CNN Fail

4:48 pm EST October 26th, 2009 | Media | 12 Comments

CNN is now in fourth place, losing to Fox, MSNBC, and even its sister station HLN. CNN could stake out a place as the fact checker to liberal opinion on MSNBC and right wing opinion on Fox, rather than its current state of pablum… but I doubt they will.

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12 Responses to “CNN Fail”

  1. mambochicken23 says:
    October 26, 2009 at 4:54 pm

    Two things. First, I hope that CNN doesn’t use this as a jumping-off point to create shows that are derivative of the shit on Fox News. Secondly, I would still like to point out that popularity does not imply any amount of “value”. The fact that Fox News is at the top of the list illustrates this point very nicely.

  2. mambochicken23 says:
    October 26, 2009 at 4:55 pm

    Which is not to say that they shouldn’t change things up at CNN. They do some weird shit now (iReport, etc) that I think is awful. And I can’t say I’m a fan of their new web design, although that’s really a secondary point.

  3. Dennis says:
    October 26, 2009 at 4:56 pm

    CNN will forever be known as the fact checker to Saturday Night Live and the Obama Jack and Squat opening monologue.

  4. Oliver Willis says:
    October 26, 2009 at 5:16 pm

    MSNBC tried the Fox lite strategy in the early-2000s and it failed miserably.

  5. durablend says:
    October 26, 2009 at 6:10 pm

    Which is why they’ll no doubt try it again!

  6. durablend says:
    October 26, 2009 at 6:11 pm

    (meant CNN, not MSNBC–though they’re not immune to programming stupidity either)

  7. jr says:
    October 26, 2009 at 6:12 pm

    It would be nice if Larry King actually read his guests books

  8. Duros62 says:
    October 26, 2009 at 7:08 pm

    He can’t stay awake that long.

  9. Dr. Squid says:
    October 26, 2009 at 8:51 pm

    Because Joe Scarborough is liberal opinion.

  10. SAM NY says:
    October 26, 2009 at 9:03 pm

    Not a bad idea OW. But if they had to fact check MSNBC, CNN would have to cancel all their other segments, features, specials, etc. And would have to hire hundreds of additional employees. I just dont think as a practical matter its possible.

  11. Carlos says:
    October 27, 2009 at 5:45 am

    CNN pretty much sucks these days.

    I love it when news stations occasionally (very rarely) do fact-checking segments. I can’t believe it hasn’t caught on. Oh wait….It’s because they can make more money doing shows like, “My mom’s lesbian girlfriend’s aunt’s affair with a monkey” reality shows.

  12. Todd says:
    October 27, 2009 at 10:14 am

    Not that I’m defending CNN here but I think a lot of this has to do with the fact that people would rather watch the garbage shoutfests on Fox and MSNBC then tune in for some journalism.

    Even though some of the programming on CNN is cringe-worthy, they do have the edge when it comes to actual journalism. I think the problem with some of their shows (Anderson Cooper 360 is a good example) is that they’re trying to stretch it out too much and they end up filling the time with useless filler – back when he had a one-hour show, it was much better. I still think AC 360 fairly decent (though I enjoyed Aaron Brown’s Newsnight a bit more).

    Just face it – screaming, yelling, arguing, and talking over each other is what idiot America likes. Why do you think Glenn Beck and Fox is so popular? I doubt CNN would do much better if Turner returned to the helm (though I’d like to see that).

    I’d love a network like the BBC here in America but I doubt it would go over well.