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CNN Faces Libel Lawsuit From Florida Heart Surgeon

CNN and two of its biggest stars are reportedly embroiled in a libel lawsuit involving a Florida heart surgeon Dr. Michael Black, dates to 2016.

Published

9 months ago

September 8, 2022

Ryan Hedrick

CNN and two of its biggest stars are reportedly embroiled in a libel lawsuit involving a Florida heart surgeon.

The lawsuit involves alleged false reporting on infant mortality relating to the hospital’s open-heart surgery process.

According to Puck, the suit brought by Dr. Michael Black dates to 2016. At the time, CNN reported that St. Mary’s Medical Center open-heart surgery on infants led to a mortality rate of “three times the national average.”

Hospitals officials claim the reporting used cherry-picked data that was “flawed and deeply dishonest.” The network’s reporting prompted the hospital’s former chief executive, David Carbone, to resign and the hospital to shutter its pediatric cardiac surgery program.

At the center of the lawsuit is star anchor Anderson Cooper who was deposed for the case. Cooper reportedly told attorneys that he never attended editorial meetings where the story was brought up and did not have any involvement in disseminating information on social media about the case.

He reportedly would not answer whether financial bonuses were tied to his show’s ratings—however, the questionable reports aired during his performance and online.

CNN’s fact-checking process is being scrutinized in the lawsuit. The so-called “Triad Process” was the subject of a 2017 New York Times article that referred to the system as a “three-pronged internal system designed to ensure that sensitive reporting by the network’s journalists is unimpeachable before it runs.”

According to the report, Dr. Black is represented by the same attorneys prosecuting Dominion’s defamation case against Fox News, Tom Clare, and Libby Locke.

CNN could face a multi-million-dollar settlement if it is liable for any damages.

Ryan Hedrick

Ryan Hedrick serves as the Assistant Program Director and Co-Host of the Morning News Express at WFMD. Prior to WFMD, he hosted an afternoon program at News Talk 103.7 FM in Chambersburg, PA. He has worked at Sirius XM in Washington D.C., WBEN in Buffalo, NY, and for stations in Baltimore, MD. He has also worked at WIBW-AM in Topeka KS, earning the Kansas Association of Broadcasters (KAB) award for Major Market enterprise reporting in 2016. To connect with Ryan, find him on Twitter @SureToCover.

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Fox News Average Viewers Dropped 32% in May

“ Newsmax saw an increase in viewership, gaining 70% to reach 298,000 prime-time viewers.”

Published

22 hours ago

June 2, 2023

Maddy Troy

Fox News Channel experienced a significant decline in prime-time viewership in May, following Tucker Carlson’s departure. The channel’s average viewers dropped by 32% to 1.42 million, compared to April’s results of 2.07 million, according to Nielsen ratings.

Despite the decrease, Fox News Channel maintained its position as the cable news network with the highest ratings. MSNBC’s ratings came closer to Fox’s, trailing by just 260,000 viewers, with an average of 1.16 million total viewers. MSNBC lost 12% of its prime-time viewership compared to the previous month.

According to Media Post, CNN also experienced a decline in viewership, losing 16% in May compared to April, with an average of 416,000 viewers. It is worth noting that these results included a highly-rated Town Hall event featuring former President Trump.

On the other hand, Newsmax, a conservative news network, saw an increase in viewership, gaining 70% to reach 298,000 prime-time viewers.

Analysts suggest that Newsmax benefited from Tucker Carlson’s departure from Fox News at the end of April. Carlson had the highest viewership among all cable TV news programs in April, averaging 3.1 million viewers. Following Newsmax was Nexstar Media’s “NewsNation” with 94,000 prime-time viewers, which had an average of 101,000 viewers in April.

In terms of total day viewership, Fox News Channel remained the leader. However, all three major networks experienced a decline compared to the previous year, with Fox at 1.09 million, MSNBC at 736,000, and CNN at 416,000 viewers.

“The Five,” Fox’s roundtable program, was the highest-rated prime-time cable news show in May, attracting 2.63 million viewers.

In the overall rankings among all cable TV networks for the month, Fox News Channel secured the third position, trailing behind TNT and ESPN. TNT and ESPN claimed the top two spots in prime-time for cable TV networks, with 3.1 million and 2.5 million average viewers, respectively. This success was largely due to their coverage of high-profile NBA Playoff games.

Maddy Troy

Maddy Troy serves as a writer and editor for Barrett News Media, with a specific focus on media business, advertising, and podcasting. You can find her on Twitter @Troy_Maddy.

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Fox News Shakes Up Weekends As Steve Hilton Exits

“The new shows are set to launch this weekend.”

Published

24 hours ago

June 2, 2023

BNM Staff

Steve Hilton is leaving his Fox News show. He will still be a contributor to the network, but he will take on a new full-time role with what the network calls a “California non-partisan policy organization” that will debut next week.

The exit of Hilton comes on the heels of Dan Bongino’s decision to leave the network. While both moves were the decision of the hosts and not related to layoffs at the network, they do leave Fox News with some holes to fill.

Mediaite reports that Fox will rebrand The Big Saturday Show and The Big Sunday Show as The Big Weekend Show. It will air at 7:00 on both weekend nights. No host has been announced.

Another new show is joining the weekend lineup too. Fox News Saturday Night will air Saturdays at 10 pm. A host has not been announced for that show either.

The new shows are set to launch this weekend.

BNM Staff

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Laura Ingle Latest Victim of Fox News Layoffs

“A source told Mediaite that the cuts are not related to the more than $787 million FOX will pay to settle the defamation suit filed by Dominion Voting Systems.”

Published

24 hours ago

June 2, 2023

BNM Staff

The financial belt is getting tighter at Fox News. Mediaite reports that Laura Ingle was let go by the network on Thursday. She had been a reporter there since 2005.

Ingle came to FOX from radio. She had been a reporter for KFI in Los Angeles. She had also worked in Sacramento for KFBK.

Greta Van Susteren was not a fan of the decision. She took to Twitter noting that she was the one that advocated for the network to hire Ingle in the first place.

Fox has gone off the deep end..they just fired @lauraingle .. a great reporter who I had Roger Ailes hire in 2006..and why did they fire her? So that Rupert and his sons can add more to their bank accounts and they already have more than they can ever spend.. #greed
— Greta Van Susteren (@greta) June 2, 2023

Van Susteren left FOX in 2016. She said that she couldn’t help but think that had something to do with Ingle being let go.

I know Rupert Murdoch hates me because I walked away from him and my Fox contract (I may have been first and only)..but I never thought he was so greedy that he would fire a great reporter like @LauraIngle to save himself a few dollars..I am so glad I told Rupert “I am out of…
— Greta Van Susteren (@greta) June 2, 2023

A source told Mediaite that the cuts are not related to the more than $787 million FOX will pay to settle the defamation suit filed by Dominion Voting Systems.

BNM Staff