CNN gets a new boss. If leaked reports hold up, he wants more boots-on-the-ground hard news, less mindless pundit panel chatter, and a cease-fire — stop slamming FoxNews. Bill Whittle, Stephen Green and Scott Ott imagine we get a say in the new direction at CNN. What’s your recipe for saving CNN?
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37 replies on “Saving CNN: New Boss Wants More Hard News, Less Chatter, Stop Slamming FoxNews”
At first, as much as I hate journalists and journalism school (which is unfortunately why I hate journalists) … I was skeptical of your direction — but — I like where you’re going with this. That’s my biggest gripe … these people don’t know anything, not even enough to accurately transcribe wand relate what their (carefully chosen) “experts” are saying.
Ah, yes, Miscellaneous TV.
I think the “argue with story about a topic you know and then agree with the story on the next page” was called the “Gell-Mann amnesia” though was mentioned by Chrition a few times.
To accomplish what Steve suggested, I would find solid youtube “stars” or the best of a local TV station (but not the anchors) and pay them. We had a number of independent journalists make a name covering the protests like Andy Ngo or someone like an Austin Bay (or the mentioned Michael Yon) already doing overseas reporting.
AMEN!! Fire Helter Stelter TWICE!! LOL
Be careful Scott, you slammed your own channel. I like opinion pieces where everybody involved and each occurrence that is being covered is subject to scrutiny. I believe you guys cover current events factually and with salient points I can agree with. Your knowledge of history and past events bring a refreshing truthfulness to your show.
If the theme of the episode was how to “save” CNN by turning it profitable again, the answer is very simple (as the answer usually is).
RE-ELECT TRUMP!
They made a fortune covering Orange Man Bad.
I’d be fine with CNN being “saved” if they got back to real news with as unbiased mode of coverage as is humanly possible.
It is better to have many news sources acting independently than it is to have a few all interlocked by bias no matter which side the spin is favorable to.
That’s the way it used to be and yes, I’m fully aware that even back then there was considerable bias in news reporting.
However, it was also a self-correcting system. If the reporting at one venue got too far out of bounds the reporting at the others served to bring them back to a semblance of reality via market pressures. People stopped watching the unreliable source and moved to more reliable ones.
This is still happening to some degree. It’s why CNN’s viewership has lost 90% of the eyeballs they used to have.
The difference is that now when all the MsM (Mainstream Media) have drifted so far left — CNN is just doing what they all do only moreso.
Which has completely corrupted the industry of journalism and news reporting. Whether the executives that run these networks realize it or not, the consumer sees that corruption for what it is and hence CNN has lost 90% of the viewers it once had. The people didn’t change, the news outlets did and to their own detriment.
This failure has coincided with the phenomena of people watching more “news” now than ever before. There’s a huge consumer base here to cater to and the providers are not filling that need.
Love ’em or hate ’em, Fox News saw this lack and capitalized on it very successfully. By positioning themselves as a counter weight and actually providing a more balanced view compared to full-on Leftist media — Fox News has been financially quite successful. In fact, where Fox News stumbles is not on the hard news end of their programming but on all the opinion pieces that provide confirmation bias fulfillment to segments of their audience.
(I.E. Confirmation bias cuts two ways. Either “I only watch Fox News because they’re right all the time.” or “I never watch Fox News because they never get anything right.” Or something between those extremes. Confirmation bias is a dangerous knife edge to walk.)
So if new management at CNN is interested in and able to provide a harder news agenda with at least a solid attempt at providing both sides of a story … That would be a very good thing and I think they’d make a lot of money doing that.
I’m reminded of the some of the early attempts on Fox to present balance using a point-counterpoint show with Hannity and Colms. I think they cheated a little though because Hannity was significantly more handsome than Colms.
something that the media should be reminded of (both Hollywood and the news corps.) is that the word “Glamour” comes from Celtic myths. It was sort of a downgraded version of shapeshifting but was only an illusion which left the person in their true form underneath. I think glamour is the appropriate word for most of those people in the MSM and the swamp.
