CNN After The Election - Now What?

It Thrived During Obama-McCain, But Now What Is The Original 24-Hour News Network To Do?

(MarketWatch)  This is the second installment in a three-part series by MarketWatch media columnist Jon Friedman examining the prospects for the three major cable-news operations entering a Barack Obama presidency. To read the first column, on Fox News, click here.

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CNN made a tactical gamble during the just-concluded election process by providing wall-to-wall coverage of the presidential campaigns, effectively overshadowing much of the other breaking news.

So devoted was the original 24-hour cable news channel that, if not for its dedicated reporting on the Wall Street crisis, viewers could have been forgiven for thinking that they had inadvertently turned in to a (slightly) hipper version of C-Span.

The move paid off, as Time Warner's CNN generally got favorable critical reviews, built a buzz among viewers and increased the size of its audience. On Election Night, for instance, CNN had 12.3 million viewers while Fox clocked in with 9 million. CNN even surpassed NBC and CBS in total viewers.

Even so, CNN failed to shove aside News Corp.'s Fox News Channel throughout the year. Fox has consistently been the ratings leader among cable news providers since 2002 (Note: MarketWatch is a unit of News Corp.)

Now, the election is over and life has gone on. The central question is: Can CNN maintain its momentum at a time when the public's interest in politics is likely to wane?

Yes, we should all care about the identity of the next Treasury Secretary or Secretary of State. And we should hang on every utterance of President-elect Barack Obama, of course. But it's inevitable. Despite the gravity of the Cabinet appointments or any other White House initiatives, nothing is likely to seem more exciting or newsy than the outcome of the presidential election.

Malaise

As a result of the malaise, all-politics-all-the-time CNN could have a hard time keeping the public on the hook in an Obama world.

Sure, CNN could adjust its editorial mission. But if it did, critics, television executives and CNN employees would roll their eyes in mock-dismay at yet another shift in direction. CNN has become infamous in TV circles for the many changes to its broadcasting strategy over the years.

Only a few years ago, I dubbed it the Car-chase News Network because the network aired so much footage of car chases, burning buildings, kidnapping stories and other pulp content. CNN seemed more fixated on using gimmicks as a way to thwart Fox.

CNN has long boasted a stable of smart, plugged-in and poised political correspondents, leading off with John King, a tireless and knowledgeable presence.

But CNN wasn't perfect. Some of its more shrill pundits can sound as annoying as fingernails along a blackboard after a while. But the likes of King, Ed Henry, Jessica Yellin and Dana Bash provided excellent perspectives.

CNN may have to accept that its future lies in the highbrow world of politics, even if viewers would probably secretly prefer to watch burning buildings and car chases.

Niche audience

New Yorker media critic Ken Auletta pointed out: "Cable news networks rarely reach a mass audience, and therefore they seek to find a niche. Each will deny this, but they're spinning like the politicians they cover. Fox's niche is to tilt conservative, and MSNBC's is to tilt liberal. CNN seeks the broader ground between them by claiming to be the true 'fair and balanced' network. Yet they have a populist strain -- think Lou Dobbs -- that contradicts this claim."

Jonathan Klein, who presides over the U.S. portion of CNN's news content, is an energetic and resourceful leader. He took a chance when he positioned CNN's shift to politics and deserves the credit for spearheading its revival at a time when CNN had become irrelevant in the cable news discussion.

Klein has taken pains to put CNN in the middle, between the left-tilting MSNBC and the right-veering Fox News Channel (even though a lot of viewers still regard CNN by its decade-old nickname, the Clinton News Network).

Ultimately, CNN may turn its attention to worrying more about fending off the pesky, noisy MSNBC, nother perennial laggard that became energized during the Obama-McCain sweepstakes, than expecting to catch up to Fox.

"Will CNN be the place the audience repairs for unvarnished news?" the New Yorker's Auletta posited. "Will the heightened interest of the public for political news abate? Only O'Reilly and Olbermann know."

MEDIA WEB QUESTION OF THE DAY: What do you like or dislike about CNN?

Join the online community of Media Web readers by posting comments directly to the MarketWatch.com site.

[roadracer9x]

My comments are directed to the lunatic fringes on both ends of the spectrum. To the Right, stop calling all Democrats leftist, Marxist, or socialist and to the Left, not every Republican is a neo-Nazi fascist. The truth is that 95% of Democrats and Republicans are more in the center than you think. You narrow minded people on the extremes just use these blogs to flame, impugn, and promote your narrow minded agenda. The rest of us want this country to remain united and go forward, not regress into the Dark Ages. We may not and often do not agree on policy, but we want to succeed as a nation. The diversity present here is unmatched anywhere in the world and has enhanced our strength as a viable nation. It is time for the extremists to leave the country if they are not willing to be civil and work toward the common purpose of the majority of Americans, as stated in great elegance by the Preamble to the Constitution.

