Briefs: Peabody’s cancel awards due to writers strike; CNN ratings crater post Trump town hall

Peabody Awards ceremony won't happen this year; CNN ratings cratered two days after Trump town hall. PEABODY/CNN

Credit: PEABODY/CNN

Credit: PEABODY/CNN

Peabody Awards ceremony won't happen this year; CNN ratings cratered two days after Trump town hall. PEABODY/CNN

The Peabody Awards canceled its awards ceremony next month in Los Angeles in deference to the two-week-old Writers Guild of America strike against motion picture and TV producers.

In a statement, the non-profit organization, which is based out of the University of Georgia, only alluded to the strike when it said the action was done amid “ongoing uncertainty and meaningful challenges that exist industrywide,” and acknowledged “the position” many 2023 nominees “find themselves in.”

The 83rd annual awards, selected by a prestigious panel of judges, honor a variety of media, including TV series, documentaries, podcasts and games. This year’s winners included ABC’s “Abbott Elementary,” Apple TV+’s “Severance” and second wins for both FX’s “Atlanta” and AMC’s “Better Call Saul.”

This was the first year the ceremony was to be held in Los Angeles after many years in New York and the first in-person celebration since 2019, a year before the pandemic began.

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CNN saw its ratings drop sharply on Friday evening, two days after drawing 3.3 million during last Wednesday’s town hall with Donald Trump.

During primetime, CNN drew just 335,000 viewers on average, according to Nielsen. This placed CNN in fourth place among cable news networks, behind even Newsmax, which brought in 357,000 viewers. CNN has seen depressed numbers in recent months but this was especially poor. (CNN did beat Newsmax among 25-54 year olds since Newsmax’s audience is much older.)

Since Tucker Carlson was let go last month, Fox News has seen declining numbers as well, elevating Newsmax, but Fox’s audience was four times larger than CNN at 1.4 million. MSNBC brought in 1.1 million.