Of that remaining 10% of CNN’s audience, I would be willing to bet that 6% of those viewers are other news agencies who are watching so they can report what CNN is saying to their viewers who don’t watch CNN.
Or, in the words of James Carville, “Throw him an anchor!”
Today I saw a promo for the New York Times with the tagline, “Journalism without limits.” Not only could that phrase be taken differently than they intended, but there are many things they are without, like perhaps ethics, honesty, and credibility.
It would ake some re-training if those ‘journalists’ are to be sent back out in the field to find real stories and become ‘reporters’ again. The field reporting during the riots in 2020 were tainted by opinion and framing of the narrative. That’s why they could say it was a “mostly peaceful protest” with a building on fire and looting in the background behind them, and say it without any clue of the irony. They would need to drop the framing and the opinion and talk to everyone on both sides of a situation without commenting on it. That would mean erasing years of indoctrination for them. It would be a sign that the news business was finally trying to clean up its act and get back to real news. We need that.
They’re never going to get that at CNN unless they fire the people they have now and hire a whole new batch of qualified real journalists. Even if they gave the existing cast (they’re not journalists) re-training with a new imperative to report not promote … The bias would creep back in eventually and they’d have then exactly what they have now.
Everyone who wants CNN to be saved please raise your hand.
Anyone? Anyone? Beuhler?
So Bill, you would stop following the money? Then CNN would no longer have a budget. Someone is paying CNN to stay in business even though they have lost 90% of their audience.
Yeah, very good point. I wonder just who that “someone” is. Maybe some good investigative reporting could answer that for everyone.
If you are a conservative everything bad that happens is being underwritten by George Soros of course. If you’re a leftist everything bad that happens is caused by Trump and the Russians. For the last five years everything bad that has happened has been Trump’s fault. Even Will slappin’ Chris!
I agree with all the solutions that the trio here have suggested but, there is a Murphy’s Law component to most everything that we need to watch out for.
For example, having Wall Street reporters who have actually worked on Wall Street or small business reporters who came from small business is a vast improvement over what we have. However, those ex-Wall Street or ex-small business men have their own biases, opinions and perspectives. I’m just saying that ‘experience’ is a good place to start, but a concerted effort should be made to find an individual that isn’t blinded by his or her own biases.
The other thing I worry about is the “loss leader” aspect. On the one hand, that is probably how it should be. However, the loss leader ‘news’ could be totally committed to promoting a Marxist agenda. “Get woke, go broke” doesn’t bother them because they’re not there to make a profit, they’re there to get woke.
Good points, I was thinking along the same lines regarding the “loss leader” thing.
As for bias, that’s always going to be there. We’re all biased to some degree here on this site too. Myself included.
As I see it, the thing about bias is the reason for it.
If you’re biased because of an unhealthy regard for the opinions of others, if you’re slanting your opinions to “fit in” with a certain cocktail crowd or to virtue signal what an amazingly wonderful person you are … That’s the bad side of bias.
If you’re biased due to a thoughtful, intentional, honest search for the truth and trying to fit your opinions into what really exists that’s a different kind of bias completely. It’s still a bias, you’ll tend to believe things that jive with what you actually know or at least have made a real effort to understand. That’s the good side of bias.
A bias towards the truth and away from smart-assedness, for provable facts and away from egocentricity, is the better position. A “truth bias” is self correcting because when you learn a truth you must acknowledge it. A “virtue signalling” bias doesn’t care one bit about the truth at all.
The difference is that a “truth bias” is an actual virtue while a “virtue signalling bias” is a false virtue.
Well said. I was thinking that (about the bias) but didn’t know how to say it so well.
Hey Don’t make fun of Martha Quinn, she is one of the “most notable” from my High School.
Martha worked the desk at the library when my cousin attended NYU
I didn’t even know who she was, I had to look her up. I spent long stretches of time overseas. One of those times I came back to the U.S. and music videos were all the craze. By then I was well along the back side of the popularity curve and never really got into them.
