What To Know
- Megyn Kelly criticized CBS Evening News and network news in general, declaring it “dead” after the show’s ratings fell below 4 million viewers.
- The program is on track for its lowest-rated first quarter this century.
- Kelly said network news is a sinking ship and the situation is ‘not turnaroundable.’
Former Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly has chimed in on the recent ratings disaster for Tony Dokoupil’s CBS Evening News, declaring that “network news is dead” and will continue to sink.
Kelly’s statements follow CBS Evening News slipping below 4 million viewers for the first time since Dokoupil took over from Maurice DuBois and John Dickerson on January 5. For the week of March 9, the show averaged 3.83 million viewers, similar to the numbers Dickerson and DuBois were averaging toward the end of their run.
Oliver Darcy’s Status newsletter also reports that CBS Evening News is on track for its lowest-rated first quarter this century, according to preliminary Nielsen ratings. The show is currently averaging 4.3 million total viewers and 541,000 viewers in the 25-54 demographic.
On Monday’s (March 23) edition of SiriusXM’s The Megyn Kelly Show, the long-time reporter spoke with Tangle News’ Kmele Foster about Dokoupil’s ratings and the overall state of network news.
“Network news is dead. That’s my takeaway,” Kelly said. “You can put Tony in there. You can put Maurice and what’s-his-name in there. It’s not the anchor. It’s not the management. It’s the animal. It’s dead… and there is no saving it, no matter how many rescue teams you send with paddles.”
Foster agreed, explaining that people these days are “watching most things online,” including “YouTubers” and “independent media voices.”
“They’re mostly consuming clips,” he added. “Younger audiences are – unfortunately or not – consuming a lot of their news and getting a lot of their news from TikTok and Instagram.”
Foster said networks like CBS, ABC, and NBC can no longer rely on their legacy reputations. With new voices and brands emerging all the time, he said it’s impossible to compete by just coasting along on past name value.
“Competing with those new brands and emerging brands is not the sort of thing you’re going to be able to do if most of what you’re doing is depending on the fact that, ‘hey, we’re CBS News. We’re supposed to be important. We’re supposed to be relevant.’”
Kelly went a step further, saying for CBS News and other networks, the situation is “not turnaroundable.”
“It is like a sinking aircraft carrier that you’re trying to put water wings on and puff, puff, puff them up,” she stated. “It’s not going to work. It’s an aircraft carrier. It’s going to the bottom of the ocean.”