Straight Forward
written by Skyler
Former NBC Universal Chief and Current EP for "Katie" , J
eff Zuker, has been announced as the new president of CNN-WorldWide. CNN has not had the best of ratings in the past couple years , it slipped from being 2nd place to 3rd place behind MSNBC. That very much concerns the network, and it wants to at least get back to 2nd behind the 10 year high rated Fox News Channel. To point , MSNBC moved up to 2nd by changing it's core. and instead of being an unbaised news channel it moved to being a home for liberal talk and Joe Scarborough , with a few news programs squished inside at odd places , while Fox News Channel targets a more right leaning audience, usally between 6-9AMET, 4-6PMET,8-11PMET, on weekdays. I don't think it would be good for CNN to try to "out-liberal" MSNBC or "Out Conservative" Fox News and so far they been trying to be the channel that focuses on news unbiased. During the elections they plainly said they were the only news channel to not pick a side. I also don't think they should go the route of their sister news channel HLN, which lives it's own paralleled universe.
1.
There is more than politics. CNN , during the election season covered it like there was nothing else as much as they could. CNN seems to have a love for political stories , that's probably why Wolf Blitzer is on for 3 hours (sometimes 2 hours or 4 hours depending on the year). But there is a whole bunch of other news out there. Maybe CNN should have a show focused on the west coast , that's a large segment of the country that usually gets jipped. Or get more news updates for the west coast use that live across the whole country thing to an advantage. There's more than what D.C is doing. We also don't need to see every stump speech or rally, that's not news.
2.
Give me the world . CNN has a great channel , for rest of the world called CNN International , it focuses well... on the world. CNN has started , the 12PMET/9AMPT hour of CNN NEWSROOM , does that , I would love to hear more international stories not just about the middle-east but the world the good , not just the bad. Give Americans something more to understand the world. CNN I has shows about international business, travel, food, and issues, and I think that would a good thing to give the American audience, something the networks don't care about as much and use those CNN I resources they have.
3
.Don't Lean Forward. Like I said before ,CNN shouldn't go the routes of the other 2 channels, because it would not help it. Be a News Channel that a democrat, Republican, anyone else can trust and sometimes be offended by. Be an honest channel , try to get the facts and if they aren't facts don't use them . Better to be last on a story and correct, than first and wrong and it's better that you don't have a horse in the race in politics and other stories you are covering.
4. Balance the News. Make sure there is a good mixture of Hard news topics and softer news topics we don't need tons of time devoted to whatever celebrity says or does, just as much as we don't need to hear the same political nothingness for time on end. Nothing can be "Breaking News" all day , that's not breaking any news if it's all day,it defeats the purpose. Seeing that yellow banner all day for the same story or everything you go back to that story has no sense. 15-16 live hours of news a day means you have time do stories that other's don't do for an assortment of reasons.
5.Somethings are working ok. CNN is not bad set up right now, they have many good programs and hosts, my favorite being Erin Burnett and her program. I also think that it's good they don't cover car-chases , that's a policy that should stay and other channels should pick up that idea car chases are important to a national news. If someone lives in Dallas, why the heck would they need to know about a car-chase in LA? That's not going to affect their trip home, there are some local news stories that don't belong national. So it's good that CNN doesn't cover car-chases.
I don't work in TV, or claim to be, I am person who watches the cable news and always has questions and think about what could be different.