The Morning Papers and More

I really had intended for my post today to head in an entirely different direction but sometimes things come across my desk that are just too good to pass up. Today it is not as much the content as it is the coincidence.
First Ms. Sapphire sent me this brief clip from Wednesday's American Morning that shows John Roberts and Kyra Phillips looking at the morning newspaper headlines.

You probably already see the direction I'm heading, right? Reading the headlines of the day was a trademark of former CNN anchor Aaron Brown, on his program NewsNight. Thanks to BA I have a wonderful example to share with you.

I miss the aw shucks charm of Mr. Brown, everything has become so slick and over produced since his departure. And speaking of Aaron's absence from the airwaves he did a short interview recently with Michael Martin at New York Magazine.com.

Low-key CNN anchor Aaron Brown was bumped aside in 2005 for Anderson Cooper. Now his CNN contract is up, and he’ll resurface next month as host of a PBS documentary series. He’s also pitching a public-radio show, appearing in an upcoming Kevin Costner movie as himself (“My worst nightmare,” he says), and teaching journalism at Arizona State University. He spoke to Michael Martin.

Why PBS?
I pretty much burned through the other networks. And I like the concept of a PBS audience. TV people like to think the audience has a stake in the program, but they don’t. A PBS audience literally does.

Do you have psychic scars from CNN?
Mostly I laugh about it. In my time there, they paid me to go away, they paid Connie Chung probably a lot to go away, they paid Paula Zahn to go away.

Do you watch TV news?
Like a lot of people in the world, I’m kind of busy. Six-thirty rolls around, I’m not always in front of the TV. CNN’s political stuff has been good, but once the campaign’s over, Anna Nicole Smith returns. I don’t judge it. I just don’t want to do it.

What’s your take on Katie Couric?
It’s difficult to make a program work if the buzz is that it’s going away.

How about Keith Olbermann?
It’s a good television program. No, it’s a very good television program. That’s how I want to put that.

You’ve let your hair go gray.
I think I just got older and stopped giving a shit. On the other hand, the first thing I did when I left CNN was have Lasik surgery.

Well, your replacement is famously gray.
I don’t think it would have made any difference.

Since we must assume one of the main reasons for Mr. Brown's departure was ratings we have now arrived at our last topic of today's post. I'm far from a ratings expert, but even I can tell that CNN had an amazing night on Tuesday. Here are the official numbers from CNN...our ratings expert will break it down for everyone on Friday night.

Last night, CNN dominated the cable news competition, out-delivering both Fox News and MSNBC in primetime (8-11PM) and throughout the network's extended election coverage (8PM-2AM) of the Montana and South Dakota primaries.

During primetime, 8-11PM, CNN averaged an impressive 3.519 million total viewers, 34% more than MSNBC's 2.627 million, and a 47% advantage over Fox News' 2.389 million.

CNN peaked with 4.525 million viewers during the 10PM hour with Anderson Cooper, the only network to top 4 million for an hour.

(CNN's source for these numbers:Omniture SiteCatalyst, domestic and international editions combined

That's it for me for this week. Next week we have a real treat for you. CNN's Ali Velshi will be answering our questions in a new 'Getting to Know.... Until then~Phebe

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