TV Cable Ratings: MSNBC Losing Viewers

MSNBC — which has been slammed for refusing to refer to Hamas attackers as terrorists during its coverage — has lost 33% of its primetime viewers since the deadly attack on Israel.

The Ny Post reports the cable news channel — home to anchors Rachel Maddow, Lawrence O’Donnell, and Joy Reid — saw its total viewer figures plunge 24% for the four days between Oct. 7 and 10, compared to the same period the previous week.

Meanwhile, rival Fox News has gotten a 42% jolt in total viewers, and even ratings-challenged CNN saw a 17% spike as new boss Mark Thompson took the reins this week.

Fox handily won in primetime over the four-day period, averaging 2.1 million, according to Nielsen. MSNBC came in second with 960,000 and CNN logged 760,000 viewers.

Graphic Courtesy of RoadMN (w/permission)

MSNBC has drawn intense criticism over its coverage of Hamas’ attack on Israel, which killed more than 1,200, including 25 Americans.

The network has run a joint death toll graphic that lumps the casualties together, unlike other networks that separate the number of Israelis killed from those in Gaza.

NewsNation host Dan Abrams singled out MSNBC anchors Ayman Mohyeldin, Mehdi Hasan, and Ali Velshi for saying the Hamas assault was the result of “failed policies” by Israel and the US.

“Right. It’s Israel’s fault. It’s the United States fault,” Abrams said mockingly on Monday. “The policies that somehow justify or even explain the slaughter, rapes, and kidnapping of innocent civilians.”

“And that ridiculous commentary set the tone for much of MSNBC’s coverage throughout the weekend, where many hosts seemed determined to say, ‘Well, what about the Palestinians?’”

MSNBC Benches Muslim Pundits

Meanwhile, MSNBC has quietly taken three of its Muslim broadcasters out of the anchor’s chair since Hamas’s attack on Israel last Saturday amid America’s wave of sympathy for Israeli terror victims.

The network did not air a scheduled Thursday night episode of The Mehdi Hasan Show on the streaming platform Peacock. MSNBC also reversed a plan for Ayman Mohyeldin to fill in this week on the network for host Joy Reid’s 7 p.m. show on Thursday and Friday. Mohyeldin, an Egyptian-American journalist and veteran NBC News correspondent covered the conflict from Gaza for two years. In 2021, he aggressively questioned Israeli leaders on strikes on the territory. 

Two network sources with knowledge of the plans told Semafor that the network also plans to have Alicia Menendez fill in this upcoming weekend for Ali Velshi, a third Muslim-American host who on Sunday interviewed a spokesman for the Palestinian Authority.