THE DAILY NEWSLETTER  - WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 20, 2021

Media Winners & Losers

MEDIA WINNER:
Rachel Maddow

MSNBC, boosted by big audience numbers for Rachel Maddow, had the most viewers in prime time Friday, while CNN held on to its lead in most total day viewers and most viewers in the key A25-54 demographic.

With 3.29 million total viewers and 459,000 in the demo, MSNBC was the most-watched in prime time overall. CNN dominated in the key demo, with 726,000, and 2.84 million total viewers. Fox News was almost within reach of CNN’s total viewership, with nearly 2.7 million total viewers, and 440,000 viewers in the demo.

In total day viewership, CNN was again at the front of the pack, with 2.22 million total viewers, and the most in the demo, with 564,000 younger viewers. MSNBC had 2.18 million total viewers, and 365,000 in the demo. Fox News, on the Friday before launching a revamped daytime schedule that will see an expansion of opinion programming, was third in total day, with 1.58 million total viewers and 255,000 in the demo.

The Rachel Maddow Show was the most-watched in cable for the second consecutive day, and has been the most-watched cable news show for six straight...

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MEDIA LOSER:
David Chalian

CNN political director David Chalian had a few words of over-the-top praise for President-elect Joe Biden for the nationwide Covid-19 memorial that took place earlier Tuesday night.

The Biden inaugural committee hosted a somber nationwide Covid-19 memorial to mark the deaths of over 400,000 Americans from the virus over the past year.

The memorial received a lot of praise for the acknowledgement of this monumental loss by the incoming administration.

Chalian took that praise to a mockable level with his commentary, which was so out of range it actually undercut the somber tone intended.

"Those lights that are shooting out from the Lincoln Memorial along the reflecting pool, it’s almost extensions of Joe Biden’s arms embracing America. It was a moment where the new president came to town and sort of convened the country in this moment of remembrance, outstretching his arms."

"Extensions of Joe Biden’s arms embracing America" is exactly the kind of effusive, overwrought commentary that CNN hosts and analysts should be sensitive to as the transition to a Democratic administration is underway. 

Not just over the simple and repeated charge of "bias" thrown at every media organization, but because of the specific necessity of proving to both their friendly and their hostile audience that they can maintain at least some degree of distant professional decorum in switching to covering Biden after four years of increasingly angry coverage of now former President Donald Trump.

The A-Block

INAUGURATION

FULL INAUGURAL COVERAGE, INCLUDING PHOTOS, VIDEOS, LIVE FEEDS, AND MORE, ALL DAY AT MEDIAITE.

Some Form

Former President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that he and Melania Trump will "be back in some form" in the future.

Last Time

Former President Donald Trump, who used to be the president, waved goodbye and boarded Air Force One for the last time as he departed D.C. early, breaking tradition to dodge President Joe Biden, who is the president, being inaugurated.

Last Look

A fascinating photo essay of the final hours of the Trump presidency.

Pardons

Here is the full list of pardons by former President Trump on his final day in office.

And our guide to which celebrities did, and did NOT, make the list.

Patriot Party

Rumor mill says the former president wants to create a new political party after his own image.

Chris Stirewalt

Fox News digital politics editor Chris Stirewalt was laid off from the network on Tuesday, after a two months-plus absence from appearing on air.

Stirewalt, who was a member of the Fox News Decision Desk, was among the dozen-plus digital staffers that were let go as part of network restructuring. His inclusion in the layoffs was first reported by The Washington Post’s Sarah Ellison.

The network’s Decision Desk sparked intense outrage from the Trump White House and skepticism even from Fox’s own prime time stars after it called the state of Arizona for Joe Biden on Election Night. The decision, which made Fox the first network to call the state, has been repeatedly defended by the Decision Desk, and was ultimately certified as correct by the final vote count.

Just a day after the election, though, as the vote tallies were increasingly turning against Trump, Stirewalt had openly mocked that Trump was already pivoting to claiming fraud and foreshadowing a legal fight against the ominous election results: “Lawsuits, schmawsuits. We haven’t seen any evidence yet that there’s something wrong.”

He briefly appeared on Fox’s Bill Hemmer Reports the next day to make the same point, where during his introduction, bantering with the eponymous host, he said he was “living the dream, brother.”

One day later, however, Stirewalt was notably singled out during a radio interview by Republican Sen. Kevin Cramer (ND), who called for the Fox News digital editor to be fired because he was among many other “knuckleheads” who unfairly called Arizona for President-elect Joe Biden on Election Night.

After Cramer’s public demand, Stirewalt was never again on air on Fox News Channel. Stirewalt did appear on Fox Business Network’s Kennedy one final time on November 16th, and was unequivocal about Trump having lost and unapologetic about the Arizona call.

READ THE REST FROM MEDIAITE'S REED RICHARDSON



Fox News Hosts Demand Unity from Biden While Completely Ignoring Trump’s Boycott of Inauguration
OPINION

Viewers of Fox News over the past few weeks have heard the same message about President-elect Joe Biden: A “hope,” expressed skeptically, that he will bring a message of unity to heal the currently divided nation.

On the day of Biden’s inauguration— one explicitly themed “America United” — Fox News opinion hosts and pundits have doubled down on this message, which has become more of a demand that Biden must unite the country. But those same hosts have completely failed to note that President Donald Trump has completely boycotted the inauguration of the next White House resident for the first time in modern history.

This should be obvious to nonpartisans: nothing Joe Biden has done is as divisive as Trump refusing to attend his inauguration.

Almost every talking head on cable news has rightfully touted the peaceful transition of power as a defining pillar of American democracy over the past few weeks. A critical part of that tradition is the outgoing president and the first lady inviting the next president and first lady to the White House, joining them in a ride to the Capitol for the inauguration, and attending in support of the new administration.

President Trump has opted not to attend the inauguration after weeks of trying to overturn the results of the last election. Trump has never congratulated President-elect Joe Biden for winning the election, one that he repeatedly claimed was “stolen,” which led to a deadly insurrection on the Capitol led by his supporters.

Trump drew praise from Fox hosts for a “gracious” speech wishing the next administration well on Wednesday morning. A speech in which he refused to even utter Joe Biden’s name.

[Read the rest from Mediaite's Colby Hall]

 

Must See Clips/Tweets

Gloria, Gloria

CNN chief White House correspondent Jim Acosta has faced attacks and even an attempted banishment by the Trump administration, and on the final day of Donald Trump’s presidency, he faced one final indignity.

He was drowned out by "Gloria" to pretty great comic effect.

Links We Like

Hours Before Inauguration, Biden Looks Ahead to a New American Dawn
-  Charlotte Alter, Time
This Terrible Trump Experiment is Over at Last
- Thomas Friedman, New York Times

The Tragedy of Trump’s Presidency
- Andrew McCarthy, National Review

Camelot We Are Not
- Paul Petrick, Washington Examiner
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