SRGate article byabout the rumors on what's next for CNN:
Jeff Zucker distanced himself from a couple of big rumors about his plans for CNN on Friday. First, late-night programming for the news station and, specifically, a late night talk or comedy show, is “not in the cards” for the immediate future, he said. He batted away rumors that CNN would be going after “Tonight” show host Jay Leno when he turns the late-night desk over to Jimmy Fallon next month.
Zucker, the mastermind behind the NBC “Today” show’s storied past and now retooling CNN, made the comment at the Television Critics Association winter press tour Friday afternoon at the Langham Hotel in Pasadena.
He also denied rumors that CNN will hire Ann Curry away from NBC right now. While admitting he’s a fan and a friend of the former “Today” co-anchor, he said that as far as he knows, Curry is under contract at NBC right now and not available.
He also dismissed suggestions that the revamped “Crossfire” was in trouble because of low ratings. Arguing that its numbers were better than the average daily CNN numbers, Zucker said he’s more interested in upping the ratings for daily programming and that he’s content with how “Crossfire” is doing at the moment.
Feel free to discuss this or whatever else is on your busy, busy minds.
Saturday, January 11, 2014
Your Views on the News 1/11/14
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22 comments:
I wrote this on the previous blog post but will re-comment it here. CNN could probably win in prime time if Oprah Winfrey was brought in but I highly doubt that would ever happen. Otherwise, with time, what I believe could be a winning CNN prime time is if it involved perhaps Christiane Amanpour, Anderson Cooper of course, maybe Fareed Zakaria, or maybe even Robin Meade? Just some thoughts. Perhaps even if CNN Films became a regular part of prime time, it should definitely incorporate live news updates during commercial breaks. If nothing happens to work out for CNN domestic, it is perhaps best to have CNN International replace it presumably by late 2015 or early 2016 in time for the big election year. Of course many familiar domestic faces would move to the international channel. I for one would actually love to see this happen.
After lstening to the TVN clip of Anderson on the David Letterman Show, it is clear that he does not understand the depth and the dimension of the Fort Lee/GWB scandal.
To laugh about it with David Letterman and say, "Ha Ha, it's just traffic on the George Washinton Bridge," as though even more traffic in NJ is hilarious and what's the big deal, just shows his complete immaturity and lack of understanding about NJ and the
tri-state area.
According to the NYPost...which Anderson ALWAYS reads, the people in NJ are very upset with Christie and IF AND WHEN the smoking gun does appear, it may well cost Christie his political career.
Who's going to be laughing then??
Roger Ailes was correct in saying to Jeff Zucker: "CNN is not in the business of reporting the news."
The Letterman Show was a perfect example.
CNN needs to get rid of all of the on screen clutter. It is way I can't watch New Day. IMHO there should be no crawl at all, just the logo and time at the bottom of the screen with the live being placed over the time. How come television is the only device I use all day long without a media bar. If you have a slide show, info/data graphics , please show them full screen just have the anchor be the guide via voice over There is no need for the anchor to be on screen during any slideshow,infographics or animation. Also embed edited news items in the middle of commercials For example, it can be 15,30,45 seconds long . It can be video/pics with words on the screen or just a single story that is being covered all day long. All reporters have cameras so have them take photos of the stories they cover and have some photographer or producer working with the reporter shoot pics of the them in action. Drop those mag cover looking publicity shots used for reporters covering the story. Their photo with name engraved in photo works. Anyone can do this with basic computer skills.
@8:08 - CNN will soon be launching new on screen graphics to match their upcoming newly designed website. If you have the CNN App which recently debuted the new look, it will give you an idea of what to expect. I agree with you. WAY too much going on the screen. I can't multi-task to their extent. It should just be the CNN logo with the LIVE bug appearing on screen only when the name of a city is shown in which a live shot is broadcast from. CNN made the stupid decision last year to have the LIVE bug permanently displayed even when there isn't a live shot. Less is more. Hopefully CNN makes it simple.
Ironically, Jim Walton made moves before he exited
CNN that is keeping CNN from total collapse. Walton
brought Anthony Bourdain, Morgan Spurlock and
CNN Films to the network. At the same time all of
the decisions Jeff Zucker has made have been just
complete failures for CNN, be it Crossfire, New Day
and on and on. CNN is being poorly managed and
no one is taking corrective measures.
