CNN's Dobbs May Get Prime-time Slot

In yet another effort to shore up their sagging ratings, CNN's top brass are thinking about giving Lou Dobbs a juicy prime-time spot.

According to New York Daily News business correspondent Phyllis Furman, the network execs are considering moving their top-rated financial commentator's "Lou Dobbs Tonight" show to a higher-profile niche in prime time.

"It's being discussed," a CNN exec told the Daily News, which added that the move would not take place until after the November elections. Nor has any specific prime-time spot been decided upon, a CNN source told Furman.

"With the presidential election less than a month away, it's silly to speculate on programming changes," CNN spokesman Matthew Furman told the News.

A jewel in CNN's otherwise lackluster lineup, Dobbs has hit home with his vocal crusade against U.S. companies outsourcing U.S. jobs overseas.

Since the beginning of the summer, ratings for "Lou Dobbs Tonight" have surged 25 percent, to 472,000 households, and Dobbs is outpacing CNN overall, which is up 13 percent, the News revealed. As a result, ad rates for his show are among CNN's highest.

"He's the most familiar financial news personality on television," Horizon Media director of research Brad Adgate told Furman.

But moving Dobbs from his 6 p.m. spot at the end of the business day could be risky, Tom Rosentiel, director of the Project for Excellence in Journalism, told the News. "The prime-time audience has a different mind-set."

Moreover, Dobbs, who refuses to comment on the matter, may not be interested in any move from his current spot, CNN insiders told the News.

What I remember about Dobbs leaving CNN, in the middle of a broadcast, was because he was critisizing Clinton too much to suit CNN. After he left, CNN's ratings dropped and they begged him back.

Here's a snip I found:

Dobbs' on-air blast at CNN chief
The rivalry between CNN President Rick Kaplan and CNN.fn boss and Moneyline host Lou Dobbs reached critical mass last week, when Dobbs challenged Kaplan's news savvy on the air during his top-rated business show. The brouhaha erupted last Thursday, when a Dobbs producer was ordered by Kaplan to cut away from Moneyline for live coverage of President Clinton's address at Columbine HS in Littleton, Co. Dobbs, who didn't consider the staged event breaking news, "was absolutely livid," says an insider. So livid, in fact, he ordered his producer to cut back to Moneyline. Kaplan -- a Clinton golf buddy -- immediately countered with an order to go back to Colorado. The tug-of-war ended with a visibly peeved Dobbs telling his audience they were returning to Columbine because "CNN President Rick Kaplan wants us to." Dobbs' comments were edited out of CNN's transcript of the show. "It was a real blowout," a source told PAGE SIX.
"There was mayhem in the studio with all the back and forth." The struggle continued Friday, when the still-steamed Kaplan fired off a memo stating that, between 6:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. -- the Moneyline time slot -- Atlanta headquarters will have "the final call." "Kaplan made it clear that he's still calling the shots," said our source. Dobbs, who is not a fan of the Clinton administration, is often at odds with Kaplan's fawning, kid-gloved treatment of the White House.
http://secure.mediaresearch.org/news/cyberalert/1999/cyb19990609.html#3

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