CNN - Falling Faster Than A Spent Rocket

By: Keith Brock
October 27, 2009
http://can-you-hear-us-now.blogspot.com/


CNN is in a downward spiral; falling faster than a rocket with its engines burned out. It also seems to have turned into a targe for Conservatives, who have long believed it does not have their interest at heart. At this rate expect a big shake up at CNN because it cannot continue being the laughing stock of media news, but more importantly, it must be profitable. I don’t believe the far left will give them enough eyes to keep them in business. They made a decision to throw Conservative viewers under the bus from the beginning of their existence. Evidently CNN has the wrong business model for attracting viewers, as does MSNBC which is also falling faster than a rock through thin air.

Ted Turner purposely set out to have a left-of-center news organization and dreaded the day that a Conservative news organization came to town to draw down on Liberal CNN. He has intimated that if he had his way there would be NO conservative talk radio or TV. He believes that Conservatives need to be force fed the liberal slant to keep them balanced out, and so does President Obama for that matter. CNN would do that better than stations like Fox News, Turner indicated. He also stated that he realized a Conservative network would do very well if it ever came into existence. Turner knew, as business man that became a billionaire, that he did not want a Conservative news organization in the Cable News market. He missed the brass ring, in fact he hid the brass ring, and it slipped to the new upstart that all the Liberal news media just love to hate: Fox News!

This news makes the secret meeting in the White House of anchors from CNN, MSNBC, etc., seem even more sinister because President Obama has decided he wants CNN and MSNBC’s liberal slant on anything reported. More concerning to the President is that Fox News is going to keep digging and find more bodies . The other News Organizations are getting fat and lazy, reporting Fox’s breaking news. Fox reminds me of a young sprinter, the others are tired and getting a paunch around the middle of their reporting.

I watch all of the cable news stations because I enjoy seeing who is reporting the news and digging for it, compared to who is sitting on the news at a desk reading a teleprompter with the joy of a dead fish. I am reminded of going to the 912 protest in DC and seeing well over a million people, yet the most news organizations had the unmitigated audacity to insult all who attended by stating that the crowds size was as low as 30,000 people. It was a slap in the face heard around the nation because if the organizations that we trust to bring us important facts and information are such liars – especially with that which we can observe with our own eyes – how can we trust their motives with that which we can’t see? CNN is suffering from the horrible coverage of the march on DC, as well as the fact that it makes no secret that it is left to far left leaning on the news it reports, or in the case of 912: what it doesn’t report. Oh, yea! There were a reported 160,000 for the Gay march that happened several weeks later. Now you understand the rest of the CNN story.

CNN’s numbers are scary! If they are not sounding off alarm bells they better replace the batteries and fast! Though CNN’s prime-time numbers are down 22% from 2007, that isn’t the scary part: They came in dead last in October, with their own Headline News Channel beating their numbers! It was the first time they have performed so poorly against their competition. No wonder they had a secret meeting in the White House to focus on marginalizing Fox News. Cable News network anchors, such as Chris Matthews, Keith Olbermann, Rachel Maddox were in that meeting. I don’t doubt there were others. Fox cast a big shadow and if you have the President of the United States of America wanting to take them down, that means your are going to do better as a competitor, right? Very wrong. The nation has its eyes glued on the others to see what they do. We are just waiting and watching, but very cognizant of the issues and magnitude of their actions. They would have stepped on a land mine of they had implemented anything against Fox News. The American people see this as President Obama’s “Chavez” moment and we are amazed that no one but Fox has the fortitude to report it.

Anderson Cooper might as well be turned into a real anchor and tossed overboard. I don’t think his insulting family-value-oriented protestors, calling them Tea-Baggers, did him any good. In fact, he has become somewhat of a joke among Conservatives because in the midst of his attacks it became known that he his predisposed to be of the liberal persuasion. His numbers were down so far that he trailed everyone in his 10pm time slot: Keith Olbermann on MSNBC; Greata Van Susteren, on Fox; and even Ms. Grace on HLN. That not the worst news for this news reader! Most of the shows Cooper was up against were repeats of earlier shows from earlier in the day.

Cooper is down a whopping 79% in the 10pm Slot. I bet you don’t hear him using the term “Tea Bagger” to insult Conservatives anytime soon, unless he wants to retire and fade out of the scene. I don’t believe another network would want him. You don’t fail like that and keep float along. There are too many bright new talents, chomping just out of sight of the camera, who want Cooper’s position so bad they can taste it and Cooper is well aware that whispers will start that are not in his favor; to move him out of the way of someone else’s advancement.

CNN believes that it can beat the other networks on news delivery, not opinion shows, in the evening; but even the news portion of CNN is getting a real butt kicking by Fox. Shepard Smiths nonideological news program is like a Gulliver and CNNs programs are like pygmies, in the prime time slot. Smith dwarfs every CNN show in prime time – not just CNN. This helps explain the vindictive hatred toward Fox form the other news organizations. Fox News is a real threat and continues to be more successful at the very moment others are struggling to stop their decline in audience share. Fox has the right business model (pun intended) and the left business model is for losers – literally. Let’s look as some comparison to better understand the hard data.

In October the numbers were:

Shepard Smith 465,000 viewers among 25-54.

Chris Matthews 179,000

Ms. Velez-Mitchell 166,000

Lou Dobs- CNN 162,000 and dead last.

For the month of October Fox News averaged 689,000 viewers in the coveted age 25-54 slot; CNN averaged a paltry 202,000.

In the 8pm time slot, Fox slaughters CNN. Bill O’Reilly averaged 881,000 viewers and CNN trailed with 162,000. This isn’t even a race; it’s a walk on the park for Fox.

Bottom line: All CNN programs’ audiences are down at least 50% this year. What has to hurt more for CNN is that Fox News is on pace to have its best year of all time in total viewers during prime time and for the total day. How embarrassing for CNN. I would imagine some are not getting a lot of quality sleep at this network.

CNN’s painting themselves as the real news network is failing miserably, also, because the American people are more educated and erudite, compared to audiences when they started the news business. Much of this deals with the ubiquitous internet, today. To present themselves as more news than opinion, and then continually host talking heads such as: Carville, Begalla, Gerghan, Borger and others, is not news but pure unadulterated spin.

CNN can’t spin their way out of these horrible ratings and this may explain why everyone seems dour lately, there. I expect they have been getting beat up by management for some time, now – the corporate world sees an assets or a liability and CNN’s programs and anchors are starting to look like real anchors to be tossed overboard.

I would like to take this opportunity to encourage Lou Dobbs to take Fox’s offer and come over from the dark side to Fox News. Both he and Fox would flourish and he would be able to gracefully jump off a falling rocket – CNN Cable News.