CNN Chief Defends Trump's Town Hall

CNN was taking a lot of flak Thursday for its town hall with Donald Trump, but this much is clear: It was a ratings success. The prime-time forum drew 3.1 million viewers, enough to make it No. 1 among the cable news networks for the night, reports Axios. That includes 700,000 viewers in the coveted 25-to-45 demographic, roughly four times what the network usually draws. The Los Angeles Times notes that the show was CNN's highest-rated since its July coverage of the January 6 hearings. On the other hand, the total number of viewers amounts to what used to be a routine night for Tucker Carlson on Fox News before his recent ouster, per the Times.

CNN's critics are fuming that the network allowed Trump to air his claims about a rigged election and other matters in a forum that made real-time challenges difficult, but CEO Chris Licht was unapologetic Thursday. “I absolutely, unequivocally believe America was served very well by what we did last night,” Licht told CNN staffers in a call, reports the New York Times. “People woke up, and they know what the stakes are in this election in a way that they didn’t the day before. And if someone was going to ask tough questions and have that messy conversation, it damn well should be on CNN.”