{"id":2792,"date":"2010-09-25T13:50:15","date_gmt":"2010-09-25T20:50:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=2792"},"modified":"2010-09-25T20:50:40","modified_gmt":"2010-09-26T03:50:40","slug":"uh-oh-cnn-takes-a-sharp-turn-toward-hell","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=2792","title":{"rendered":"Uh Oh. CNN Takes A Sharp Turn Toward Hell"},"content":{"rendered":"

Remember the old days when CNN was the dominant cable news network? Or the even older days when it was the only cable news network? I didn’t think so. It was a long time ago. Viewers today don’t appreciate how remarkable an achievement it was to launch a 24 hour news channel when nothing like it existed at the time.<\/p>\n

Whether or not you like Ted Turner, you have to give him credit for being a pioneer, although given the state of cable news today, I’m not sure he’d want the credit\/blame. However, he recognized the unique environment in which his experiment was born, and he further recognized the changes that took place in subsequent years that preclude anyone from ever doing the same (see My Beef With Big Media<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Now CNN is mired in third place, overtaken by a bombastic, right-wing, agenda-driven, Fox News, and a lukewarm, marginally liberal, MSNBC. So it should come as no surprise that the brass at CNN would be looking to shake things up in hopes of recovering their glory days. To that end, yesterday CNN announced that its president, Jon Klein, would be leaving the network. That, in and of itself, would appear to be a routine response to poor performance in the marketplace. The problem here is not that Klein is leaving. It’s who they are elevating to his post that is worrisome.<\/p>\n

Ken Jautz, presently the head of CNN’s HLN (formerly known as Headline News Network) has been tapped to replace Klein. He is a brash, iconoclastic, executive who is more interested in ratings than journalism. But perhaps the most disturbing item on Jautz’s resume is that he is the man who brought Glenn Beck to HLN, and to television. Looking back at that millstone in broadcast media is one of the best ways of getting a handle on what may be in store for a Juatz-run CNN. Here is what he had to say upon hiring Beck<\/a> back in January of 2006:<\/p>\n

“Glenn Beck is the next piece of the puzzle,” said HLN prexy Ken Jautz. “Glenn’s style is self-deprecating, cordial; he says he’d like to be able to disagree with guests and part as friends. It’s conversational, not confrontational.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

If Beck is Jautz’s idea of cordial, I hope never to meet anyone he considers to be rude. What’s more, Beck is not known for having guests with whom he disagrees, friendly or otherwise. And the notion that he is not confrontational is absurd on its face. Calling the President a racist; charging that progressives are a cancer; tagging anyone with whom he disagrees a Marxist; declaring his hatred for Woodrow Wilson as well as 9\/11 families; these are not behaviors generally associated with being non-confrontational. Jautz went on to say…<\/p>\n

“As part of the continued evolution of the network, we wanted another primetime show,” Jautz said. “We didn’t look for a conservative, a liberal or anyone of a particular ideology. It was about getting the best talent that would resonate with the most viewers.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Well then, it’s a good thing he wasn’t actually looking for a conservative. He would have ended up with a modern version of Attila the Hun (or did he anyway?). It should also be noted that his desire to find the “best talent”<\/em> who would “resonate”<\/em> with viewers, was unfulfilled. Beck’s show was a dismal ratings failure<\/a> on HLN. He would not be a success until he moved to Fox News with its built-in audience of pre-cooked FoxBots.<\/p>\n

Given the remarks Jautz made when taking over HLN and bringing Beck into the fold, it is fair to say that he was somewhat disingenuous with regard to his public appraisals. And he was similarly disingenuous in private. In the book “Common Nonsense: Glenn Beck And The Triumph Of Ignorance,”<\/a> author Alexander Zaitchik noted that Jautz mislead his employers at the time as to his intentions in reforming the channel:<\/p>\n

“Facing a staff weary of rumored changes, Jautz gently presented Blue Sky [his programming initiative]<\/em> as a trial balloon. He promised that CNN standards would not be diluted in the makeover and that soon-to-be-hired Headline News personalities would not appear on traditional CNN news programming. He broke both promises.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Indeed he did. Glenn Beck not only appeared on CNN, he was permitted to fill in as a guest host on Larry King Live. Taking into consideration the duplicity of Jautz’s comments when he assumed command of HLN, it might be prudent to take note of what he is saying now with regard to his promotion at CNN. Jautz was interviewed by The Wrap<\/a> and said…<\/p>\n

Q:<\/strong> Can we expect a tone change, or any sort of ideological shift?
\nA:<\/strong> I think that CNN needs to be as lively and engaging and as informative as it is known for its reporting.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Whatever that means.<\/p>\n

Q:<\/strong> For a long time, Jon Klein resisted any sort of partisan programming — especially as expressed by the hosts. Can we expect to see more opinions — or at least opinionated hosts — under your watch?
\nA:<\/strong> CNN has always been about adhering to non-partisan programming in general. And it will continue to be.<\/p>\n

However, I do not believe that “facts-only” programming … it will not work. Viewers, if they’re looking for just the news, they can get that anywhere now. The news that happened that day, they probably know already. They want context, perspective and opinion. And we’re going to give that to them. As long as it’s non-partisan, in the aggregate, from all ends of the spectrum.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In other words, we will continue to be non-partisan except when we’re being opinionated. And none of those pesky “facts”<\/em> that clutter up the news.<\/p>\n

