As is often the case with a big news event, viewing for cable news channels surged Wednesday and Thursday with coverage of the murder of conservative activist Charlie Kirk .

Fox News , MSNBC and CNN all saw increased ratings Wednesday and Thursday as they offered extensive coverage of Kirk’s death by a gunman during a speaking event at Utah Valley University on Wednesday afternoon. Police arrested 22-year-old Tyler Robinson of Utah in connection with the murder late Thursday.

In primetime Wednesday, the three networks collectively averaged 6.89 million viewers, a 65 percent jump from the 4.17 million who watched a week earlier. Thursday’s combined audience of 6.2 million was up 72 percent from the prior week’s 3.6 million.

As is often the case with a big news event, viewing for

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