Accuracy in Media

On Wednesday, CNN made the move that I have been calling for since April. They canceled the ratings-challenged Crossfire program after less than one year on the air. Crossfire, which ran on CNN originally from 1982 to 2005, returned last September with four rotating hosts—Van Jones and Stephanie Cutter on the left, and Newt Gingrich […]

It looks like CNN president Jeff Zucker’s gamble to bring back Crossfire has failed. as the network has put the show on “extended hiatus,” according to The Daily Caller. Sources told The Daily Caller that staffers from Crossfire are being absorbed into The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer, and that personnel from other shows are […]

In what appears to be the equivalent of a “Hail Mary” in football, CNN’s Crossfire did something unusual this week by placing all four co-hosts (SE Cupp, Newt Gingrich, Van Jones, and Stephanie Cutter) on the program at the same time. CNN called this an “experiment,” but it is an obvious attempt to see if […]

  As the Malaysian Air flight MH370 coverage fades from CNN, so do the ratings, as the network hit its second-lowest ratings last Friday in the 9 p.m. hour. The time-slot, which was most recently occupied by Piers Morgan, managed to attract a paltry 48K viewers in the 25-54 demo, and 226K viewers total, according […]

CNN, which has devoted most of its recent airtime to coverage of the disappearance of Malaysian Air flight MH370, is keeping its low-rated Crossfire program on temporary hiatus, according to the Erik Wemple Blog. Crossfire, whose time slot was carved out of Wolf Blitzer’s Situation Room program last fall, has given back that time slot […]

Jeff Zucker was hired by CNN to hopefully do what he did during his tenure at the Today show—transform a low-rated program into a ratings leader. One year after taking the helm at the oldest cable news network, the results are mixed at best. After Zucker took the helm, he began to tinker with the […]

In the two months since CNN resuscitated Crossfire, the show has struggled in the ratings, along with the rest of the network’s programs, but it has become a social media success story. From an October 3 high of 891,000 total viewers and 326,000 in the 25-54 demographic (the demo), the show hit a new low […]

Former President Bill Clinton expressed his concern about CNN’s ratings during an interview with Piers Morgan on Wednesday night, and was quickly reassured that the network was “storming ahead.” Clinton: I used to worry CNN was going to lose too many viewers. Morgan: No fear of that, Mr. President. Storming ahead, Clinton: Yeah, you’re doing […]

After a promising debut, CNN’s new version of Crossfire has quickly tanked in the ratings. It took less than two weeks, as viewers got a longer look at the program. Crossfire’s ratings actually declined from the programming it replaced, The Situation Room, which surrendered its final half hour to make room for the new program. The […]

CNN has announced that the new version of Crossfire will debut on September 16, and that they are tweaking the current programming lineup to accommodate the show. Crossfire, which aired on CNN from 1982 – 2005, is being rebooted with new hosts Newt Gingrich and S.E. Cupp on the right, and Stephanie Cutter and Van […]