Sunday, March 06, 2011

Weekly Observations - week ending March 5, 2011



This is our weekly round-up of the tidbits that didn't make it to a post of their own, but are worth noting, along with news items that we've covered that may need a second look.

- HLN's Robin Meade performed songs from her upcoming album last night at a charity event in Nashville, Tennessee to benefit Abintra Montessori School. Meade's album will be released exclusively at Target stores in the US this June.

- After "reformatting" Parker Spitzer, could John King, USA be CNN's next program to undergo a makeover? The New York Post has details on a couple of pilots CNN has taped. (Via ICN)

- CNN International's Hala Gorani was a guest on News/Talk WSB Radio in Atlanta on Friday. Ms Gorani shared her experiences of reporting within Egypt recently, and offered some analysis on the current situation across several other Mid-East countries. You can listen to the audio from the discussion here.

- Vanity Fair writer James Wolcott serves up this less than flattering piece on Piers Morgan. TV Newser notes Morgan's response to the article.

- Mark Haviland, marketing director of CNN International (Europe, Middle East & Africa), sits down with MarketingWeek for a Q&A.

- Jon Stewart examines CNN's use of social media and latest attempts at engaging viewers.

- Ben Wedeman and his CNN crew were almost caught up in a bombing incident in Libya earlier this week. Details and video from CNN.

- Jeanne Moos celebrates 30 years with CNN.

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7 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Did you guys know about the Tom Foreman
special called 'Stories Reported". Where are
the promos. If I had not been watching Don
Lemon tonight, I would never have known
about this show. Is this now a new show
that is airing on CNN ?

7:52 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Let's be honest. CNN is a train wreck. CNN made
2 big mistakes that can eventually lead to the
downfall of CNN. Hiring Eliot Spitzer & Piers
Morgan did nothing but make the ratings worse
for CNN.MSNBC is starting to have some distance
away from CNN in the ratings. It is amazing that
360 is even in the game at 10 when there are
fewer viewers ,but some how it is competitive in
the demo.It is obvious that someone was
betting on 360, the news show , not topping
Parker Spitzer or Piers Morgan. That was
the wrong assumption. They were even crazy
enough to put Piers Morgan's face in the
Egypt promos. Big mistake. The man can't
even conduct a decent live interview with
celebs and we are suppose to trust him
to do hard news. Not.


CNN should never have let Eliot Spitzer & Piers
Morgan handle breaking news. It has destroyed
CNN's credibility & journalistic reputation.CNN
had their journalists touting an entertainment
show and not focusing on the news. Vanity
Fair is right, How can someone as bad as
Piers Morgan end up with a show in prime
time on CNN ? What were they thinking?
Management bet the network on Piers Morgan.
In many ways it looks like CNN was trying to
sink the news shows by not even running
ads for several shows and heavily promoting
Piers Morgan. Like it or not Morgan has
become the face of CNN and it seems as
though they are no longer a news channel.
Right now the network is a failure and they
keep hiring more pundits instead of reporters.
First they try to bring back Crossfire and now
the rumors are they are trying bring back the
Capitol Gang. Really CNN.



CNN has essentially created another problem
for itself. Clearly the promos oversold Piers
Morgan. Will you believe anything you see
on CNN since they fed us something that
is not true and you may fool viewers once
but you won't get that chance again.

It's the misuse of social media on CNN. It
is no different than reading e-mails on
local news and that is another problem
for CNN their gimmicks make them look
like bad local news. Somewhere along the
line somebody forgot they are CNN as
Jon Stewart keeps trying to tell them. They
are afflicting so much damage upon CNN
that will take years to fix. Will the suits be
willing to cancel Spitzer and Morgan or will
they keep denying they've really screwed
things up at CNN.

9:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

We are hoping CNN will hire George
Stroumboulopoulos from CBC, If CNN
is trying to get younger viewers to
watch the news he would be their man.
It was originally called The Hour and
it was packed with interviews and news
segments. Not sure if they could get
him away from CBC but CNN'ers have
been on the show. It is now just half
an hour but it is news and interviews.
If CNN could get him to do an hour
long show that would be great. Put
Strombo ,as he is known ,on at 8 as
a clear alternative for viewers. Once
you watch the show you are hooked.

10:28 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

CNN needs to put a diverse group of their female
journalists & reporters up against Rachel Maddow
without politics more like The Talk rather than
the View. First and foremost CNN must fix it's
women problem. In 2011 why would you go
with 3 males in prime time. It is the 21st century
and women are the majority population. Cable
news needs a women's news show with smart
intelligent talk. Just have one permanent host
but rotate all of the female talent from CNN,
HLN & CNN Espanol.CNN should never had
make it seem like Kathleen Parker was the
reason for the poor ratings for Parker Spitzer
It was both of them. Come up with a catchy
title and use music that you know women
can relate to using songs to open the show,
music for bumps & a goodbye song. The
playlist is endless. CNN needs better counter
programming and not offer what is already
on one of the other networks. Be original.

12:34 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I found out about Strombo on Twitter. He is
the Jon Stewart of Canada and the only late
night show in Canada. Not sure if he would
be interested in CNN but he is very interested
in the news. CNN has to do something to get
back in the game.

6:57 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Eliot Spitzer & Piers Morgan are out of their
leagues. Game over for CNN. Can you say backlash.
The Vanity Fair article is the first of many negative
stories coming out about CNN. Americans clearly
have gotten a raw deal courtesy CNN. Whomever
is in charge of running CNN can't be in denial
much longer. The writing is on the wall. MSNBC
is giving CNN a real whipping.CNN has become
ratings repellent.

8:17 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

The Strombo dude is pretty good. Go online
and watch the show. Dude had Hillary Clinton
on his show. Good interviewer.I am now hooked.
Someone this good will never be hired by CNN.

2:34 PM  

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