CNN’s Brian Stelter’s revised book ‘Hoax’ has delivered ’embarrassing’ sales in its two weeks on the shelves, data obtained by DailyMail.com shows.
Stelter originally released his book Hoax: Donald Trump, Fox News, and the Dangerous Distortion of Truth in August 2020, but on June 8 released an updated version with new chapters on the January 6 Capitol Riot, claims of voter fraud, and the rise of conservative media outlets Newsmax and OANN.
But despite Stelter’s aggressive book tour – which included stops at CNN’s Cuomo Prime Time and New Day, MSNBC’s Chris Hayes, C-SPAN, the Joe Madison Podcast, a launch party and nonstop promotion on his Twitter – the numbers are worrisome.
According to Bookscan, ‘Hoax’ sold just 1,738 copies in its first week, which left it off of the Publisher’s Weekly bestseller list.
The book doesn’t even appear on Amazon’s bestseller list and is ranked 4,007- behind children’s books.
Earlier this month, CNN’s Brian Stelter released an updated version to his 2020 book Hoax: Donald Trump, Fox News, and the Dangerous Distortion of Truth
Stelter said he added 20,000 words to the original, 13 new chapters and even changed the cover to show faces of Fox News hosts instead of the back of Trump’s head
Despite Stelter’s aggressive book tour – which included stops at CNN’s Cuomo Prime Time and New Day, MSNBC’s Chris Hayes , C-SPAN, the Joe Madison Podcast, a launch party and nonstop promotion on his Twitter – his book hasn’t sold. Stelter and his CNN colleagues are pictured at the launch party
Several CNN talent and executives joined Stelter for his book launch party at a bar in Hell’s Kitchen, Manhattan last week.
High-profile CNN anchors Alisyn Camerota, Victor Blackwell, Ana Cabrera, and Poppy Harlow all showed up to support their colleague.
Ousted CNN chief legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin – who returned to the network this month after an embarrassing suspension – was also in attendance.
In its initial release, ‘Hoax’ did make the New York Times bestseller list. Stelter said he added 20,000 words to the original, 13 new chapters and even changed the cover to show faces of Fox News hosts.
Stelter with his wife Jamie Shupak at the launch party for his book
The description says the book is ‘for anyone who reads the news and wonders how we got here, and what happens next.’
This comes as Stelter’s ratings continue to plummet after his Father’s Day episode of ‘Reliable Sources’ drew only 656,000 viewers in his least-watched showing of 2021.
It marks the the 12th consecutive week Stelter’s show failed to hit one million views.
In comparison, Fox News, which Stelter has been critical of, airs ‘MediaBuzz’ during Stelter’s direct timeslot. That show averages 1.14 million viewers to top ‘Reliable Sources’ by 74 percent, Fox News reported.
Reliable Sources, which airs weekly on Sundays, has suffered a disastrous ratings drop since interest from early this year peaked for all cable news amid the Capitol riot and Inauguration Day.
So far in June, Stelter’s ratings are down 57 percent overall since January, and 67 percent in the key age demographic prized by advertisers, 25-54, according to Nielsen data reviewed by DailyMail.com.
Biden’s presidency has seemingly zapped CNN’s ratings.
The Washington Times reported CNN as a whole lost 44 percent of its total audience since the last week of January, but Stelter in particular has been the target of scrutiny.
In early June, he was ripped for lobbing softball questions to White House press secretary Jen Psaki in an exclusive one-on-one interview.
Stelter’s first question was, ‘What does the press get wrong when covering Biden’s agenda?’
Psaki replied: ‘Some of our muscles have atrophied a little bit over the last few years, and there isn’t a lot of memory — recent memory or longer memory — on how long it takes to get legislation forward or how messy the process of negotiating and the process of getting legislation across the finish line can be.
‘So we know, we understand everybody is always looking for a deadline, a timeline, things like that,’ she continued. ‘I don’t know if that’s the press getting it wrong. I’ll leave you to the critique of that, Brian.’
One Twitter user called the book a ‘baseless cash grab’
Stelter’s book has gotten backlash online from conservatives who believe CNN is ‘fake news’
Stelter originally released his book Hoax: Donald Trump, Fox News, and the Dangerous Distortion of Truth in August 2020, but on June 8 released an updated version with new chapters on the January 6 Capitol Riot, claims of voter fraud, and the rise of conservative media outlets Newsmax and OANN
Afterward, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Glenn Greenwald, who broke one of the Edward Snowden stories, tweeted it was ‘one of the most sycophantic interviews of a state official you’ll ever see.’
Former press secretary for President Donald Trump Kayleigh McEnany also blasted Stelter’s interview with Psaki for not asking pertinent questions about Dr. Anthony Fauci in the wake of his email dump.
McEnany maintains that during a one-on-one interview Stelter conducted with Psaki, the issue was never mentioned either during the CNN interview or by the White House press pool during a daily press briefing.
Last week, Stelter came under fire again after Joe Rogan blasted Stelter on his podcast ‘The Joe Rogan Experience’ after Stelter lamented that some YouTubers draw more viewers than cable networks.
‘They were describing it as if they were entitled to viewers,’ Rogan said. ‘This is because the market has spoken and your show’s f**ing terrible.
‘Brian Stelter’s show keeps slipping and slipping and slipping in the ratings. Same with Don Lemon’s. It’s the same thing. Everybody knows they’re not real. They’re not real humans,’ he continued.
Rogan piled on with more criticisms of Stelter’s interview with Psaki saying, ‘How about Brian Stelter talking to the press secretary saying, ‘What are we doing wrong? What are we doing wrong?’ Like, hey motherf***er, you’re supposed to be a journalist.
Stelter, host of CNN’s ‘Reliable Sources,’ hasn’t hit the one-million viewer mark for 12 straight weeks
Reliable Sources has shed 57 percent of its viewers overall (left) since January, and 67 percent in the key age demographic prized by advertisers; 25-54 (right)
‘They’re obviously being told a certain amount of what to do,’ said Rogan of Stelter and other cable news hosts.
‘Maybe he’d be an interesting guy if he had his own f**in’ podcast, if he could just rely on his own personality and be himself. I don’t know. I can’t imagine doing that gig. Any of those guys. That gig is a strange gig,’ he said.
As pointed out by Mediaite, Rogan’s talk may have been spurred in part by a segment Stelter did last month mocking Rogan’s ‘overreaction’ to ‘woke cancel culture.’
Stelter played clips of Rogan expressing fears that eventually ‘straight white men’ would be forbidden from speaking or going outside if woke culture took its course, remarks that Stelter sneered were ‘crazy’.
Stelter continued: ‘On one level it’s just comical hearing this rich and famous guy express worries even though he’s paid to talk for a living, he’s going to be silenced in the future.’