Since HLN is having a complete makeover, pretty much eliminating news, Jeff Zucker should bring in Robin Meade to co-host New Day with Chris Cuomo. Rename HLN to Upwave which seems like it could happen. Have John Berman and Michaela Periera continue hosting New Day in the morning. Expand Around The World to 2 hours and have it hosted by Hala Gorani and Michael Holmes. Pair Don Lemon with Brooke Bladwin during her two Newsroom hours. Cancel Crossfire. CNN needs to get rid of opinion, especially Crossfire which is hosts by 4 opinionated people, three who have never had broadcasting experience. Bring Christiane Amanpour to CNN prime time.
I am watching AC360Later and love how Christiane Amanpour basically just slammed Paul Begala who was talking about Hillary Clinton, pretty much saying we get it, you've done a great job defending Hillary Clinton, what else is new, etc.
CNN PLEASE GET RID OF ALL THESE ANNOYINGLY POINTLESS PUNDITS!
Hopefully AJAM & PIVOT will shake thing s up. I am stunned that media bloggers have completely ignored shows like America Tonight & Take Part LIve. Also, PIVOT does news in the middle of commercials called PIVOT NEWS. The crawl should only be used for real time news/overnights when programming is not live and during in depth coverage of a big breaking news story, but definitely not during live studio programs or live events. To engage viewers ask them questions and tie them to the actual news stories. Later this year, AlJazeera is launching AJ+. No anchor no grid. Let's see some of that for a couple of hours on AJAM instead of a repeat in the morning. Content is king and television is a visual medium. AJAM is very good at data journalism with infographics. Of course PIVOT and AJAM oar startups so they should not be copying CNN,MSNBC or FOX, The originality for America Tonight & TPL is refreshing to see in cable news. Where is the press that covers the news industry ? They are not doing their jobs that includes TV Newser, Inside Cable News,
Hollywood Deadline, TV by the Numbers and others. TVN has done more on a horrible network called FUSION . Take Part Live and America Tonight are not your typical news shows.
Aljazeera is my go to news channel. I like watching
Richelle Carey and Stephanie anchor at 7 AM in the
morning. These 2 could be a part of a female journos
ensemble for Aljazeera. The network has the talent
to have group of diverse female journos for a daily
news show. They have done in depth reports on sex
assault on college campuses among others that
appeal to women. 4 or 5 host would work. CNN is
not going to change. The ratings have been tanking
and they keep doing the same old stuff.
TVNewser is reporting that New Day is seeing record lows. Jeff Zucker needs to move Morning Express over to CNN.
Jimmy Fallon has proven to be a wonderful talent. He is the closest in night time to Jon Stewart and NO, HE will never come to CNN, don't even go there,
Jeff Zucker. Some people can recognize talent and make them stars. You can't seem to tie your own shoe laces.
According to TVN, CNN came in 41st
in primetime....it is the lowest low it has EVER BEEN and that is why I get so annoyed when I read their public relations releases and TVN repeats their lies.
All of their releases are lies and if you have the facts to back up these lies right in front of you, refuse to print them until CNN and Jeff Zucker tell the shameless truth.
Jeff Zucker missed his calling.
He should have been working for Christie.
in the fourth line: it should read "if you have the facts to
"negate" these lies, right in front of you.....
Sorry for this error.
anon: 11:14PM
Didn't CNN try the Christine Romans route before ?
It's a safe bet that the ratings for Early Start are
worst than New Day. Has things ever been this
badly for CNN morning, day and prime time ?
It's official : CNN is a complete failure. It's likely
that some CNN viewers are going to MSNBC.
Frankly, part of CNN's problem is the vast disparities in talent they put on TV.
You have some truly good and natural anchors like Cuomo, he's grown on me.
You have Christi Paul, good move and I'd move her up to weekdays.
At the same time you have the stock woman who filled in on weekends a while back who always seems uncomfortable and is clearly just a reader.
New Day is so formulaic as to be a joke. Kate and Michaela have yet to exhibit personality and Indra hasn't been given the vehicle other than weather.
Romans is smart and I'm glad to see her used more.
Costello needs to stop over acting and injecting her predictable opinion into coverage.
CNN just feels predictable and tired.
@anonymous 11:47, What the hell are you smoking? Cuomo, while a really nice guy, has absolutely no natural anchoring abilities, he's horrible and more than likely only on CNN because of family connections. Michaela is a gem and the only good thing Zucker has done since he's come on board.
I cannot say anything about New Day or Early Start because I do not watch them.
