Journalist Glenn Greenwald tore into CNN host Brian Stelter Wednesday over his low ratings.
Stelter referenced a Daily Beast article that said Greenwald has “become a practitioner of manufactured controversy in the service of the hard right in this country.” Greenwald co-founded The Intercept but left in 2020 after claiming the outlet censored him. He is now a vocal critic of The Intercept.
“The only ones with a smaller audience than CNN is the Intercept,” Greenwald said in response to Stelter. “This won’t help, Brian.” (RELATED: ‘They Saw Him As A Toy’: Glenn Greenwald Details The Media Mythology Surrounding Brian Sicknick’s Death)
He also slammed CNN’s “Reliable Sources,” which Stelter hosts, saying that it gets “fewer views than a Manhattan street.”
“If I were @brianstelter and hosted a weekend show that has fewer viewers than the average Manhattan street – all while watching my network collapse – I’d guess I’d also be doing things like tweeting random insults about me from obscure Intercept editors,” Greenwald wrote. “Have to numb the pain.”
If I were @brianstelter and hosted a weekend show that has fewer viewers than the average Manhattan street — all while watching my network collapse — I’d guess I’d also be doing things like tweeting random insults about me from obscure Intercept editors. Have to numb the pain.
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) June 2, 2021
Greenwald also responded to a now-deleted Tweet from Stelter claiming that Reliable Sources has “hundreds of millions of viewers.”
“Now you’re claiming you have hundreds of millions of viewers?” he asked. “Maybe time to lay off the potatoes.”
“Reliable Sources” has struggled to hold onto its audience after former President Donald Trump left office. Since January, the show lost 53% of its total viewers and 63% of its audience in the critical 25 – 54 age demographic, according to Nielson Media Research.
More broadly, CNN’s ratings have fallen, losing nearly 70% of its total viewers since Trump left office.