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Saturday, October 29, 2011

Your Views on the News 10/29/11


As usual this is the open forum where you tell us, and CNN, the good, the bad and the ugly. We'd like to pose a question this week, who is your favorite CNN anchor and why?

All content, unless otherwise cited, is © All Things CNN and may not be used without consent of the blog administrator.

19 comments:

Phebe said...

I'll start it off by saying I truly enjoy Kyra Phillips and her morning show. She has the magic mix of humor and serious news credibility. Well traveled and very smart, she's an anchor that keeps her 2 hours briskly paced, informative and entertaining. I'd love to see her in prime time but hesitate to fully endorse that because we know the history of women on CNN at night.

Anonymous said...

I too would very much like to see a women's show
on CNN in primetime & a brand new morning show.

CNN has hired Zoraida Sambolin. So who are some
of the women of CNN who should join her :

Robin Meade,Brooke Baldwin Isha Sesay, Hala
Gorani, Zain Verje, Alina CHo, Virginia Cha,
Alexandra Steele for weather. Fredericka Whitfield,
Kyra Phillips, the female sports reporter from CNN I
or hire a female sports anchor from ESPN. Maybe
Erin Andrews, Suzanne Malveaux , Natasha Curry,
Richelle Carey or hire back Erica Hill if it is true
that CBS is changing their morning team.. Also,
the lady Katie who comes on and talk technology
on the weekends with Don Lemon. Women can
do it all news, global news, sports, weather and
interesting topics. Women and men are different
so no politics. Have personalities that clique,
that makes it look like the enjoy bringing you
the news and are having fun. Women related
songs for the open, bump and show closer.It
would easily be a hit.

Phoebe I understand what you mean, that is
why if you go with 4 or 5 you are bound to
like at least one of them. Well at least if it is
not the current AM trio.

Anonymous said...

Have several favorites and non favorites; unfortunately some comments may not be too polite, but it's how I see it.

(Absolute Favorites)

Hala Gorani:
Off the chart intelligence, brilliant presenter, excellent with breaking news and humanistic.

Kyra Phillips:
Competent and credible in all areas, and the only Newsroom anchor worth watching on a daily basis.

Wolf Blitzer:
Experience and knowledge is apparent. Also best primetime show on CNN, a daily must see.

(Good but improvement needed)

John King:
Definitely one of my favorites, however, unless John has in-studio guest to banter with, his show can put one to sleep.

Suzanne Malveaux:
Suzanne starts each show alert and in news ready mode, but by half time, she's slumped over and in full monotone mode. Such a shame because she is extremely intelligent and likeable.

Isha Sesay:
When focused on news, she is a very good anchor. But hard news no longer seems to be a priority with Isha.

(The Bad and unwatchable)

Fredricka Whitfield:
Absolutely clueless and her incessant giggling is unbearable.

Brooke Baldwin:
Have to give it to her staff, who make this mediocre talent seem better than she is. But what makes Brooke unwatchable is her "look at me, I'm so pretty" demeanor. She seems to think she is more important than the news.

Don Lemon:
Don Lemon is an absolutely incredible anchor and until recently on my favorite list. But his show is full of celebrity stories, and fluff features. Should look at moving to HLN.

Others on the good list:
Finn Sweeney
John Mann
Rosemary Church

Others on bad list:
Ali Velshi
Kristie Lu Stout
Erin Burnett

Anonymous said...

OK, what is going on at CNN ? TVN says they
are restructuring Atlanta. Supposedly, the News
Room will be affected. Some jobs are being
reclassified as writer/producer, This means the
weekends too. Is there a big shakeup coming ?
Are new shows coming ?

Anonymous said...

CNN , please bring Strombo to America.

Anonymous said...

Did anyone see Suzanne Malveux's interview with Martha Stewart? It made me question CNN's slogan "most trusted name in news"... I like Suzanne but she was WAY better as a White House correspondent and a Situation Room fill in for Wolf Blitzer.

Anonymous said...

Who says says the anchors have to just sit in
chairs and read all day long ? Who says they
have to wear ties everyday ? I like to see that
they are human and not reading robots, who
are acting. I want them to be real, authentic,
likable and people who I can connect with.
All of these things doesn't mean that you cant
be professional. Male anchors can have on
dress pants/jeans with a nice shirt or sweater.
Woman can wear, skits , dresses, jeans, pants,
boots heels, whatever.



Fredericka is on the weekends. As long as she
is serious when the news his hard, I'm fine with
her laughing or joking with her colleagues.

Not only that they need more segments,book
more guests not pundits.

It is too bad that CNN messed up HLN. The
network should be 24/7 news. I don't care
what opinions the folks on tv have. I've got
FB & Twitter. I can engage all day long. Both
CNN & HLN have overdosed on crime. Hello,
1 source news stop.. This what people will
watch on multiple platforms..