[ausus-2009]

thuderstone,

I have seen much more hatred spewed from the left than from the right in the past few years. You are a perfect example with phrases like "Neo-Zionist Nazis". You in a few words sum up antisemitism and a lack of understanding of history.

My concern is that TV is dominated by leftist yes-men (and women) and Fox has missed the opportunity to take a middle path when one is desperately needed.

[thuderstone]

Where am I wrong?

Posted by perceptions5 at 09:33 AM : Nov 18, 2008

Republicans are the ones that are acting as Neo-Zionist Nazis, the liberals haven''t got the act together yet. when they do, they will seriously kick some of your haters'' a-ss.

[perceptions5]

CNN will now become the complete obama news network and push the messiah''''s adjenda. They will be #1 for Obama, CBS, the complete barack system will also join CNN, MSNBC will be as it has always been, mostly supportive network barack corporation. ABC will be all barack corporation all reporting will be fluf pieces just like the other main stream media has been for two years. We will have 8 years of praising the great one''''s programs with no real questions. Past actions are a great predictor of future behavior. Welcome to 1984, just a few years later, 2009.


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Posted by Platteman at 09:26
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Well it feels more like Nazi Germany 1938 especially when you look at how this new breed of Liberal Fascists "generates" the news for us Americans.

Where am I wrong?

[platteman]

CNN will now become the complete obama news network and push the messiah''s adjenda. They will be #1 for Obama, CBS, the complete barack system will also join CNN, MSNBC will be as it has always been, mostly supportive network barack corporation. ABC will be all barack corporation all reporting will be fluf pieces just like the other main stream media has been for two years. We will have 8 years of praising the great one''s programs with no real questions. Past actions are a great predictor of future behavior. Welcome to 1984, just a few years later, 2009.

[hologram5]

What next? Time to get a life...

[perceptions5]

CNN After The Election - Now What?

......... That''s easy........Keep pushing their liberal dogma.

......... Keep telling the American people that the GOP are boggieman

......... Keep propping up and promoting their boy, Obama

Is there anything else?

[ausus-2009]

CNN has had a left bias since Ted Turner founded it and was pushed further to the left by Jane Fonda. PBS has always been a refuge for the left. MSNBC is a relative newcomer to the left ranks.

Network news used to be highlighted by the balanced Huntley-Brinkley (one Republican one Democrat) report. Since then, many of the newcomers have drifted leftward.

BBC, being part of the British public service, is more at home with the Labour Party. It tries to be fair, but is still a slave to the democratic socialist mentality.

Therefore there is plenty of room for a "fair and balanced" network, but unfortunately Fox did not fill that need, deciding instead to follow Roger Ailes'' agenda.

[doclaw99]

What do I like about CNN - it''s not FOX!

[deathofusa]

Every hard core right wing-nut nazi watches Fox News.Posted by nowaymcgoo at 02:46 PM : Nov 17, 2008


And every hard core left-wing commie watches CNN. Perfect.

[scuba4ever]

I have quit watching them...I got tired of always having to checkup on what they were saying with other news agencies

[bjcone8559]

Every hard core right wing-nut nazi watches Fox News. Everyone else in the nation is divided to CNN, CBS, ABC, NBC, MSNBC, PBS, CNBC. Any network that gets a share anywhere close to Fox News must be doing an excellent job.

[old300d]

They helped Obama alot ! ! ! He should give them a bailout too ! ! !

[mj9501]

CNN is so-o-o melodramatic. They are more than left leaning (have you ever heard Jack Cafferty?) they pick a politican and bend favorable reports onthat person. In the case of Hillary, Cafferty whaled against her all the time. They like Obama and it showed everyday - day in and day out. I am looking for a neutral reporting station. Not commentaries, but neutral reporting giving each person the same amount of time each day and switiching who gets the reported first. Cnn is a somewhat milder version of MSNBC (which I don''t watch anymore). I am a Democrat, but I want neutral reporting without the drama. p.s. Cafferty needs to be replaced with someone who can ask middle of road questions.

[deathofusa]

The Communist News Network will have plenty to report on. Keep up the good work CNN. Lol.

[killmahog]

Maybe they can start reporting all the news so viewers, like me, don''t have to go to BBC news to find out what''s going on in America and the world.