Viacom is crashing

Viacom shares are getting smoked on Tuesday, falling as much as 14% in morning trading after the company reported earnings results.

The earnings Tuesday also came with a strong defense of the company from CEO Philippe Dauman, who responded to "naysayers" and "self-interested critics."

Here's a snippet of Dauman's commentary, via Rich Greenfield at BTIG:

"Our outlook and the facts have been distorted and obscured by the naysayers, self-interest critics and publicity seekers. You will not be distracted or deterred as we build for the bright future ahead of us."

These comments likely remind media investors of what Disney CEO Bob Iger said in August 2015 when he opened the company's earnings call with a lengthy defense of ESPN.

The broadest media concern then as now is a mounting decline in cable subscriptions, which would likely harm both ESPN and Viacom's suite of cable channels. Disney is set to report earnings after the market close on Tuesday.

In its most recent quarter Viacom reported a 3% decline in revenue from its media networks. Viacom, which own Nickelodeon and Comedy Central, among other channels, reported a 6% drop in revenues to $3.15 billion. Adjusted earnings per share came in at $1.13.

Sales in the filmed entertainment division also fell by 15% as the company put out fewer releases, according to Reuters.

"2015 was a challenging year operationally as we redesigned ourselves and adapted to significant industry disruption," Dauman said in the earnings statement. "Our first fiscal quarter of 2016 reflected these challenges."

Investors have also hate to contend with concerns around the company and its leadership structure. Last week, Sumner Redstone stepped down as executive chairman and was replaced by Dauman, after pressure from Investment adviser SpringOwl and Redstone's daughter Shari.

Shari, however, did not support Dauman's elevation to the chairman role at Viacom.

Dauman is one of seven trustees, including Shari and her son, that will take over nearly 80% of the voting shares at CBS and Viacom after Redstone dies.

This chart shows the drop in the stock Tuesday. Shares are down about 47% over the last 12 months.