CNN Launches a Morning-Show Titanic
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At 5:45 a.m. Monday, I got up, fell into my sweats, headed for the treadmill and turned on CNN, just like always. That way, I find out quickly if any catastrophes have occurred during the night.
At 7 a.m. I switch to "Today" on NBC for a news repeat and some fluffier stuff. I don't even know who the CBS morning anchors are. As for Fox, I'm too groggy to separate bias from banter.
The faces that convey my news jolt on CNN's "American Morning" are familiar - usually two chirpy women and a wide-awake guy. These bodies started shuffling a couple years ago: Miles O'Brien, John Roberts, Kiran Chetry, Soledad O'Brien, Carol Costello, Christine Romans, Ali Velshi - who keeps count? - except they got giddier and giddier.
Then, wham! Monday morning, everything changed. Gone was "CNN American Morning," replaced by "Early Start" with (giddier still) Ashleigh Banfield and Zoraida Sambolin from 6 to 7 a.m., then good old Soledad O'Brien solo-hosting "Starting Point" until 9 a.m. The slogan for "Early Stuart is "News A to Z" - the Z, I imagine, being how to pronounce Zoraida, a pluck from NBC in Chicago.
I felt lost, bewildered, betrayed and, most of all, annoyed, especially when Soledad bragged, "We're all girls now."
Big mistake. I march for equal opportunity, but this pushes the envelope over the cliff. What will male viewers say? Just because they enjoy watching smart Barbies in cocktail attire on Fox doesn't mean they don't want a token guy.
Furthermore, racial diversity which, to their credit, has been job one on all networks, exists only subtly in the CNN morning trio. (O'Brien is Afro-Cuban-Australian/Irish, Sambolin is Latina, Banfield is, uh, Canadian).
If Ashleigh Banfield in her Palinesque glasses grated on my nerves on MSNBC, her antics are even harder to stomach before dawn. She'd better settle down before the next tsumani or she'll be following Carol Costello into the sunset.
CNN used to be the purview of statesmanlike Bernard Shaw and Judy Woodruff. Then they promoted Wolf Blitzer, who got so revved working a hot story that I feared for his hyperbole. But at least you got straightforward news dressed in business attire leading off each segment.
Loyalty to the morning shows and evening news runs deep. I'm an NBC gal because while I was in college my summer job was giving guided tours at NBC headquarters at 30 Rock. The guides' locker room abutted the "Today" offices in the Dave Garraway, Jack Lescoulie, Frank Blair, Betsy Palmer days.
When I visit an ABC-inclined friend I miss Ann Curry, less so Matt Lauer and his bevy of lip-glossed elves. Ann Curry on assignment in dangerous places personifies journalism with heart.
I never minded Katie Couric, but I wept when Tom Brokaw ceded the microphone to Brian Williams. But not for long. Brian grows on you. Besides, change hurts less at supper than at breakfast. I know alternatives like PBS exist for really serious newsies. I'm just less willing to try them, maybe because all work and no play isn't the way to start the day.
Hey, that sounds like a slogan - certainly more original than "News A to Z."
Stay tuned. Literally.
Contact Deborah Salomon at debsalomon@nc.rr.com.
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Comments
JER 1 year, 4 months ago
I long for the days when news was not entertainment. It's a sad commentary on the viewers when the evening news has to be a "show" to keep eyes viewing. PBS and BBC still offer straightforward news programs without the bimbos with tops down to there and skirts up to here cooing into the cameras. The network evening news programs are a little less irritating except for when they present a "news" item that is, in reality, an advertisement for a program that will appear later that evening. That really makes me cringe. Where is Uncle Walter when we need him. And that's the way it is......
The_AnonymusProfit 1 year, 4 months ago
I have not watched a network news cast in over 4 years. While I appreciate that FOX News is doing its best to be fair and balanced in a world of Liberal overshot. They tend to lean right which while fine for my political stances is not what I'm looking for out of the news.
I get my news off the internet from several sites and piece together what I think happened. It will take me about 3 hours to sift through the bias to find out what really happened in Iowa.
I think however the main reason I do not watch Network News Shows is that I am tired of hearing about raped babies, dead mothers, murdered people, robberies and the likes. YES I know they happen. YES I know they are horrible, but they run in cycles, Sadusky's issue is now all over, people coming forward saying this and that about other people, but in another week or so it will run its course and we wont here anything more about child molestation by prominent figures for another year or so. I really wish all the news shows would just do us all a favor and just call them selves reality TV, then we could get some real news on.
Nezumi 1 year, 4 months ago
It is ironic that we have a free press, and yet as a people, we are shockingly ill-informed about world events. TAP, cool batarian avatar by the way.
TreadLightly 1 year, 4 months ago
Cable TV left our house when the kids did. When we visit them, we can surf through 100 plus channels and find nothing to watch. There are some good things on cable at times, but not worth the wasted time that comes with the rest of it. We visit Drudge, WND, Newsmax, The Blaze, etc. Still take 2 newspapers, such as they are. (Sudoku and crossword often deeper than other content.)
