providing them with the information they want and need – the stories that interest them the most from the reporters they trust the most.</p>



<p>For CNN personalities like Lemon to even suggest that FOX should not be allowed to report, is a bit like local merchants telling Wal-Mart that they should not be allowed to sell stuff. ; That is why I had a good chuckle watching Lemon &; Co. trying to sell unhinged bloviating as serious news or opinion.</p>



<p>While I have never seen any empirical analysis of the issue, I suspect that one of the competitive benefits FOX enjoys is the constant harping by CNN … and MSNBC. ; It is not news. ; It is not even a good opinion. ; It is meaningless trash talk – and getting a bit tiresome. ; That may be what we are seeing in the ratings.</p>



<p>So, there ‘tis.</p>

Lemon and CNN take on FOX …. LMAO