In fact, the one music video I can recall is Boy George singing “Karma Chameleon” … Which probably has a lot to do with why the appeal of music videos fell a little flat with me.
I’m old enough to remember when Boy George was considered a freak. Now “guys” like him are reading stories to preschoolers in our public libraries
More’s the pity. Just to be clear, I still think Boy George and his sort are all freaks. Not an opinion that’s likely to change between now and my funeral.
The thing is, when you’re dealing with entertainers, you expect some freaks to work their way into the mix. The non-entertainment types who go the Boy George route are wannabes. They’re like a kid putting on a Batman costume and thinking he’s the Dark Knight himself.
Seems like a good place for this h/t PatriotPost
Frighteningly dead on!
As to sustainability: fire all those high paid “anchors” and use the savings to pay for those who bring in the news. Look at Al Jazeera and the reporting. Despite what preliminary judgements people have, it does an amazing job of bringing news from around the world.
This was the same reason I used to love reading The Economist @ 20 years ago. Sadly, by the time Barry O got elected President their magazine became little more than Newsweek with a British accent
To answer your question, I’m reminded of a memorable line from an otherwise forgettable Tom Hanks movie from the 80s, “Volunteers”:
Nice quote.
It reminds me that more people need to be more discerning and exercise their inner Jonah (pre- Ninevah).
Ha! You beat me to it. I was going to point out that’s the Jonah Conundrum but you already did that so … I second the idea.
Sorry, but I need a little help here – what’s the Jonah Conundrum? A quick search only got me some hits on Jonah Hill’s weight problems
It’s a Biblical thing. We all know the story about Jonah being swallowed by the whale (or big fish, or whatever Leviathan was …) but that’s not the thrust of the Jonah story.
Jonah was ordered by God to go to Nineveh. To preach to the people there. God intended to destroy Nineveh if they didn’t repent and change their ways. The people of Nineveh were exceedingly evil and practitioners of wickedness. God knew they would repent if Jonah went to them with His message.
That was literally the last thing Jonah wanted to see happen. Jonah hated the people of Nineveh all the way down to his toes. He really, really despised them and wanted to see Nineveh destroyed.
Jonah knew that if they repented of their ways they would not be destroyed. He knew that if he took God’s message to them they would repent and not suffer the fate that Jonah rightly felt they so richly deserved.
So Jonah was faced with a conundrum. He could disobey God and the people of Nineveh would get what they deserved. Or he could obey God and the people of Nineveh would escape the fate they deserved.
Jonah choose the former and ran away from Nineveh, and God. He went to sea to get as far away as he could. His vessel sank, he was swallowed by a very large marine animal. That would have been the end of both Jonah and Nineveh and that also suited Jonah just fine.
Jonah didn’t get his way. He didn’t die in the belly of the very large marine animal. God preserved his life because he had a use for Jonah … Though I’d have to say that being in a critter’s gut for three days could not have been a pleasant experience.
Jonah got puked up on the shore near Nineveh. Being still alive Jonah decided there was just no way he was going to get out of doing what he was told. He gave in and carried out his instructions. The people of Nineveh repented and changed their ways.
Jonah’s conundrum was … “It’s not that I can’t help these people, it’s just that I… don’t want to.”
The script writer for “Volunteers” probably got that line from the context of the Book of Jonah in the Bible.
Thanks!
And while this might make me a bad person, if I were ever to meet Brian Stelter I’d be more likely to call him a potato than show him the error of his ways
You’re welcome.
No, that doesn’t make you a bad person in my book. You only have to show B.S. the error of his ways IF God Himself calls you up and says …
“Hey, Brother Bob … Yeah, God here. You have to go tell Brian Stelter to repent or I’m going to feed you to a giant marine animal, then let it spit you up on Stelter’s doorstep.”
If you get that call, then I’d heed it if I were you. Otherwise … Stelter will get exactly what he deserves. Eventually.
BB did you watch the Virtue Signal from last week? Bill and Zo went in depth on Joanh story.
Yeah, I only half watched as I was getting caught up on vids after the previous week’s mini vacation