President on CNN coverage: Thanks
NEW YORK — President Donald Trump thanked CNN on Tuesday for its Republican convention coverage, while Fox News heard complaints from some viewers that it wasn’t showing enough.
Trump’s tweet that he was “very appreciative” to CNN for showing the vast majority of the Republicans’ opening night program was also likely a coded message to Fox, the network of choice for many of the president’s fans.
The numbers illustrate why he cares: 45% of people following coverage of the convention’s last hour on the top six networks Monday were watching Fox News Channel, the Nielsen company said.
Overall, 15.8 million people watched the final hour of convention coverage Monday, down 16% from Democratic candidate Joe Biden’s first night last week. Fox’s audience was up 238%, but Democratic convention viewership beat Republicans on ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN and MSNBC.
While MSNBC and CNN combined had just under 10 million viewers for Biden’s first night, they had 3.6 million for Trump, Nielsen said.
CNN and MSNBC showed virtually all of the Democrats’ prime-time program last week, and it was clear Mondaythat for consistency’s sake, they would try to do the same for Republicans.
“I commend them for it,” said Frank Sesno, a former CNN Washington bureau chief and director of the School of Media and Public Affairs at George Washington University. “It’s a very difficult editorial call.”
A Fox representative said the network’s coverage plan for Republicans is the same as it was for the Democrats.
Aweekafter Trumpsaid it was “pretty boring” when Democrats used pretaped segments during their convention, only three people who talked for the GOP on its first night — Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniels, former Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley and South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott — spoke live.
Speaker pulled: A speaker who had been scheduled to address the second night of the Republican National Convention has been pulled from the lineup after directing her Twitter followers to a series of anti-Semitic, conspiratorial messages.
Mary Ann Mendoza had been scheduled to deliver remarks Tuesday night to highlight the president’s fight against illegal immigration. Mendoza’s son was killed in 2014 in a head-on collision by a man who was under the influence and living in the U.S. illegally.
She and and other parents whose children have been killed by people in the country illegally have labeled themselves “Angel Moms” and have made frequent appearances at the White House and Trump campaign events.
Mendoza had apologized for the tweet, writing that she “retweeted a very long thread earlier without reading every post within the thread” and said it “does not reflect myfeelings or personal thoughts whatsoever.”
A Republican familiar with the plans who spoke on condition of anonymity cited controversy as the reason for pulling Mendoza.
Wednesday: Featured speakers include Tennessee Sen. Marsha Blackburn, Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst, South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, Texas Rep. Dan Crenshaw, adviser Kellyanne Conway, second lady Karen Pence and Vice President Mike Pence.