Going into Thursday’s fiasco of a presidential debate one of the storylines had been the unique set of parameters set up for the event, seemingly done for the approval of the Biden campaign. One of the new protocols was there would be no audience for the event, with some caustically noticing that this was fitting for CNN as the network is used to not having an audience.
This is not an entirely baseless joke, as CNN has been a distant third in the news network ratings race for years. When all the news programs are ranked, the highest-placed CNN shows generally struggle to even crack the top 25. Things appear more embarrassing on the general cable television charts as the network is routinely beaten in primetime by options such as The Food Network, The Hallmark Channel, and even INSP, which basically offers western show reruns.
The network is also trying to ignore that it is facing…
