THE DAILY NEWSLETTER - THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2022

Media Winners & Losers

MEDIA WINNERS:
Fox & Friends

Tuesday’s ratings show Fox & Friends more than quadrupling CNN's New Day in total viewers, and approximately doubling the average total viewers for Morning Joe.

In the battle for the number one morning show on cable news, Fox & Friends is resoundingly in first place.

MSNBC’s Morning Joe is in a strong second, while CNN’s New Day is in third.

In all three hours that the shows run, Fox secured four times the viewership. At 6 a.m., Fox pulled in 1.16 million viewers, while CNN brought in 289,000.

At 7 a.m., Fox brought in an average of 1.61 million viewers to CNN’s 374,000. And, finally, at 8 a.m. Fox raked in 1.79 million viewers to CNN’s 430,000.

MSNBC’s Morning Joe, which is soon to expand to 4 full hours, brought in an average of 842,000 viewers across all three hours.

Here is a full breakdown of Friday’s cable news ratings by show.

As for the three cable news networks overall, here are the total day averages in total viewers and the 25-54 category.

  • Total viewers:
    • CNN: 510,000
    • Fox News: 1.94 million
    • MSNBC: 832,000
  • 25-54 Demo:
    • CNN: 117,000
    • Fox News: 308,000
    • MSNBC: 91,000

Here are the prime time averages— encompassing shows which air from 8-11 p.m. — in total viewers and the 25-54 demo.

  • Total viewers:
    • CNN: 599,000
    • Fox News: 2.89 million
    • MSNBC:1.32 million
  • 25-54 Demo:
    • CNN: 159,000
    • Fox News: 396,000
    • MSNBC: 139,000

Read the full article here, from Mediaite+!

MEDIA LOSER:
Elon Musk

Tesla CEO Elon Musk got dragged across the coals for posting a meme likening Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to Adolf Hitler over his handling of the “Freedom Convoy” trucker protests.

Trudeau announced earlier this week that the Canadian government will invoke emergency powers to address the blockade of truckers protesting vaccine mandates. The Emergencies Act will give Trudeau the power to cut off funding to the truckers as their protests disrupt Ottawa. The news outlet Coindesk published a report saying Canadian authorities ordered financial institutions to stop all cryptocurrency transactions that go towards funding the truckers.

Responding to the report, Musk decided to tweet out a picture of Hitler with the caption: “Stop comparing me to Justin Trudeau. I had a budget.”

It looks even worse than you're picturing.

Musk has expressed his support for the trucker protest before, though he has also made fun of people who use Hitler comparisons to score political points. However, since Musk decided to compare Trudeau to the Nazi German dictator who murdered millions of Jews and others in a campaign of genocide, many people have taken notice of his tweet. It did not go well for him.

DailyBeast's Justin Baragona ironically addressed the question of stature vs posture, writing "Time's 'Person of the Year' just casually posting Hitler memes," while writer Gary Legum helped out historically, adding that "Aside from being grossly offensive, this isn't even accurate. The last thing Hitler cared about is someone telling him, say, 'Don't invade Russia, it will drain the national treasury.'"

Non-profit group the American Jewish Committee addressed the tweet, saying it was inappropriate and showed "poor judgment." 

"He must apologize immediately," wrote the AJC. It would be a prudent gesture but isn't likely.

The A-Block

‘Unconscionable’

The names and contact information of donors to fundraisers for the trucker protests were hacked from the platform GiveSendGo and released online. That data was mined by people who made threats and harassed the doxxed individuals, and by the media as well.

The Washington Post, Reuters, and others took the list and began hunting down donors large and small, not only using the hacked data themselves, but sharing it and naming names in articles and on social media.

A Canadian newspaper tracked down one of the individuals on the list, and wrote an article about her business closing down after she received threats as a result of the leak. The tweet of that article characterized the victim of the doxxing and threats as "regretting" her donation. It quoted her calling the convoy a "peaceful, grassroots movement" before adding, "She made the donation Feb. 5, when police were calling the protest“volatile and dangerous.”

That mean tweet got reaction on the right in both countries, and from one much less expected source: Rep. Ilhan Omar.

Omar defended those who were doxxed in no uncertain terms, calling the reporting "unconscionable" in a tweet that went viral.

She had more to say in her stern rebuke.


In Other News...

Chinese Billionaire Backing Steve Bannon and Gettr Files For Bankruptcy

'Humiliating Himself': Joe Scarborough Brutally Mocks John Durham's 'Indecipherable' Filing

Stephen A. Smith Implores Fans to Boycott the 'National Disgrace' New York Knicks in Fiery Rant

WATCH: Jewish MP Demands Apology From Trudeau After Canadian PM Accuses Her of Standing With ‘People Who Wave Swastikas’

Must See Clip

The Matthew Stafford Video

Quarterback Matthew Stafford was so busy pounding beers and 1942 Tequila at the Los Angeles Rams Super Bowl LVI parade Wednesday afternoon that there was no time to assist a photographer who suffered a frightening fall.

The photographer was standing near the edge of a stage to take pictures of the Rams quarterback and his wife Kelly Stafford when she took one step back and plummeted to the ground. Later identified as Kelly Smiley, the freelance photographer is a full-time photo editor for the NFL and L.A. Kings.

There's more to say but you have to see it to understand why it is breaking big online.

Links We Like

Will Culture War Doom Dems? Internal Polls Find They Must Respond
- Igor Derysh, Salon
Kamila Valieva Loses
- ESPN
The Plausible Dystopia Of A Social Credit System
- Damon Linker, The Week
Fact Check: Video Showing Banner on Trump Tower Reads 'Has a Little Mushroom D**k'
- Reuters
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