CNN may need ABC, CBS to survive (Dinosaur Media DeathWatch™)

Chicago Tribune ^ | April 7, 2010 | Phil Rosenthal

[abb]

You know what you don't hear very often? The phrase, "So last night I was watching CNN and ..."

What you do hear is how CNN's top shows are in a free fall. And this has occasioned much discussion in journalism circles of late along the lines of: "Can CNN be saved?" "Will CNN be saved?" and "Here's how to save CNN ..."

Most of the suggestions for salvation involve stronger, more focused program concepts. These shows presumably would fill enough of a need or niche to become a viewing habit regardless of the day's headlines. Hoping a particular situation will draw a crowd to Wolf Blitzer's "The Situation Room," not surprisingly, is hit or miss.

But the rescue of CNN, which in the just-completed first quarter of 2010 saw overall viewership for star hosts Larry King and Anderson Cooper each drop more than 40 percent compared to 2009, is going to require far more than a makeover of its schedule, although that's an important and necessary first step.

For years, the potential of a partnership or merger with a broadcast network news division has been discussed. Between CNN's troubles and economic-driven cuts and concerns elsewhere, this might be the time to pull the trigger with either ABC or CBS.

Whichever broadcaster CNN married, the two would share resources and spread out costs the way NBC News does with MSNBC. Cable would provide a place to rerun broadcast reports and reuse network reporters over the course of the day. But it's more than just a time and money play.

The broadcaster would provide wider exposure for the best of what the cable network had to offer, post-makeover, and shows such as ABC's "Nightline" and CBS' "48 Hours" would provide a template for more interesting storytelling than CNN now offers.

snip

[abb]

[abb]

ping

[Tarpon]

Maybe CNN should try telling the truth for something new ...

[Red Badger]

The further left they go, the less viewers they have. I think there may be a connection.................

[SevenofNine]

Hey ABB I didn’t tell you I got rid of my Dish network in place of Verizon FIOS I am addict to BBC world news I don’t get crap about CNN anymore

[Psalm 144]

Indeed. We are watching the end of 20th century leftist dominance. What we see in the government is the final flare up before it gutters out.

[Ozone34]

I love that magazine cover. It brings back fond memories.

[9YearLurker]

Consolidation of the losers. Happens in any mature industry. might as well put ms/nbc together with whichever doesn’t take cnn. Then in another 4 or 5 years those two could combine together—and you’ll have the Unisys of the lamestream TV media.

[Buckeye McFrog]

Go find someplace that is being bombed and send the anchor crew in for a live remote. It’s about the only thing that has ever worked for you.

[TexasFreeper2009]

Maybe if some supposed NEWS network actually covered the NEWS...

I have 4+ supposedly 24 hours news channels, and I would say at best when I tune them in 10% of the time they are actually doing news. The rest of the time its some sort of legal show or a special on Americas prisons or other nonsense. The 10% of the time they are actually talking about the days events they spend 90% of that time in editorial/interview type formats like Hannity, Chris Matthews, Olbermann, King, ect. Weekends they basically all shut down, and late nights they purposely turn themselves into a joke literally.

I just don't get it.

[abb]

http://www.vanityfair.com/online/daily/2010/04/the-future-of-cnn-readers-react.html
The Future of CNN: Readers React

http://www.observer.com/2010/media/new-republic-start-charging-premium-content-online
The New Republic To Start Charging For Premium Content Online

http://www.cjr.org/behind_the_news/breaking_news_from_the_luncheo.php?page=all
Breaking News from the Luncheon Keynoter
The future of news is (brighter than you think; contingent on government subsidies; in Mark Zuckerberg’s hands)

http://www.politico.com/blogs/michaelcalderone/0410/Murdoch_NYT_has_very_clear_agenda.html
Murdoch: NYT has ‘an agenda’; Times responds

http://paidcontent.org/article/419-murdochs-plan-for-paywall-success-readers-will-pay-when-theyve-got-nowh/
Murdoch’s Plan For Paywall Success: Readers Will Pay ‘When They’ve Got Nowhere Else To Go’

