UNDERSTANDING CNN

I have often been bewildered by the reporting on CNNI (we only get the International edition here). The following helps to explain a lot:

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Do US Troops Target Journalists in Iraq?

Davos, Switzerland from the WEF 2005

This fiery topic became a real nightmare today for the Chief News Executive of CNN at what was an initially very mild discussion at the World Economic Forum titled "Will Democracy Survive the Media?".
At a discussion moderated by David R. Gergen, the Director for Public Leadership, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, the concept of truth, fairness, and balance in the news was weighed against corporate profit interest, the need for ratings, and how the media can affect democracy. The panel included Richard Sambrook, the worldwide director of BBC radio, U.S. Congressman Barney Frank, Abdullah Abdullah, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Afghanistan, and Eason Jordan, Chief News Executive of CNN. The audience was a mix of journalists, WEF attendees (many from Arab countries), and a US Senator from Connecticut, Chris Dodd.
During one of the discussions about the number of journalists killed in the Iraq War, Eason Jordan asserted that he knew of 12 journalists who had not only been killed by US troops in Iraq, but they had in fact been targeted. He repeated the assertion a few times, which seemed to win favor in parts of the audience (the anti-US crowd) and cause great strain on others.

I wondered why they had those unpleasant looking, seemingly hate-filled reporters constantly on the screen at CNN. Couldn’t their management see that it was driving viewers away? The only option here in Bangkok is the BBC which I go to often. The BBC is actually less anti-American than CNNI, at least in my unscientific opinion. But, where viewers have other options, isn’t CNN following a losing strategy?

The answer is yes. Here are some recent ratings:

CABLE NEWS RACEMON, JAN. 24, 2005
FNC O'REILLY 2,643,000 [VIEWERS]
CNN LARRY KING 2,474,000
FNC HANNITY/COLMES 1,800,000
FNC BRIT HUME 1,604,000
FNC SHEP SMITH 1,446,000
FNC GRETA 1,390,000
COMEDY DAILY SHOW 1,341,000
CNN AARON BROWN 1,058,000
CNN ZAHN 837,000
CNN COOPER 506,000
MSNBC HARDBALL 454,000
CNN DOBBS 451,000
MSNBC OLBERMANN 340,000
MNSBC SCARBOROUGH 335,000
CNBC DENNIS MILLER 81,000

It wasn’t that long ago that CNN was the cable news network. How the mighty have fallen. And keeps on falling. The reason is obvious. Their top management would rather follow their liberal agenda than succeed in the ratings. They put politics ahead of business. That ranting man, who was obviously lying and demeaning US service men in front of a world audience, is the Chief News Executive of CNN! Some leader. Some leadership.

Will this nut be held accountable for what he said? I don’t think so. Why? Because he’s a liberal. It is generally accepted that liberals are child-like and are therefore not responsible for anything they say or do. IF you understand that you can understand why the main stream media (who are also liberals and child-like) almost never call fellow liberals on their actions.


UPDATE: Domestic ratings have gotten worse for CNN.

CABLE NEWS RACE MON., FEB 7, 2005

FNC O'REILLY 2,652,000 [VIEWERS]
FNC HANNITY/COLMES 1,904,000
FNC GRETA 1,568,000
FNC HUME 1,446,000
FNC SHEP SMITH 1,327,000
CNN LARRY KING 891,000
COMEDY DAILY SHOW 755,000
CNN ZAHN 550,000
CNN AARON BROWN 528,000
CNN ANDERSON COOPER 445,000
MSNBC OLBERMANN 416,000
MSNBC HARDBALL 411,000
MSNBC SCARBOROUGH 360,000

It has been pointed out to me that I am wrong about CNN’s programming not making business sense. CNN has become an international network so they play to (and probably help to create) the hatred of America overseas.

UPDATE: Eason Jordan resigned Fri. feb. 11. CNN is trying to distance themselves from him by saying he wasn't really in charge of their news department (although that was his title).