Fox News Has A ‘Relatively Small Base,’ ‘Credibility Among A Minority Of The Country’: Brian Stelter

The highest-rated network in cable news, Fox News, has a “loud but relatively small base” of viewers, and its programing decisions have reduced it to having “credibility among a minority of the country,” said Brian Stelter, the chief media correspondent for one of FNC’s lower-rated rivals. Fox’s trustworthiness as a news source has been “negated among the majority of the country,” added Stelter.

Stelter threw shade at Fox News on Thursday night during a CNN report on Tucker Carlson’s new special, “Patriot Purge,” which streams on Fox Nation.

Do “the Murdochs have no concern over the credibility of their news organization?” asked host Don Lemon on “Don Lemon Tonight.”

“They may have a lot more concern over the profits and loss. And the profits right now are still tremendous,” admitted Stelter, CNN’s host of “Reliable Source” and a frequent Fox News critic.

“When you talk about credibility, they do have credibility among a minority of the country, among a loud but relatively small base that is willing to tune in,” Stelter said. “So, credibility is certainly within a very short supply” for Fox News, he continued. “It’s been negated among the majority of the country.”

Both attacks seemed unusual since CNN lags Fox News on both measures.

Fox News remains the most viewed cable news network in America, averaging 2.37 million viewers during prime time in the third quarter. CNN’s prime time line-up attracted just over one-third as many viewers, with 822,000 people willing to tune in during prime time. CNN also suffered the greatest year-on-year dip in viewership, losing 46% of its audience since last year. Fox News had the smallest reduction in viewership, 32%, according to Nielsen ratings.

Fox News’ credibility has also been rising, edging out CNN in an August survey conducted by Brand Keys and published by Media Post. A total of 89% of respondents said they trusted Fox News, up three points from February. That surge comes as an October Gallup poll showed that only 36% of Americans have a “fair amount” of trust in the legacy media, a near-record low.

CNN experienced the largest drop in viewer trust among the nine brands surveyed, falling by five points. Seven of the nine TV news brands examined showed trust levels declined, and ABC stayed the same, according to Media Post.

Post-COVID ‘normalcy’ hammers TV network news trust, Biden’s too @BrandKeysNY https://t.co/wyP1gInGDd @mp_joemandese pic.twitter.com/cWSujXQdNd

— MediaPost (@MediaPost) August 9, 2021

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