Your Views on the News 11/8/13

Seems from recent comments on random posts that people have a lot to say about CNN's abysmal ratings and the reasons for it.  Here's your chance to discuss that or anything else news/CNN related.  Play nice.

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The Future of CNN?

From capitalnewyork.com a column by Alex Weprin

CNN is planning a substantial investment in new programming, with a heavy emphasis on acquiring unscripted shows by outside producers in the vein of “Anthony Bourdain’s Parts Unknown” and films like “Blackfish.”
The strategy, which is now being touted to analysts and investors, will hamper CNN's revenue but is meant to shore up its viewership in key demographics and reduce its dependence on coverage of big breaking news stories to attract viewers and advertisers.
As a start, Bourdain may be getting a CNN talk show on top of his Sunday evening "Parts Unknown" program.
A live special to be hosted by Bourdain this coming Sunday, following the season finale of “Parts Unknown,” is being treated internally at the news channel as a pilot. If the special, dubbed “Last Bite,” receives a warm reception from viewers and CNN executives, it could become a series of its own.
The special will air live from a former liquor store in Las Vegas at 10 p.m., and will see Bourdain and guests talking about issues like guns in America and food sustainability.
A Bourdain-hosted panel program is not the only new program in development. A source at a New York-based production company says that CNN is actively pursuing programs in a variety of unscripted formats, including other travel shows, and “immersive” nonfiction programs. CNN staff have also been very aggressive at worldwide film festivals, wooing filmmakers and acquiring rights to documentaries for its “CNN Films” banner.
“There is a growing appetite for outside material,” one CNN source says.
News of the acquired programming expansion is based on discussions with two people familiar with the plans, and backed up by comments made by Time Warner executives on the company’s third quarter earnings call yesterday.
Those executives have been for the last few years touting CNN’s “record profits,” but with the earnings release yesterday the message shifted decidedly from one about profit to one about investment.
“We are investing at CNN, part of a strategic decision to broaden it beyond politics and breaking news,” Time Warner C.E.O. Jeff Bewkes said on a call with investors. “These programming investments will put pressure on its margins, but will bring new advertisers to CNN.”
In fact Time Warner C.F.O. John Martin—who will take over Turner Broadcasting in January—cautioned investors that as a result of the investments, CNN may not see income growth for years.
“Financially, we don't break out network by network, but I will tell you directionally, CNN’s operating income this year is down, and that is because of proactive decisions by [CNN president] Jeff Zucker and the new team there to try and invest in the programming in many, many dayparts,” Martin said. “Going forward, we will continue to evaluate what the right level of investment is for CNN. The expectation is going to be on a multi-year basis this thing is going to go back to growth.”
While breaking news is still CNN’s bread and butter, formats like “Parts Unknown” and Morgan Spurlock’s “Inside Man,” as well as films like “Blackfish,” tend to be more reliably popular with young viewers. Cable news viewership skews old, but Bourdain often tops its cable news competition among viewers 18-49 and viewers 25-54, the two key sales demographics. “Blackfish” crushed all of the competition in those demos when it aired.

To read the entire article just follow the link.
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New Day Walks The Walk (to the couch)

The Daily Show / Jon Stewart's take on CNN's New Day couch walk:

And BTW Jon we see your 'Best Walk Ever' and raise you with  Anderson Cooper's 'Best Week Ever':

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FTVLive Reporting Big Changes at HLN

 FTVLive is reporting that major layoffs have gone down at HLN.

Word is that people are being called into meetings in two different rooms. The people in one room are keeping their job. People in the other room are being pink slipped.
Word is that CNN Boss Jeff Zucker is moving all high-level editorial staff for CNN to New York.  
HLN is moving from a news channel to much more entertainment based.
Albie Hecht is the head of HLN sent this memo to the staff:
Team:
Today, I’m announcing programming changes to HLN’s dayside line-up. Effective November 18, these changes serve as a principal step as we continue to re-position the brand.
HLN’s new 6 a.m.-12 midnight schedule is as follows:
6 a.m.-12 noon ET: Morning Express with Robin Meade
12 noon-1 p.m. ET: Showbiz Tonight (repeat from previous day)
1-5 p.m. ET: News Now
5-6 p.m. ET: What Would You Do?
6-7 p.m. ET: Showbiz Tonight (LIVE, 5th floor NY newsroom)
7-8 p.m. ET: Jane Velez-Mitchell
8-9 p.m. ET: Nancy Grace
9-10 p.m. ET: Dr. Drew On Call (M-Th, Mystery Detectives Fri)
10-11 p.m. ET: HLN After Dark (M-Th, Mystery Detectives Fri)
11 p.m.-12 midnight: Showbiz Tonight (6 p.m. replay)
The programming shift also includes new assignments for some of our talent. News Now will be anchored by a rotation of Mike Galanos, Susan Hendricks, Christi Paul and Lynn Berry. In the coming weeks, we’ll have additional announcements about other talent impacted by these changes.
While change is necessary to evolve HLN, it is also difficult. A handful of our family members will be impacted by today’s news. I know that I speak for all of us when I offer a heartfelt thank you and my sincere appreciation for their commitment.
In the six weeks since I’ve joined HLN, I’ve been continually impressed with your professionalism and passion. We have a real opportunity to grow the HLN brand; let’s get started.
Albie
UPDATE: Sources tell FTVLive that as much as 40% of the staff is gone from HLN. HLN shows Raising America and Evening Express have been canceled. Also we now hear that 'Now in America' is also being scrubbed from the schedule. 
Changes effective November 18th.