Each hour HLN should tell us some 50 stories.
Aggregation with a grid telling you the 25
top news stories, national & global. There
other 25 should come form technology, sports,
etc.I am thinking about starting a national
movement to get satellite & cable providers to
drop HLN out of the news category. It goes
with Tru & Court TV. HLN needs to lose it's
status as a news channel. Give us CNN I as a
substitute.

CNN has to give each edition of News Room
their own identity. No more loaded questions
from Jack Cafferty or Carol Costello. No more
pundit games. CNN has an angry at the world
persona. Who wants to watch that all day ? It
is a downer. I an not watching angry people,
yelling or rudeness on CNN. Jerry Springer &
Povich are still around for that. Find ways to
make the news interesting and create better
segments.

Watching CNN in HD is not a pleasant viewing
experience. Please do something about the
banners & graphics. That black box that drops
down at an angle is so ugly. It should line up
with the anchor. I can live with the solo CNN
bug at times. If fact let the logo & show title
animate back and forth on 1 side of the screen.
I want as much full screen video as possible.
If you must have the anchor next to video can
they be the same freaking size. That little
anchorhead box that CNN has is annoying.
Even thing should look clean no junky.

Recently , I removed 360 from the DVR. I
got tired of the talking heads on 360. I
have no problem with the RIdiculist, which
at times is the best thing on 360 or the
banter with Anderson & Isha. With all of
this personality why is 360 wasting tine
on pundits. Go with Joe Klein or LZ
Granderson for political talks. I have had it
with left vs right. Ideology tends not to be
intelligent and ends up being misinformation.

Anonymous said...

CNN can start fixing things by dropping the
pundits. These are people with agendas. So
why are they on the payroll of CNN. It comes
off as hypocritical and is a conflict of interest.
How can you get on politicians behaving badly
by employ people who engage in divisiveness
daily. For the average viewer listening to them
is like listening to the teacher from Charlie
Brown. No average viewer is in to politics that
much. Yes, you cover politics but don't make
it the center of the news. There is too much
news going on for that.. So many times they
are just making stuff up. Just have a 3 hour
political block with TSR & JK, USA. There is no
excuse for 360 starting with pundits each and
every night. It is not working with Keeping
Them Honest. When you do this you have to
talk with the people you are trying to keep
honest or a representative. Hey, if they don't
talk to you say that.

Anonymous said...

The original Raw Politics on 360 was so cool.
Tom Foreman, Candy Crowley & Joe Johns told
you a story about the political news of the day.
It was original, smart and well written. Can't
Foreman and Johns bring it back. The pundits
are boring and not much fun. Why not let Tom
Foreman and Joe Johns revive the segment.Or
even Candy if she has the time. It was a unique
and different take on politics.

Anonymous said...

Too much politics is why the 360 demos are
down. It would flow better is you had a Raw
Politics setup the old way right before AC
does anything on politics. Then following the
setup have Anderson go through what the
campaigns are saying or getting to the point.
Debrief if you will. 5 minutes at the most.

As often as possible Anderson should have
an in house interview. Someone who is in
the studio with him. It can be an interview
about anything. If they are not careful, 360
will become just like the other cable news
programs.360 was not like that before. So
why downgrade your flagship show.

Your could have Foreman or Johns do a 45
second intro for Raw Politics. For example,
they would say Anderson controversy for
Herman Cain. Politico dropped a bomb shell.
The other political stories are wrapped up
in the remaining time.

Of course you have music that fits with the
topics.360 needs to be jam packed for the
hour, not dull. Pick up the pace.360 is moving
in the wrong direction. You don't need less
content. You need more content. I know AC
has a daytime show. Isn't Isha Sesay around.
Nights when 360 does not have international
news have her do a 1 minute international
news segment. 360 needs a team of reporters
who go out and bring original reports for 360.
Pretty much like they do for CNN Presents. I
love Kaj Larsen and Amber Lyon. Of course
you have Gary who always does some great
reporting. That would be 3 360 core reporters.

Anonymous said...

CNN has so many problems that it is not going
to be fixed anytime soon. It is going to take years.
The morning show screw up did not have to be, it
was management that created that problem by
going with a trio that is impossible to tolerate.
I hope Ashleigh, Soledad & Zorauda succeed but
they are walking into some difficulties.

IMHO I hope CNN does go for this Strombo guy.
From what I have seen on the web, he is good.
Yes he does celebrity interviews but he also
talks the news. Don't change anything about the
show. Including the live audience. This is the
type of show that compliments 360. CNN has to
get shows that can gain a loyal following, that
grows your audience( viewers & demo). gets
them to stick with you for 2 hours. Right now
CNN is all over the place. i think the combo
of Cooper & Strombo will be tough to beat.
I won't even attempt to spell the last name,
which is an attention grabber. The continuity
issue is why CNN has prime time troubles. On
Fox its BOR followed by Hannity. At MSNBC all
3 shows compliment the other. CNN has got
to find the right show to back up 360.

