He also defended the decision to hold the town hall before a Trump-friendly crowd. Just like you cannot ignore that President Trump exists.”The event did widen CNN’s audience, at least for a night. Nielson said the town hall averaged 3.3 million viewers, compared to the 707,000 who tuned in to CNN during the same time slot a night earlier. But Jones said he was skeptical that the town hall would help CNN’s reputation in the long term, given the backlash. They have lost total control of this ‘town hall’ to again be manipulated into platforming election disinformation, defenses of Jan. 6th and a public attack on a sexual abuse victim.

Source: CNN May 11, 2023 19:45 UTC