ON CNN NEWS' CHANGES, PART II

MORE OF THE SAME

Well, I guess there's no accounting for journalistic tastes, mine that is...

My previous post focused on my distaste for two of CNN's prime new figures using their shows as bully pulpits for their favorite causes:  Lou Dobbs and Wolf Blitzer.  I hadn't planned on a follow-up post on the same subject, but a new development drives this post.

CNN brass apparently has decided to fire the one bright light (in this one person's humble view) in it's evening line-up, Aaron Brown as anchor of CNN's Newsnight program, and replace him with Anderson "360" Cooper.

You remember Cooper, don't you, he of the famous, impassioned hissy fit during the Katrina crisis, and the million dollar book contract in its aftermath? 

If you missed the breadth of Mr. Cooper's hurricane experience, some highlights can be found here, courtesy of the Chortler. 

I agree with Scripting News Dave Winer's pithy observation on this change:

" (Aaron Brown's) Newsnight was the only regular news show I would watch. Anderson Cooper is a putz."

The New York Times explains the motivations of the line-up changes thus, quoting CNN News head Joe Klein:

"Mr. Klein said the moves were made chiefly to elevate the profiles of the two news figures that he said have been growing in popularity at CNN, Mr. Cooper and Mr. Blitzer.

"We want to expose Anderson and Wolf to more people," Mr. Klein said."

As CNN news head Joe Klein says of Mr. Brown, 56,: 

"he is a first-class news talent, no question." But he repeated that CNN simply had no program to offer Mr. Brown.

Guess I'm just not hip enough to get Mr. Cooper's appeal, and am just getting older than the desired mainstream demographic.  (By the way, The San Francisco Chronicle has a lengthy piece on Messrs. Brown vs. Cooper if you're interested in more details of this news opera).

I wonder what pet cause Anderson Cooper will make his signature bully pulpit cause.  Lou Dobbs has "Broken Borders" and "Exporting America", and Wolf Blitzer has "Pandemic Bird Flu". 

Maybe Anderson can split the difference and go with "Pandemic Bird Flu crosses our Broken Borders, thus successfully exporting Asian Avian diseases to America in the aftermath of the 2005 hurricane season".  Should be good for most of the year, I'd reckon...hopefully by then, he'll have found his own pet pablum.

In the meantime, I'll be over at Fox News, waiting for Internet-driven TV with thousands of TV news options.

Comments

[judy]

Joe Klein has not a clue as to what CNN talent should be. Where in heavens did he come from. Oops, I forgot we can't say anything with a religious meaning. This religious right is scaring me to death.
Now it is CNN and for that matter the mealy mouth media as a whole.
I have had to go the MSNBC for some of my news.
Most I get from the internet.
I am so tired of these sound bites with little time to hear the truth!!

[judy]

Joe Klein has not a clue as to what CNN talent should be. Where in heavens did he come from. Oops, I forgot we can't say anything with a religious meaning. This religious right is scaring me to death.
Now it is CNN and for that matter the mealy mouth media as a whole.
I have had to go the MSNBC for some of my news.
Most I get from the internet.
I am so tired of these sound bites with little time to hear the truth!!

[judy]

Joe Klein has not a clue as to what CNN talent should be. Where in heavens did he come from. Oops, I forgot we can't say anything with a religious meaning. This religious right is scaring me to death.
Now it is CNN and for that matter the mealy mouth media as a whole.
I have had to go the MSNBC for some of my news.
Most I get from the internet.
I am so tired of these sound bites with little time to hear the truth!!