ESPN streamed the Auburn bowl game! Put the laptop on the coffee table, plug in the speakers and rear back in the recliner! Glenn Beck is available on GBTV.com, 2 hours nightly. (Two week free trial...)
The_AnonymusProfit 1 year, 4 months ago
Thank you Nezumi :-)
RmeMP 1 year, 4 months ago
Shouldnt the title be, "CNN launches another Titanic failure"? Cry about Fox news all you want, but the ratings tell the truth while your opinion tells the biased lies :)
geoffcutler 1 year, 4 months ago
JPB I've turned my attentions inward now on several occasions, particularly to do with the last very important Town Council elections. The response in interest on this site was abysmal. Kinda takes the wind out of one's sails, and since the national story is critical right now, was happy to get back to it. Locally, we'll get what apathy serves us.
Nezumi 1 year, 4 months ago
IMHO, comparing CNN and Fox is like comparing Trabant and Lada.
fugitiveguy 1 year, 4 months ago
"Furthermore, racial diversity which, to their credit, has been job one on all networks"
Well, that and cheerleading for Obama.
JER 1 year, 4 months ago
RmeMP: Using the gauge of ratings to determine the overall value of one news source over the other only highlights the ignorance of the viewing public. I'm positive Jerry Springer gets better ratings than Masterpiece Theater, for example.
The_AnonymusProfit 1 year, 4 months ago
Backman out Palin in?
JER 1 year, 4 months ago
Nezumi: I've never owned either so I can't appreciate your comment. But I'm glad you are now in the USA and hope you buy one of our American brand cars in the future. Buying East German and Soviet vehicles doesn't help the economy here. I learned that watching CNN, which, by the way, you can view in most areas of the planet, unlike Fox News, that is directed at a very specific audience of like minded individuals.
RmeMP 1 year, 4 months ago
The problem with your example JER, is that Jerry Springer ratings vs Masterpiece Theatre ratings don't work because its different types of programming; however, if you were to compare Wheel of Fortune with Jeopardy, then those ratings WOULD matter - not because of the "ignorance" of their viewers, but because they are in the same market. If Jeopardy has better ratings, then any common person would see that it must be the better game show of the two...
Much like how Fox news is the better news network, more so then ANY other news network; not because I say so, but because the common ratings among other networks say so - unless you think that everyone else is wrong and you are still right :). Let's not forget, were not talking about this MONTHS ratings, not even this YEARS ratings - but EVERY year, over and over again. BTW, the ratings are only going up further.
JER 1 year, 4 months ago
The AP: You really do make me laugh out loud. But you have, once again, spelled one of your heros names incorrectly: It's "Appalin", not Palin. And , oh my yes, we sure do hope she's in!!
JER 1 year, 4 months ago
RmeMP: Ratings only reflect the intelligence level of the viewer, not the value of the content.
Courseaire 1 year, 4 months ago
If we wish to interpret what ratings reflect, let's look at the Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll. Obama is currently rated at -20. He has been rated minus since July 2009. The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Wednesday shows that 22% of the nation's voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as president. Forty-two percent (42%) Strongly Disapprove, giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -20.
Here is the link to the report:
http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/obama_administration/daily_presidential_tracking_poll
fugitiveguy 1 year, 4 months ago
I am amazed that after all these years the lefts continued obsession with Fox News. Even if what they say were true (its not) what are they worried about? What other new organization stirred the left so much that they created an arm just to monitor and smear them (Media Matters). I guess JER thinks Media Matters is non partisan.
Nezumi 1 year, 4 months ago
JER - actually CNNi (CNN International) is quite competent and does a very decent job of reporting global news - unfortunately, you have to be overseas to see it. I regularly flip between BBC and CNNi when both are available.
BTW - 2 out of my 3 cars are US made - the MX-6 built in Flint Michigan in 1988 is still running well.
Thatcher 1 year, 4 months ago
Courseaire is correct on Obama's approval in the daily Rasmussen poll...it's been like that for over a year. And fugitiveguy is spot on with the left's obsession with Fox News. Fox ratings dwarf CNN and MSNBC, and sorry JER, it's not because Fox viewers are less intelligent. I suspect it's because FOX viewers are more conservative, and that CNN's and MSNBC's viewers are liberal. It's numbers, not intelligence. Conservatives far outnumber liberals.
The_AnonymusProfit 1 year, 4 months ago
appalin? Im not sure I have ever heard of that person...
The_AnonymusProfit 1 year, 4 months ago
Yes Conservatives outnumber Liberals.....does not mean they all vote. :-(
JER 1 year, 4 months ago
Nezumi: Thanks for confirming my thoughts on CNN. I am also a regular viewer of the BBC and have recently begun viewing news on CCNEW. Being an independent, non-affiliated voter, I also view Fox and MSNBC as well as the three nightly network news programs (there should be four but Fox elects not to play in that game), which I alternate on a nightly basis. I have one rule when watching the cable news shows: regardless of which one I'm watching, when more than one person is talking (or screaming) at the same time, I turn the channel. It's probably why I watch Fox the least.
JER 1 year, 4 months ago
Thatcher: As noted above, I also view Fox News because I need to know their views for comparison to the other news outlets I view. So people like me are somewhat responsible for their ratings. And if you are correct about the strength of the conservative movement, then 2012 should be a landslide victory for your cause. Let's see if it is.
