Brian Stelter Hits Back at Sarah Sanders Over Attack on CNN’s Ratings

CNN’s Brian Stelter corrected Sarah Sanders on Tuesday after the White House press secretary took a shot at his network’s ratings.

Responding to a tweet about CNN airing footage of Democratic Senators from Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh‘s Senate hearing, Sanders echoed her boss by trashing CNN’s ratings.

“Can’t imagine why @CNN has such low ratings when during the day they break from live coverage to show reruns,” she wrote.

Can’t imagine why @CNN has such low ratings when during the day they break from live coverage to show reruns. https://t.co/nIsUyt9TTp

— Sarah Sanders (@PressSec) September 4, 2018

Stelter responded by pointing out that not only is it bizarre for a press secretary to be commenting on the ratings of cable news organizations, but that her claim was false.

“It’s weird to see a White House press secretary talking about cable news ratings, AND she’s wrong about the facts,” the Reliable Sources host wrote.

It’s weird to see a White House press secretary talking about cable news ratings, AND she’s wrong about the facts. This was TVNewser’s headline just the other day: “CNN Has Its Second-Best August Ever.” https://t.co/Z958X4FmGe https://t.co/WHTtp261nL

— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) September 4, 2018

He linked to an article on TVNewser, the website he once ran, touting CNN’s ratings successes in August. The network notched its second best August ever, and defeated MSNBC in the prime time demo. The network did, however, post double-digit declines in prime time and total day viewers compared to August 2017.

[image via screengrab]

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