New CNN Boss Pushing Narrative of Irrelevant Ratings
Over the course of the last several years, CNN has fallen from grace in a major way, and now the new management team is trying to spin their own demise more fervently than they spin the news.
The cable news network has long insisted that they’re more “news-y” than the other outlets who are decimating them in the ratings. They push a “facts first” missive that doesn’t take long to debunk, especially now that we’ve had two distinct and dastardly controversies spring forth from the network, both involving disgraced former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo.
So now, as the network attempts to regain whatever is left of their former relevance, the higher-ups are suggesting that ratings aren’t the focus…and he’s suggesting a turn toward the middle to accomplish it.
Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav said CNN is renewing its focus on “journalism” — signaling he wants the scandal-scarred, left-leaning network to eventually deliver straight news that also appeals to conservatives.
The CEO, whose company owns CNN, Warner Bros., HBO, Animal Planet and TLC, told reporters at Allen & Co.’s “summer camp for billionaires” in Sun Valley, Idaho, that CNN’s new approach will pay off in the long term, even as ratings sink to historic lows.
“Journalism first. America needs a news network where everybody can come and be heard; Republicans, Democrats,” Zaslav said. “I think you’re seeing more of that at CNN. We’re not going to look at the ratings and, in the long run, it’s going to be worth more.”
But there was more to the story still..
[…] one well-placed source told The Post that the ratings have taken a hit due in part to removing such “sensational” and “delicious” details that have become commonplace in cable news.
“The problem is we are not a neutral country,” the source said. “The ratings are getting worse because they are taking out all the bells and whistles. CNN’s ratings are as bad as local news ratings.”
“New management is not freaking out but everyone else at CNN is,” the source added. “They want to fix the shows first, but they don’t realize the shows and ratings are connected.”
Although the move predated this latest directive going public, CNN’s hiring of Chris Wallace seems to have telegraphed the maneuver toward moderate viewers, but will the network become a big-budget NPR or a place for bickering between non-neutral hosts?
Only time will tell.