JER 1 year, 4 months ago
The AP: You have never heard of Appalin? I'm appalled.
fugitiveguy 1 year, 4 months ago
"when more than one person is talking (or screaming) at the same time, I turn the channel. It's probably why I watch Fox the least."
thank you for confirming that Fox has the most guests with differing views
debsalomon 1 year, 4 months ago
It's been three days since I wrote the column about Early Start. Fearing a snap judgement, I've continued to watch Ashleigh Banfield's shennanigans, thinking the big bosses might tone her down. They continue. Her co-anchor is positively despondant in comparison. Maybe that's intentional, for balance. I'm looking for another early-morning buddy...tried Headline News Network, the woman anchor was almost as bad. This attitude sometimes trivializes the news. Prediction: Banfield with be banished within six months. Anyway, I'm glad this sparked a debate that went far beyond the original subject.
moonie 1 year, 4 months ago
So, I am not sure what the point of the article was ( for or against) except to say that I was just getting used to Ali Belshi and the girls and WHAM! All Iowa Caucus all the time and then Soledad gets her own morning show. WOW! Now I dont know what to do when I wake up. Don't get me wrong, I'm not a Soledad hater. I like her specials, but I dont think she can carry a morning show all by herself. I like having having a mix of personalities to start my day. I hate FOX.....sorry guess I'm Kenyan Socialist Marxist with Far left tree hugging tendencies......anyway, I hate local TV and MSNBC just drones on and on about every political nuance ad naseum. HLN is way to quick and chipper for me until I have at least had some coffee and a bagel. Unfortunately, I am now back to watching IMUS in the morning, which I havent watched since he was thrown off of MSNBC! I can wait for summer so I can at least wake up and go for a morning bike ride. Thanks for nothing CNN.
dustyrhoades 1 year, 4 months ago
"when more than one person is talking (or screaming) at the same time, I turn the channel. It's probably why I watch Fox the least." thank you for confirming that Fox has the most guests with differing views
Thank you for confirming that your idea of "differing views" is people screaming at one another. So don't preach, okay?
Courseaire 1 year, 4 months ago
"when more than one person is talking (or screaming) at the same time." This is normal in my house & the TV is off, so it's not a problem here.
rightfield 1 year, 4 months ago
dustyrhoades 45 minutes ago "when more than one person is talking (or screaming) at the same time, I turn the channel. It's probably why I watch Fox the least." thank you for confirming that Fox has the most guests with differing views Thank you for confirming that your idea of "differing views" is people screaming at one another. So don't preach, okay?
It sounds like you're pretty much describing what goes on in a court room.
DaveKorb 1 year, 4 months ago
Luv your work, Deborah, and this one really hit home. Can't tell you how glad I am that we share the pain of viewing 'Early Start.' See, after many years in capital-J Journalism (writing for, or putting out daily newspapers) I slid over to TV. Until coming down from New York last year to give my parents a hand, CNN was my favorite gig in broadcast news. Early on I was writer/producer on 'American Morning.' I did that with Miles and Soledad, John Roberts, et al. Later I moved over to Anderson's show, getting a real night's sleep for a change and working with gownups ... brilliant, the best I'd ever known since leaving print. When I tuned in around 6am Tuesday I thought it was a joke, that those silly anchors would go to break and then we'd get our real anchors back, like Ali, one of the smartest on the tube. 'Early Start?' Can't imagine what the new guard is thinking. But so many experiments have gone bad. (T.J. Holmes? Oops.) The post-Jon Klein era is a disaster. But, in spite of the pratfalls, CNN is still the best. Yeh, I worked for Fox, once. Check out Robert Greenwald's documentary 'Outfoxed' for a look at how I felt about that. Fair? Balanced? Puh-leez. Also, thanks for the trip down memory lane. Got thinking about Ann Curry and our work at 30 Rock. Ann, Brian and their two kids lived across the hall from our flat on Irving Place. (Still break into a sweat thinking about the Barney costume Ann had me put on one Halloween.) Tear in my eye, but you can't make me homesick. As much as I miss my neighbors and colleagues in Manhattan I love it don here; the people, the cuisine, the beauty. The quiet of Whispering Pines took some getting used to.
dustyrhoades 1 year, 4 months ago
It sounds like you're pretty much describing what goes on in a court room.
It sounds like you've never been in a court room. You try screaming at people in there, you'll be in a cell so fast it'll make your head spin. But by all means, give it a try.
JER 1 year, 4 months ago
justpassingby: I would think that from your position on the extreme right, EVERYONE would appear to lean to the left.
The_AnonymusProfit 1 year, 4 months ago
I think this video should sum up the debate on this blog are you ready for it?
El Mudo - Chacarron Macarron- Crazy Music Video by Heff Moo
This is what I think of your opinions.
Nezumi 1 year, 4 months ago
That video is hilarious
JER 1 year, 4 months ago
justpassingby: I'll take the "just quit responding to them" option. I am well aware of your positions on most subjects and I am also aware they are extremely to the right of mine.