CNN conflated two statistics this week to falsely suggest that its ratings were equivalent to Fox News' during last week's coverage of President Donald Trump's inauguration.
The episode started when Trump on Tuesday congratulated Fox News on Twitter for "being number one in the inauguration ratings."
"They were many times higher than FAKE NEWS @CNN," he wrote.
CNN's public relations team responded to Trump's tweet, citing cumulative numbers from Nielsen Media Research. Cumulative numbers measure audience reach, while ratings — the statistic Trump referred to — measure the average number of people watching a given program.
"According to Nielsen cumulative numbers, 34 million people watched CNN's inauguration day coverage on television. 34 million watched Fox News," the CNN communications account said in a tweet, which was shared thousands of times and became the basis of several news stories.
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