And if I were up at that time, the titles of both these shows are so boring, I'd go right back to sleep.
I have seen Carol Costello during the day and yesterday her top was totally inappropriate. Years ago she would never have worn what she was wearing to anchor a news program....not that it helped.
Yes, she dared to show her cleavage.
Now I'm not a prude and I expect to see certain attire on the Golden Globes or the Oscars, but someone has to tell Costello not to wear a top that shows her cleavage while anchoring. It is totally unappealing. I don't want to see anyones cleavage, no matter what their age on cable news. And don't tell me that Zucker lowered his dress code. I've yet to see anyone else look the way she did.
She did wear a huge pear shaped piece of costume jewelry to cover it, but all in all.....it was gross!
Content , story-telling, using writing that talks to
viewers directly about a story, presentation, delivery,
and tone matter more than the news personalities .
Just recently, a survey showed people did not know
who Brian Williams is. Yes, you need anchors who
are likable who viewers are willing to spend lots of
time with but story selection and guests matter too.
Kudos to AJAM for being committed to news. RIght
now it is too early to reach any conclusions. I do
think that viewers might be confused about if
AJAM is live or on tape. A 24/7 cable news channel
has to be live all during the day. The weekend is
an exception. Why are they running repeats of
The Stream,Consider This and Inside Story during
dayside. Maybe a live bug would help. They really
need to find ways to bring the Steam team to the
daily news operation. AJAM has the opportunity
to be true 1st 21 century news channel. Viewers
are going to be skeptical of any new channel
saying they are news. They will assume the network is no different than CNN,FOX or MSNBC.
AJAM has to visually show how different their
network really is from the others. AJAM can
experiment and shake things up . I really like
the tease trailers they have on You Tube for
AJ+. That is what Current should have been.
No anchor or grid is revolutionary and great
for weekend hours.
"Just recently a poll showed that viewers did not know who Brian Williams is." What poll?
That remark is nonsense. Brian Williams is the top in Broadcast and he is recognizable to cable viewers in the younger demographics, because he is a frequent guest on TDS.
He is a favorite of Jon Stewart, and socially they are friends.
So if you quote a poll please source it and tell us where you got this information.
Please don't just make "stuff up."
Bill Maher had an interesting show on 'Real Time' for the start of his new season.
Maher did not repeat what he had told Hardballs' Chris Mathews earlier in the week, that Christie would survive this scandal.
The panel seemed to agree that Christie was in big trouble and that he had to have known about the lane closings in September.
"No one acted in a vacuum" was the deciding pronouncement.
James Carville was a guest as was former Republican strategist Steve Schmidt, who was a chief advisor in the McCain campaign.
Mary Matlin also appeared but she acted quite strange....stranger than usual. She had suffered a recent fall, but no one seemed to know why.
According to Rachel Maddow, it is quite plausible that Governor Christie and his Lieutenant Governor, wanted political favors from Democrats in order to receive funding from super Storm Sandie.
If Christie didn't tie up the GWB
as suspected, for retribution against the Mayor of Fort Lee, the question no one seems to want adress, is why then, WAS the bridge tied up for four consecutive days??
The WaPo is reporting that Christie, from his earliest days as a NJ Freeholder, ran campaigns that often bordered on "lies and falsehoods about his opponents."
It was his friendship and support of George W. Bush that promoted him to Federal Prosecutor, thus propelling him into the national spotlight.
His latest opponent, Dawn Zimmer, the current Mayor of Hoboken, said that she was willing to testify under oath that funding would in fact be withheld and political retribution was overt in her discussions with the Lieutenant Governor of NJ.
While I am not a movie buff, I do enjoy watching the Globes and the Oscars.
And this year I hope "American Hustle" wins.
Why?
Because what was true then, in the late seventies early eighties, which is the time frame, is true now.
Yes, then it was overt and Woodstein made investigative journalism a glamourous field, and
every college age student identified with the famed reporters, because they were like today's "rock stars."
Nothing has changed.
All we have to do is look at todays headlines, and hello, not all, but some politicians are STILL crooks and there are STILL scandals. We are ALL watching one unfold in NJ right now.
And just today Huffpost entitled one post "Governor Gift," referring to the former Democratic Governor of Virgina.
So if ever there was a movie that deserves to win and still enbodies Amderican culture, it isn't "The Wolf of Wall Street,"
and slavery has ended.
It is 'American Hustle."
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