...I've been really interested in the dynamics of Cable News lately. I wrote a
diary, daydreaming a way for a progressive foothold in Cable News, but all we may have to do is wait around. CNN is dying a slow death, and maybe we can buy up the corpse.
CNN has decided to make changes. Judy Woodruff is leaving CNN, after reportedly being told she was being demoted to a correspondent. "Inside Politics" & "Crossfire" are being taken away for 3 hours of Wolf Blitzer in the afternoon.
Why are they doing this? Because they're getting their ass kicked by Fox News.
The sad thing is that CNN has no idea of what it is. Is it hard news or Michael Jackson & Runaway Bride stories? They've also become Fox News Lite . You can see the lack of idenity in the on-air graphics. They've been changed, I think, 5 times in as many years. The CNN logo has been moved from the right side to the left. It's changed from gold to red. The latest change was to the new JUMBO graphics. I have to believe that Senior Citizens called in complaining they couldn't read the on-screen print.
CNN is a sad shadow of what it once was...
...If you look at the numbers,
"The Daily Show" gets on average 1.4 million viewers at 11pm est. That's almost double the audience of CNN's top rated show, Larry King Live, during prime-time viewing hours. Larry King gets less than a 1/4 of the audience that
"SpongeBob SquarePants" gets on Nickleodeon. But to be fair, The O'Reilly Factor has more than a million fewer viewers than SpongeBob. But the powers that be at CNN, still say there is no problem.
Jonathan Klein, the head of CNN, recently said this about the channel...
..."for the foreseeable future. I've seen very encouraging improvement."
...At 7, Anderson Cooper "is having a lot of fun. He's not worrying so much about the voice of his show. He realizes he's the voice of his show." Paula Zahn at 8 "is much more comfortable and relaxed." And at 10, Aaron Brown "has been very flexible in thinking freshly about the show. It shows in his delivery, carriage, demeanor. He's having more fun."
We didn't forget 9, home of CNN's most popular host, Larry King, since 1985. Buzz is that new CNN Headline News bulldog Nancy Grace is being groomed to replace him. Not true, Klein says.
Grace, a frequent King sub, "is doing great where she is, and she's great for the overall CNN brand. I'm very happy with the lineup I've got. I feel no imperative whatsoever to juggle it."
So let's look at Last Night's Ratings
At 7pm EST, Fox News beats CNN by almost 2 to 1, with Anderson Cooper, who is "having a lot of fun", according to Klein...
FNC: Fox Report With Shepard Smith - 1,178,000
CNN: Anderson Cooper 360 - 470,000
MSNBC: Hardball - 232,000
At 8pm EST, Paula Zahn's show on CNN gets beat by Nancy Grace's on Headline News. Also, if you add both CNN & Headline News together, O'Reilly still gets more than double the audience of the 2 combined networks...
FNC: O'Reilly Factor - 2,540,000
Headline News: Nancy Grace - 536,000
CNN: Paula Zahn - 467,000
MSNBC: Olbermann - 298,000
At 9pm EST, Larry King, who used to have the top ratings of any show on Cable News, has under a million viewers, and Fox has double the audience of his show. The "Michael Jackson/Lawyers Arguing" power hours don't seem to be working...
FNC: Hannity & Colmes - 1,764,000
CNN: Larry King Live - 804,000
MSNBC: Abrams Report - 353,000
CNBC: Dennis Miller - 91,000
At 10pm EST, Greta's show still beats Aaron Brown by double the audience. Her show is unwatchable to me, but the Freepers brand loyalty to Fox must hang'em in there...
FNC: On The Record With Greta Van Susteren - 1,499,000
CNN: NewsNight With Aaron Brown - 595,000
MSNBC: Scarborough Country - 336,000
CNBC: Big Idea With Donny Deutsch - 81,000