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A Critic's Opinion of Crossfire

By David Zurawik The Baltimore Sun

One of the ways you can judge a talk show's energy and momentum -- or lack of such -- is by the guests.
When a show has strong producers and is going well, they have guests who bring energy, edge and insights to the production. The guests help make the production pop.
One of the signs of a show going bad is low-rent guests -- folks not much in demand who are easy to book and bring nothing with them to the show.
"Crossfire" had two of the latter Thursday with former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson and former Maryland Gov. Bob Ehrlich. It might not be fair to call them has-beens, but I would be hard pressed off the top of my head to find two political figures less in demand by the standards of political TV than these two.
The only way Ehrlich can get on local TV in Baltimore is to buy time as he did with his last infotainment show on WMAR-TV (Channel 2). This is not a guy who's going to get people switching away from Fox News or MSNBC to see what he has to say on CNN.
But there he was with Richardson Thursday in the scintillating debate:  "Is Obamacare a trick or a treat?"
Yes, that's a quote from the CNN website and the show. That's another way you can tell when a show is not going well: The framing and writing are lame.
Viewers were asked to weigh in on Obamacare as "trick or treat."
Isn't that just what we need in America: more mindless, one-dimensional, thumbs-up/thumbs-down dialectic themed to a holiday? Why not go all the way and have the hosts and guests dress up as pumpkins and goblins?
Again, I'll leave it to the political writers to judge the predictable, talking-points arguments that were offered.
But I was reminded of what an unpleasant TV persona Ehrlich has.
When Richardson or hosts Newt Gingrich and Van Jones were talking, the cameras often caught Ehrlich in reaction, and he had that same hostile glower that killed him in TV debates with Gov. Martin O'Malley.
Who knew it was so hard to get first-rate guests in D.C. on Halloween?

To read more follow this link.

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From TDS: Good Thing or Bad Thing

Is it a good thing or a bad thing?

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This Sunday Morning's Programming 11/3/13

SUNDAY, November 3, 2013

STATE OF THE UNION WITH CANDY CROWLEY -  Airs LIVE Sunday 9:00AM – 10:00AM and NOON

Topic:       Holding Up Obama Nominations over Benghazi Witnesses

Guest:    Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-NH), chair, House Armed Services Committee, Homeland Security Committee

Topic:       Politics

Guest:      Newt Gingrich, co-host, CNN “Crossfire”, former Speaker of the House

Guest:      David Maraniss, associate editor, The Washington Post

Guest:      Neera Tandem, president, Center for American Progress

Anchor:    Candy Crowley

FAREED ZAKARIA GPS – Airs 10:00AM – 11:00AM and 1:00PM – 2:00PM  

Topic:     Spying On Friends

Guest:     Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, former Minister of Defense, former Minister for Economics and Technology, Germany

Topic:      America’s Counterterrorism Capabilities – What Can Be Done, What Should Be Done, What Do They Tell the Presidents

Guest:     Gen. Michael Hayden, AF (ret.) former Director of the National Security Agency, CIA (George W. Bush Administration)

Topic:     Lessons from Three Terms as Mayor of New York

Guest:     Michael Bloomberg, Mayor of New York  

Topic:      Climate Change & How to Create Resilient Cities

Guest:     Michael Bloomberg, Mayor of New York  

Guest:     Jim Kim, MD, PhD, President of the World Bank  

Guest:     Judith Rodin, PhD, President of the Rockefeller Foundation  

Anchor:    Fareed Zakaria

RELIABLE SOURCES – Airs LIVE Sunday 11:00AM – NOON

Topic:      Coverage of the News of the World Trial in Britain

Guest:     Emily Bell, Director, Tow Centre for Digital Journalism at Columbia Journalism School, former

   director of digital content for The Guardian

Guest:    Peter Jukes, blogger, the Daily Beast 

                                                

Topic:      Contrasting Coverage of High Profile Court Cases Covered in the British and American Media

Guest:     Jeffrey Toobin, senior legal analyst, CNN

Guest:     Lin Wood, attorney

Topic:      Should Reporters Remain Objective and/or Disclose Biases?

Guest:    Bill Keller, columnist for the NY Times, former Executive Editor

Guest:     Glenn Greenwald, columnist, The Guardian

Topic:      Fusion TV Debuts with a Focus on the Multi-Ethnic Young Viewer Demographic

Guest:    Christina Norman, media strategist, former editor of Huffington Post’s BlackVoices, former

   CEO for OWN, former president of MTV

Guest Host: David Folkenflik, media correspondent, NPR

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