Jautz did improve the standing of HLN. But he did it by ramping up the volume with shouters like Beck and Nancy Grace, and by diving head-first into the tabloid world of pop culture and celebrity gossip. Could that approach help to restore CNN’s prior leadership? Who cares? It isn’t what anyone who truly cares about responsible journalism would want.<\/p>\n

And that’s the problem with contemporary corporate media: It is more interested in serving the shareholders than in serving the public. Unless Jautz has recently had a revelatory transformation, CNN has taken a giant step backwards by giving him the reins to the network. The prospect of the man who launched Glenn Beck’s television career running a cable news network is troubling, to say the least.<\/p>\n

In related news, NBC\/Universal has announced that it’s chief executive, Jeff Zucker, will also be leaving his post. This is an entirely different situation than the one at CNN. NBC is presently the number one network in evening news, morning news, and Sunday news. CNBC is still the top business channel. Plus, under Zucker’s reign, MSNBC moved up from third place to second. The staffing change at NBC is due to its imminent acquisition by Comcast. It remains to be seen who will be replacing Zucker.<\/p>\n

Sometimes these sort of changes are merely shifts designed to put a new management’s imprint on the merged entity. But Comcast has baggage that makes it important to keep an eye on them. And they will have an unprecedented range of influence as a result of the merger. Stay tuned.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Remember the old days when CNN was the dominant cable news network? Or the even older days when it was the only cable news network? I didn’t think so. It was a long time ago. Viewers today don’t appreciate how remarkable an achievement it was to launch a 24 hour news channel when nothing like […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[12,1],"tags":[754,42,33,44,299,818,817,22,101,816],"class_list":["post-2792","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-big-media","category-general","tag-alexander-zaitchik","tag-cnn","tag-fox-news","tag-glenn-beck","tag-jeff-zucker","tag-jon-klein","tag-ken-jautz","tag-msnbc","tag-nbc","tag-ted-turner"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4Ijg-J2","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":10916,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=10916","url_meta":{"origin":2792,"position":0},"title":"Toronto’s Crack Smoking Mayor To Get TV Show On “Fox News North”","author":"Mark NC","date":"11\/18\/2013","format":false,"excerpt":"The ever-shrinking standards for cable television programming that have brought us Honey Boo Boo and Ted Nugent's \u201cGun Country,\u201d have once again established a new low. Apparently all that is necessary to get your own cable TV show is to shamelessly humiliate yourself in public. On that measure, Toronto Mayor\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"Fox News","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/FoxNews\/foxnews-ford-nation.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":48789,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=48789","url_meta":{"origin":2792,"position":1},"title":"Hapless Hannity Mocks CNN’s Ratings While Ignoring His Own Downward Spiral","author":"Mark NC","date":"3\/17\/2021","format":false,"excerpt":"The presidential election last November heralded real change for America. And it wasn't just by evicting Donald Trump from the White House. Almost immediately the Fox News audience cratered due to the network having bent to reality by recognizing that Joe Biden had decisively beaten Trump. In addition to Fox's\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"Fox News, Sean Hannity","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/foxnews-hannity-drain.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/foxnews-hannity-drain.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/foxnews-hannity-drain.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":236,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=236","url_meta":{"origin":2792,"position":2},"title":"Ted Turner’s Smackdown","author":"Mark NC","date":"9\/22\/2006","format":false,"excerpt":"The former CNN founder and reformed media mogul, Ted Turner, made some interesting remarks in a recent interview: \"[The decision to invade Iraq] will go down in history -- it already is going down in history -- as one of the dumbest moves that was ever made by anybody,\" Turner\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Big Media"","block_context":{"text":"Big Media","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=12"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7213,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=7213","url_meta":{"origin":2792,"position":3},"title":"Fox Nation: Historic Debacle At CNN","author":"Mark NC","date":"6\/1\/2012","format":false,"excerpt":"It has been well documented that Fox News is a disreputable enterprise that shuns any semblance of journalistic ethics. The most recent example, producing and airing an anti-Obama campaign-style video, perfectly demonstrates how far afield they are from a being legitimate news organization. Amongst the traits of Fox News that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":962,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=962","url_meta":{"origin":2792,"position":4},"title":"Cable News Viewers: The Next Generation","author":"Mark NC","date":"7\/2\/2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Ratings for the second quarter of 2008 are in and it has ceased to be news that Fox is the slowest growing cable news network: 2nd Quarter 2008 vs 2007 - 25-54 Network% Gain\/Loss MSNBC+46 CNN+22 Fox-2 Far more interesting are the trends that point to long term viewing patterns.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8566,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=8566","url_meta":{"origin":2792,"position":5},"title":"Zombie News Network: How New Boss Jeff Zucker Can Bring CNN Back From The Dead","author":"Mark NC","date":"12\/3\/2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Once upon a time there was a groundbreaking 24-hour cable news network that came to dominate broadcast journalism. After nearly two decades as the undisputed leader in its market, CNN began to stumble and was eventually overtaken by both Fox News and MSNBC. There are many factors that contributed to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2792","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2792"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2792\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2798,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2792\/revisions\/2798"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2792"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2792"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2792"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}