Anonymous said...

I always knew that management would find a way
to mess up 360. If the boss tells you that you must
have pundits on each night, you can't defy him. I
think Anderson Cooper. Charlie Moore/ Team 360
have earned the right to do what they want each
night without management interference.

Here is the deal when you work for a huge org. like
CNN. When management has 1 failure after another
like In The Arena, American Morning anchor change
and bad hires. they will try to make it look like
they have something to do with a particular show.
So you force the show to go with worthless
pundits that you hired. All in an effort to CYA.
To justify hiring too many talking heads. It is
destroying CNN's most popular show.

Anonymous said...

On Monday Al Sharpton was very creative. To
illustrate a point on Mitt Romney. Sharpton
and his production staff created the illusion
that Romney was arguing with himself. It was
Rev All debating Rev Al Meanwhile on CNN you
get talking heads. CNN has a creativity drought.
The only way they seem to know to cover politics
is left vs right. If you are a viewer at that hour, it
is a safe bet that you would chose Politics Nation.
I hate to say this but the programming on CNN
is just not that good. In fact in many ways it is
getting worse. In addition to all of the problems
they have, you can add too many pundits to the
list of problems created by bad choices. CNN
needs to understand that viewers don't care
what these people think about anything. The
average viewer is just not that deep into politics.
MSNBC is very good at breaking it down to a
level that is plain-speaking and at times fun
& informative all at once.CNN fails to understand
that the average viewer doesn't live,eat, breathe
politics 24/7. So stop acting like viewers are
into politics that much because they aren't.
CNN is talking to viewers in a language they
can't relate to on a daily basis. If you look
closely, the political shows on CNN struggle.

Anonymous said...

Robin Meade should be promoted to CNN. Meade
had a remarkable interview with Herman Cain this
morning. Girl's got some interview skills.

It might just work to have her as a member of a
women's news show on CNN. Robin Meade, Isha
Sesay, Alina Cho & Zoraida Sambolin could be a
good team. I'd put the show on right before TSR.
Brooke Baldwin is too weak as a lead in to the big
shows on CNN. 2-4 PM is a great time to make a
play for female viewers.

Anonymous said...

360 was much improved last night. It will be
interesting to see the ratings later today. On
Friday 360 topped Ed in the demo with only
498,0000 viewers. 360 had 212,000 demo
viewers. Only BOR had a higher demo in
prime time. Lets hope that last night is not
just a flash in the pan and they are working
on content issues for 360. It is the demo
that makes 360 a contender.

Anonymous said...

CNN takes punditry way too seriously. It''s not
factual or actual. It's opinion and has no value.
That is why they are an endless supply of the
absurd for Stewart and Colbert.

Robin did an amazing job with the Cain interview.
She deserves better than HLN. There are always
rumors she is going to CNN. She was able to get
Herman Cain on her show so her stock just went
up. That does sound like fun. Rbbin, Alina &
Isha each afternoon. They each have magnetic
personalities and are likable. One of the others
will do this before CNN.

Anonymous said...

CNN has pure BS for a press release saying that they are UP with double doses of Anderson and 360. Yes, there was the debate, BUT people didn't watch because of Anderson, not 5 million. He wishes.
They watched the GOP candidates make fools of themselves for entertainment.
Really?
Who writes these lies.
According to TVN, for the last week AC/360 couldn't climb out of the 400's or the 500's in both time periods and AC was last at 8PM Halloween nite and third at the 10PM hour.
Please CNN, stop lying in your press releases.
Your morning show is being revamped, perhaps 360 should be next, in both slots.
Your star is fading.

Anonymous said...

I never thought I'd say this, but I did watch Piers Morgan last nite, for as long as I could stand him, and he really went after the Madoff women.
He really went after Andrew's fiance for helping the remaining Madoff son, write and publicize his book for profit.
Piers was in a word, relentless, and that's something I've not seen before on this faux news station.
It was one of the hardest interviews I've seen on CNN and some of the key players should study his adeptness.
It was golden.

Karin said...

When is the new American Morning change coming? I can barely stand the trio of self centered Carol Costello, blahest of the blah Christine Romans and ego-centric Ali Velshi much longer. All three of these so called 'anchors' were 100% not ready to take on these key roles and it simply has not improved over time. There is zero chemistry between the 3, and neither have anything interesting to say, EVER. CNN really missed the mark on this show, I'd love to see it's ratings during the last quarter. This new supposed change, cannot come soon enough.