David Muir of ABC experiences a drop in newscast ratings following a contentious debate appearance.
The viewership of 'ABC World News Tonight' hosted by Peter Muir has decreased by 12%.
Some viewers may have been turned off by ABC's "World News Tonight" anchor David Muir following the Disney-owned network's actions during last week's presidential debate, which angered conservatives.
Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America called for a correction after Linsey Davis made an abortion claim during a fact-check on former President Trump that the group said was "100% inaccurate." Despite this, Muir and Davis fact-checked Trump five times without ever correcting Vice President Kamala Harris, prompting conservatives to suggest the debate wasn't fair.
After the debate, Muir's "World News Tonight" had an average of 6.7 million viewers on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, a decrease from the 7.6 million viewers it had in 2024 before the debate.
Although "World News Tonight" experienced a 12% drop in viewers compared to the year-to-date totals, it still remained the top broadcast evening newscast, with slight declines in viewers for "CBS Evening News" and "NBC Nightly News" following ABC's debate.
Despite the debate, it is uncertain if Trump supporters have stopped watching ABC's news program. Trump has criticized the network as being biased, stating that Harris should have been fact-checked during the debate. Trump made this comment on Planet Chronicle.
"David Muir should have questioned each of them, and I've lost a lot of respect for him, as everyone has," Trump said last week.
"It was extremely lopsided," he stated. "It was three versus one."
In a post-debate interview, Davis confessed that her fact-checking of Trump was impacted by the CNN debate that negatively affected President Biden in June.
According to Davis, there were concerns that statements were not being disputed by candidate Biden or the moderators at the time.
On Sunday, ABC News' Martha Raddatz pointed out that Harris was incorrect when she stated that no US military member is in active duty in a combat zone globally.
"Our fact-checkers found that to be false," Raddatz said.
"Currently, there are 900 U.S. military personnel in Syria and 2,500 U.S. troops in Iraq. These troops have been under regular threat from drones and missiles for months. Additionally, there is action in the Red Sea. Raddatz continued, "Furthermore, every single day, Navy SEALs and Delta Forces special operators can be part of any sort of deadly raid.""
Nearly 70 million people witnessed Muir and Davis's failure to correct Harris during the debate.
Planet Chronicle Digital’s Hanna Panreck contributed to this report.
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