The audience development team for CNN has recently begun highlighting popular internet stories from rival Fox News that were missed by their own staff, according to a report by the Daily Beast.
Several sources claimed that a company-wide Slack messaging channel at CNN has been sharing popular online stories from Fox News alongside a fox emoji, which indicates that CNN did not cover that story, and likely should have. The news network is reportedly concerned that their current online traffic is in danger of shrinking as Fox News online increases in popularity.
Fox News has been the most-watched cable news network on television for several years, but CNN has maintained a substantial lead in internet popularity. A recent report conducted by CNN, however, shows that Fox News online has made substantial gains in digital traffic. The report shows that Fox gained 11 million unique multiplatform visitors in just over a year. CNN gained only two million visitors over the same period. Over the same period, Fox News outperformed CNN in total page views and total engagement time.
CNN has reportedly attributed Fox’s recent climb in online popularity to their selection process for digital content. Popular and highly shared content on Fox News tended to include trending and highly searched stories that skewed toward tabloid journalism, topics CNN had historically not considered to be newsworthy, according to sources. The stories now appearing in the company Slack channel alongside the telltale fox emoji were often viral and of a tabloid nature.
Fox News Digital Editor in Chief Porter Berry said of Fox’s recent online growth, “We are consistently number one in the ratings and now we are increasingly dominating the digital space as well. The quarterly milestone and March success proves that our investment in news and relentless focus on compelling storytelling has made FOX News an industry leader across all major platforms.”
Spokesman for CNN Matt Dornic said of the Daily Beast report, “Fox News has begun touting a digital growth story while publicly and aggressively targeting CNN so naturally, we’re reviewing their editorial focus to assess what might be generating increased interest in their site.”
CNN’s Barbara Levin did not respond to the Washington Examiner’s request for additional comment. After the initial publication of this story, Dornic — whose comment to the Daily Beast had already been included — attacked the Washington Examiner via Twitter.
After Dornic’s tweet, Levin emailed the Washington Examiner to say: “Matt Dornic is the right person for this. He heads up CNN Comms digital, not me.” Dornic subsequently emailed the Washington Examiner to say: “The [Washington] Examiner headline on your piece is wholly inaccurate. We would never suggest any real journalist take cues from Fox News.”
“Like any modern newsroom, our team reviews and analyzes stories that are performing especially well from all of our competitors — that includes NYT, BBC and also Fox News. It’s an important exercise in order to best serve our users.”
“Fox News has begun touting a digital growth story while publicly and aggressively targeting CNN so naturally we’re reviewing their editorial focus to assess what might be generating increased interest in their site. What we’ve determined is an alarming strategy I call the ‘the daily bikini.’ In fact, they’ve published nearly 100 stories with “bikini” in the headline over the past year.”
“That’s not journalism. It’s cheap. We would never to stoop to publishing garbage for clicks but there’s nothing wrong with our teams reviewing what our competitors are publishing.”
EDITOR’S NOTE: This story has been updated to add comments from Matt Dornic and provide more detail on our attempts to seek additional comment from CNN. The Washington Examiner stands by this story and headline.
