OPINION | Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those held by Sarah Palin.
CNN anchor Laura Coates is out of a job. She hosted the 11 p.m. hour of “CNN Tonight.”
Insiders say she is “stunned” and didn’t see it coming.
Reporter Claire Atkinson says the struggling network, which is battling severely low viewership, intended to cut costs by axing Coates.
Coates, who is a lawyer, was only hired for the anchor role 4 months ago in January. She has consistently used her time on air to spew left-wing talking points and criticized Republicans and President Donald Trump.
Coates once accused Trump of not caring about Americans who died of COVID-19. She also claimed Trump’s administration was violating humanitarian rights at the southern border.
Despite company CEO Chris Licht’s promise to fix problems of bias at CNN, the network has continued to feature vehemently biased, anti-Trump reporters who provide a single viewpoint and narrative.
In March, the network only averaged as few as 84,000 people in the advertiser-coveted age group 25-54.
NEW: CNN is axing Laura Coates' 11 p.m. anchor slot to save on costs, according to sources, and insiders are concerned about on-air representation https://t.co/3fUd1YzQXI via @businessinsider
— Claire Atkinson 🏴 (@claireatki) April 18, 2023
In comparison, Fox News nearly quadrupled this audience by pulling in about 225,000 viewers in the same age group.
CNN is cutting Laura Coates' solo anchor slot to save on costs, and some Black staffers are concerned about lack of on-air representationhttps://t.co/xoyKmt4paf
— JulietteSchwartz (@Juliett59778255) April 20, 2023
CNN’s Planned 11 PM Show Hosted by Laura Coates Unlikely to Happen https://t.co/yvAxJTqcHc via @MutembeiTV pic.twitter.com/XevGei9Eu5
— Mutembei TV (@MutembeiTV) April 20, 2023
More on this story via Western Journal:
Fox said the last time CNN had a prime-time 25-54 audience this small was the week of Sept. 30, 1991.
Total day viewership was not much better for the left-leaning cable network. CNN averaged 80,000 viewers in the key demographic, well below the Fox News average of 150,000 viewers.
The overall picture was dark for CNN. With Fox News on top at almost 2 million prime-time viewers, CNN trickled in at 21st with an average of 383,000 viewers. In the important 25-54 age range, it was 33rd among basic cable networks.
CNN has been re-arranging its deck chairs in an attempt to emerge from its days as an anti-Trump echo chamber. It uses its 9 p.m. slot for a mix of offerings keyed to the news.
However, that has been a weak link in its prime-time offerings. As noted by The New York Times, in one recent week, Anderson Cooper’s 8 p.m. program attracted an average audience of 584,000 viewers, while the 9 p.m. slot had only 407,000 — a 30 percent drop.