Is CNN's Fate in Question?

[Bliss]

The comparative Nielsen ratings between Fox and CNN is quite staggering. Well one thing's for sure...
they better keep Don Lemon on for Jordan!

Kurtz, Panelists Worry About Fate of CNN, ‘Last Bastion of Television Journalism’

By Randy Hall | December 03, 2012 |

Now that former CEO of NBC Universal and NBC News president Jeff Zucker is set to take over as president of CNN, the fate of the cable news network is an open question. In a Sunday discussion about the transition, CNN media critic Howard Kurtz and his guests passed over the network's left-of-center reporting, implying instead that CNN is somehow devoid of bias compared to its primary competitors, MSNBC and Fox News.

During a segment on “Reliable Sources,” panelist David Zurawik -- media critic for the Baltimore Sun newspaper -- asserted that the news organization is “the nation's last bastion of television journalism.”

The former reporter for the Washington Post stated that Zucker “will be up against the cautious culture of an Atlanta-based network that for years and years has stuck to a traditional news format.”

Frank Sesno, director of George Washington University's School of Media and Public Affairs and another guest on Sunday's program, said that he cares about CNN “partly because of what it means to news and journalism” and what it means to the nation.

“This country needs this information through a broadcaster talking nationally and globally,” he added.

The future of the network is important to the broadcast news industry, which is critical to the political health of the nation.

After noting that the network needs to make money since cable news is also a business, Kurtz asserted that “as a hard news network,” CNN “does not attract loyal viewers when there is no breaking news in the way its cable news competitors can.”

With that in mind, Kurtz stated that the channel's main problem is “getting people to watch when there's no breaking news, when there's no war, no earthquake, no assassination, no tsunami, and that's going to be Zucker's challenge.”

“When CNN went on the air,” Sesno stated, “it was the only game in town,” but that is no longer the case."

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A great roundtable discussion ^

...After Kurtz noted that CNN's ratings sag far behind those of Fox News Channel and MSNBC, Zurawik responded that ratings are not the only thing that drives revenue in the form of advertising dollars.

“If you talk to ad buyers, they will tell you that CNN is an incredibly attractive ad environment” because of the network's credibility, he replied.

Sesno then concluded that CNN is a profitable entity, and the network should focus on investments and not cuts to its budget....

 

[andreboba]

CNN lacks the splash and sizzle of Fox and MSNBC IMO.

One thing that's really weird about Fox that I've noticed on trips to federal governmental agencies locally in the D.C. metro area is that in several waiting rooms FOX NEWS is always the station the TVs are tuned into, and if you try to turn to something else, it won't be long before someone from the info desk comes to change the channel back.

Fox ratings IMO are little suspect.

Not saying it's not the only cable news station on in Red States, but sometimes their ratings seem inflated to me.

 

[Blacktiger2005]

This is the beginning of a great shakeout. CNN is not entertainment enough. It has to be a (news-entertainment) oriented show with pretty legs, shouting talking heads, outrageous personalities to survive with the low intelligence masses. Most people do not like pure journalism and analysis anymore.

 

[JordanC]

They did a study and the avg. intelligence q of a Fox News watcher was like 80. Where avg. in general is 100. They just dumb it down and put in fluff and opinions. They consistently report things wrong. So I would never watch them regardless of whether Don Lemon was or was not on CNN.

Viewers are fickle remember when the Today show was all the shizz now Matt Lauer can't catch a cab. The person on top today may not be tomorrow.

 

[buglerroller]

They did a study and the avg. intelligence q of a Fox News watcher was like 80. Where avg. in general is 100. They just dumb it down and put in fluff and opinions. They consistently report things wrong. So I would never watch them regardless of whether Don Lemon was or was not on CNN.

Viewers are fickle remember when the Today show was all the shizz now Matt Lauer can't catch a cab. The person on top today may not be tomorrow.

thats because she would be bent over with he face in the headboard. duh!artyman:

 

[goodlove]

the problem is with cnn is that they are more balanced and just report the story than msnbc and fox. yeah cnn has their pundits but they have left and right....then u decide.

 

[pettyofficerj]

the dumbing down of america continues...........

 

[Morning Star]

Media plurality...the fight for viewership and money. And sadly, CNN and NPR are the only two news outlets (save C-SPAN) that actually deliver some merit of journalistic excellence.

Not to knock networks like MSNBC, but if you're going to deliver the news, then deliver what people need to hear.