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-04-07/murdoch-says-newspaper-publishers-must-stand-up-to-google-bing.html
Murdoch Says Newspaper Publishers Must Stand Up to Google, Bing

http://www.philly.com/inquirer/business/20100407_Lenders_seek_delay_in_newspapers__auction.html
Lenders seek delay in newspapers’ auction

http://www.theatlanticwire.com/features/view/feature/David-Brooks-What-I-Read-1019
David Brooks: What I Read

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2010/04/06/bloomberg1376-L0GGXQ1A1I4H-1.DTL
Print Newspapers to Survive a Decade, Sun-Times’ Tyree Says

http://www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=101&aid=180386
Wolff to Newspapers: The Web is ‘Not Something You’re Ever Going to Understand’

http://www.salon.com/technology/how_the_world_works/2010/04/05/michael_wolff_the_wrap_and_newser
If the Web doesn’t kill journalism, Michael Wolff will

http://www.slate.com/id/2249934/pagenum/all/
Is Michael Wolff a Parasite?

[TenthAmendmentChampion]

Whichever broadcaster CNN married, the two would share resources and spread out costs the way NBC News does with MSNBC.

Gee, there's a success model.

[abb]

What used to be called a “shotgun wedding.”

[bert]

Comcast has bought NBC. Once in control, there will be a new cable news channel based on the MSNBC organization that will be reorganized to compete with Roger Ailes and Fox News.

CNN will then disappear.

NBC News will disappear.

[PISANO]

Comcast has bought NBC. Once in control, there will be a new cable news channel based on the MSNBC organization that will be reorganized to compete with Roger Ailes and Fox News.

If it's staff and reporting uses FNC's model it will be competitive. If it is inundated with leftist loons it will fail.

[DoughtyOne]

C ause
N obody
N eeds it

[VaFarmer]

I know that folks here have already given the dying mainstream media some major thought, but I want to throw this comment in anyhow.

The problem is not an evil media, it is a poorly educated media. They don’t take enough history in college, and when they do, they take it from instructors with a strong leftward bent.

The result is that somebody like Victor Hanson seems like an arch-conservative. Whereas, to well-read historians, economists, and all-purpose social scientists he is pretty much representative of the mainstream. Reporters and newsmakers just haven’t read enough to understand the mechanisms of government control of social and economic resources.

Their soft hearts are educated. Their distrust of power in the form of wealth is educated. Their distrust of power in the form of government control just hasn’t been given the same sort of encouragement and attention.

This is, we fear, the same sort of naivity that led to intellectual support for Bolshevism, for Castro, and to the lack of journalistic opposition during Hitler’s rise to control of Germany’s government.

The truth is that journalists don’t read enough books of any kind; tend to read books that agree with their world view when they read at all; and are skilled in contempt for history, for their fellow citizens and their opinions, and for other cultures.

They don’t read, or otherwise educate themselves, sufficiently to get a grip on the possibility that their culture may not be dominant forever, that their politics is childish and uninformed, that their knowledge base is desperately weak.

They have spent so long listening only to messages that match the promptings of their hearts, that they don’t see the arrogance of their patronizing compassion.

CNN needs to get some folks with a decent background in the Classics, history, Austrian economics, statistics... the list goes on and on. Then they might be able to produce news programs that Americans would want to watch.

Until they do, no wonder that nobody watches their offerings.

[abb]

http://www.businessinsider.com/meet-25-media-stars-who-leaped-from-old-media-to-new-media-2010-4
Meet 25 Media Stars Who Leaped From Old Media To New Media

http://www.editorsweblog.org/newspaper/2010/04/internet_news_threatens_traditional_news.php
Internet news threatens traditional news channels, but what about print?

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1004080944
Commentary: Will Court Gutting of Net Neutrality Change Newspaper Industry’s Neutrality?

http://www.slate.com/id/2249997/
CNN Breaking News Alert
The network still matters.

[MrEdd]

They aren’t just poorly educated.

The decision to try to quash the story of John Edward’s mistress and illegitimate child until after the election bears no relation to history.

[abb]

Or put in another way, journalism students are English majors who flunked out. And sports reporters are the dumbest of the pack.