Say It Ain't So Already

Why CNN is Bombing

November 4, 2009 at 2:32 PM 2 comments

Historically, CNN has done very well when it comes to live events.  Not last night.  Last night it came in 4th in the cable news ratings behind Fox, MSNBC and HLN.

This is really is shocking, and I’m not trying to be dramatic.

15 years ago, CNN was an icon.  It reported actual news — both national and international.  It reported interesting, important, relevant and timely stories from around the globe.  It was ready and able to report “breaking news” from anywhere.  It was exciting to watch. (Don’t forget — this was before the Internet.)

However, over time, it dumbed-down and shrank.  It pulled correspondents from important locals like China and Russia and it lazily began repeating a loop of six or seven stories over and over all day long.  Over time, serious news junkies stopped watching and they turned to the Internet.

Add bimbo news readers (of both sexes) masquerading as Serious People and  “fair and balanced” panels consisting of 3 conservatives to every one progressive.  Over time, viewers of a more liberal bent turned to MSNBC and conservatives turned to Fox.

It ain’t all that complicated.

Where CNN goes from here is anyone’s guess.  Judging from its coverage of yesterday’s elections, I think it’s going to try to compete with Fox (in which case it will lose because Fox already has a lock on that demographic).  All I heard during the five or six minutes I watched today was this talking point it must have received from the GOP:  “Republican sweep,”  “Republican sweep,”  “Republican sweep.”

There was a time when CNN was better than that.

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