Synthaholic
Diamond Member
- Jul 21, 2010
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- #81
How to save CNN
CNN's president announced last week he's stepping down. Here's my plan to save the ailing news network
BY ALEX PAREENE
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Jay Rosen's excellent take on it:
https://plus.google.com/u/0/106506966828595242496/posts/QvNKFSPejXo
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I'm not going to bother posting parts of either of these, other than to say that Professor Rosen makes the salient point that CNN International makes all the money (15% growth), so they could care less about the U.S. version.
If you are interested, click the links. If you post about it, I'll reply.
Is "fire Dana Loesch" on there?
He didn't single her out, but he did say:
Fire everyone
The majority of the “best political team on television” and the prime time lineup needs to go, immediately. Hundreds of pundits and analysts sitting in various combinations at oddly tall tables or game-show-style panels is actually not good analysis or TV. Just a few thoughtful people to provide context and commentary would be sufficient, and then maybe some smart people having conversations, instead of former or current political hacks having talking point competitions. No one ever needs to hear from David Gergen again, by the way.
But the real problem is later. Two-thirds of the prime time line-up is hosted by unpleasant people. Erin Burnett’s entire television persona is “condescending asshole” — which makes sense because she made her name at CNBC, a channel whose audience is 90 percent asshole. But CNN’s audience is theoretically supposed to be “everyone.” The worst part is that Burnett has internalized the viewpoint and priorities of the financial elite, which for some reason doesn’t count as having a “bias” according to CNN’s devotion to avoiding the appearance of partisanship. It’s a weird choice to host a major prime time show during a period of mass economic misery coupled with incredible success for a tiny financial elite! It is not hugely surprising that people are not into her show.
But I can at least imagine the sort of person Burnett does appeal to. On the other hand, IÂ’m almost certain that no one on the planet likes Piers Morgan.
*snip*
Wolf Blitzer is essentially the “face” of the channel — when they took away poor John King’s show this summer they gave the extra hour to “The Situation Room” — and he is plainly an idiot. I mean that very sincerely: He is just obviously not a very intelligent or thoughtful person. I think the idea is that he’s too dumb to mess up “the news” with messy “informed opinions” on what he’s talking about, but I think perhaps the audience would be better served by having a person with a brain in charge of “The Situation Room.”
The majority of the “best political team on television” and the prime time lineup needs to go, immediately. Hundreds of pundits and analysts sitting in various combinations at oddly tall tables or game-show-style panels is actually not good analysis or TV. Just a few thoughtful people to provide context and commentary would be sufficient, and then maybe some smart people having conversations, instead of former or current political hacks having talking point competitions. No one ever needs to hear from David Gergen again, by the way.
But the real problem is later. Two-thirds of the prime time line-up is hosted by unpleasant people. Erin Burnett’s entire television persona is “condescending asshole” — which makes sense because she made her name at CNBC, a channel whose audience is 90 percent asshole. But CNN’s audience is theoretically supposed to be “everyone.” The worst part is that Burnett has internalized the viewpoint and priorities of the financial elite, which for some reason doesn’t count as having a “bias” according to CNN’s devotion to avoiding the appearance of partisanship. It’s a weird choice to host a major prime time show during a period of mass economic misery coupled with incredible success for a tiny financial elite! It is not hugely surprising that people are not into her show.
But I can at least imagine the sort of person Burnett does appeal to. On the other hand, IÂ’m almost certain that no one on the planet likes Piers Morgan.
*snip*
Wolf Blitzer is essentially the “face” of the channel — when they took away poor John King’s show this summer they gave the extra hour to “The Situation Room” — and he is plainly an idiot. I mean that very sincerely: He is just obviously not a very intelligent or thoughtful person. I think the idea is that he’s too dumb to mess up “the news” with messy “informed opinions” on what he’s talking about, but I think perhaps the audience would be better served by having a person with a brain in charge of “The Situation Room.”
