(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) Liberals wanting to read CNN will soon find themselves forced to pay fees as the leftist network plans to enforce paywalls for visitors.
The news organization announced Tuesday that it is “laying the first bricks” on a $3.99 paywall to help foot the bill.
This follows CNN’s embarrassing launch of CNN+, a streaming service and online platform that crumbled within a month of its high-profile debut.
CNN’s paywall initiative is being led by executive Alex MacCallum, who ironically implemented CNN+ before briefly leaving the company and rejoining earlier this year.
She claimed that users within the United States will be asked to “pay a small recurring fee for unlimited access to CNN.com’s world-class articles.”
Mirroring the marketing behind CNN+, MacCallum stated that paying users will have “unlimited access to CNN.com’s articles.”
She noted that subscribers will benefit from “exclusive election features, original documentaries, a curated daily selection of our most distinctive journalism, and fewer digital ads.”
Neither MacCallum nor CNN communications executive Shani George immediately responded to Headline USA’s request for comment on whether the outlet is recycling content from CNN+ for its website.
Big news about CNN today: CNN's website, one of the most popular news sites in the world, is starting to ask some users to pay $3.99 a month for access — laying the first bricks in a paywall that should, over time, help foot the bill for CNN's journalism. https://t.co/fW7PwFHmts
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) October 1, 2024
MacCallum claimed that the paywall will first appear after users consume a certain number of free articles.
CNN’s enforcement of a paywall comes as the channel struggles with declining viewership, just months after it fired roughly 100 employees.
According to Adweek, CNN has faced double-digit declines in week-to-week viewership since the ABC News debate between President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris on Sept. 10.
For the week of Sept. 16, CNN experienced the “biggest” decline compared to competitors MSNBC and Fox News, with a 43 percent drop in primetime audience and a 54 percent drop in viewers aged 25 to 54.
“Over on the charts, CNN placed fifth among primetime total viewers and eighth in the primetime demo after ranking at No. 4 and No. 3 last week,” Adweek wrote. “It fell from third to fourth place in total day total viewers and from fourth to sixth in the total day demo.”
