CNN anchor Brian Stelter's show bombs to smallest audience of the year with just 656,000 viewers after fawning interview with Jen Psaki

 CNN's Brian Stelter's ratings continue to plummet after his Father's Day episode of 'Reliable Sources' drew only 656,000 viewers in his least-watched showing of 2021. 

It marks the the 12th consecutive week Stelter's show failed to hit one million views. 

In comparison, Fox News, which Stelter has been critical of, airs 'MediaBuzz' during Stelter's direct timeslot. That show averages 1.14 million viewers to top 'Reliable Sources' by 74 percent, Fox News reported. 


Reliable Sources, which airs weekly on Sundays, has suffered a disastrous ratings drop since interest from early this year peaked for all cable news amid the Capitol riot and Inauguration Day.

So far in June, Stelter's ratings are down 57 percent overall since January, and 67 percent in the key age demographic prized by advertisers, 25-54, according to Nielsen data reviewed by DailyMail.com. 

Brian Stelter, host of CNN's 'Reliable Sources,' hasn't hit the one-million viewer mark for 12 straight weeks

Brian Stelter, host of CNN's 'Reliable Sources,' hasn't hit the one-million viewer mark for 12 straight weeks

Stelter (left) took flack for his interview with White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki (right)  which critics called 'fawning' and 'sycophantic'

Stelter (left) took flack for his interview with White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki (right)  which critics called 'fawning' and 'sycophantic'

Reliable Sources has shed 57 percent of its viewers overall (left) since January, and 67 percent in the key age demographic prized by advertisers; 25-54 (right)

Reliable Sources has shed 57 percent of its viewers overall (left) since January, and 67 percent in the key age demographic prized by advertisers; 25-54 (right)

Biden's presidency has seemingly zapped CNN's ratings. 

The Washington Times reported CNN as a whole lost 44 percent of its total audience since the last week of January, but Stelter in particular has been the target of scrutiny. 

In early June, he was ripped for lobbing softball questions to White House press secretary Jen Psaki in an exclusive one-on-one interview. 

Stelter's first question was, 'What does the press get wrong when covering Biden's agenda?'

Psaki replied: 'Some of our muscles have atrophied a little bit over the last few years, and there isn’t a lot of memory — recent memory or longer memory — on how long it takes to get legislation forward or how messy the process of negotiating and the process of getting legislation across the finish line can be.

'So we know, we understand everybody is always looking for a deadline, a timeline, things like that,' she continued. 'I don’t know if that’s the press getting it wrong. I’ll leave you to the critique of that, Brian.'

Afterward, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Glenn Greenwald, who broke one of the Edward Snowden stories, tweeted it was 'one of the most sycophantic interviews of a state official you'll ever see.' 


Former press secretary for President Donald Trump Kayleigh McEnany also blasted Stelter's interview with Psaki for not asking pertinent questions about Dr. Anthony Fauci in the wake of his email dump.  

McEnany maintains that during a one-on-one interview Stelter conducted with Psaki, the issue was never mentioned either during the CNN interview or by the White House press pool during a daily press briefing.

Last week, Stelter came under fire again after Joe Rogan blasted Stelter on his podcast 'The Joe Rogan Experience' after Stelter lamented that some YouTubers draw more viewers than cable networks. 

'They were describing it as if they were entitled to viewers,' Rogan said. 'This is because the market has spoken and your show's f**ing terrible.

'Brian Stelter's show keeps slipping and slipping and slipping in the ratings. Same with Don Lemon's. It's the same thing. Everybody knows they're not real. They're not real humans,' he continued.

Rogan piled on with more criticisms of Stelter's interview with Psaki saying, 'How about Brian Stelter talking to the press secretary saying, 'What are we doing wrong? What are we doing wrong?' Like, hey motherf***er, you're supposed to be a journalist.

Podcast host Joe Rogan has slammed CNN host Brian Stelter, mocking his falling ratings and slamming his show Reliable Sources as 'terrible'

Podcast host Joe Rogan has slammed CNN host Brian Stelter, mocking his falling ratings and slamming his show Reliable Sources as 'terrible'

'They're obviously being told a certain amount of what to do,' said Rogan of Stelter and other cable news hosts. 

'Maybe he'd be an interesting guy if he had his own f**in' podcast, if he could just rely on his own personality and be himself. I don't know. I can't imagine doing that gig. Any of those guys. That gig is a strange gig,' he said.  

As pointed out by Mediaite, Rogan's talk may have been spurred in part by a segment Stelter did last month mocking Rogan's 'overreaction' to 'woke cancel culture.'

Stelter played clips of Rogan expressing fears that eventually 'straight white men' would be forbidden from speaking or going outside if woke culture took its course, remarks that Stelter sneered were 'crazy'.

Stelter continued: 'On one level it's just comical hearing this rich and famous guy express worries even though he's paid to talk for a living, he's going to be silenced in the future.'   

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