Someone needs to break it to CNN that the ‘ 60s are old news
NEW YORK — When CNN first signed on, it was greeted by a chorus of skeptics.
Not just doubt about Ted Turner’s vow that his all- news network would be around long enough to cover the end of the world, a bigger question resonated: Was there really enough news to fill 24 hours of air time?
As CNN marks its 34th birthday this month, a harsh truth endures: No, there really isn’t, at least not enough to get viewers to stick around. The flow of news doesn’t conform to the needs of TV programmers, and there are irksome stretches when nothing much is going on that can satisfy TV’s visual demands and keep viewers glued to the screen.
CNN was able to finesse this in its early years since it had no cable- news competitors. Then new arrivals MSNBC and Fox News Channel faced the same dilemma. But each packed its schedule with hosts who could fashion news into opinion, opinion that would guarantee its like- minded audience a reassuring hour- after- hour TV refuge.
Meanwhile, CNN clung to Turner’s mission statement that the news, not any news presenter, was the star. And ratings have suffered.
But CNN recently got a lucky break: a gift of news- as- breakout-star in the form of the tragic March 8 disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370.
CNN crafted an obsessive narrative of missing- airplane coverage — breathless “Still Missing” news alerts, rounds of analysis and rank speculation, and any other flight- related filler it could think of. This fuelled a Saturday Night Live spoof that billed CNN as the network to watch “When you want to know that they don’t know.”
At the same time, CNN continued its crusade to gin up mustsee program “events.” The latest: a relentlessly hyped 10- part documentary series, The Sixties.
But consider this: The ‘ 60s isn’t news. Hasn’t been for decades. So, is CNN diluting its signature role as a news provider with the sort of docu- fare found on scores of other networks? Fox News chairman Roger Ailes told The Hollywood Reporter in January that, with this game plan, CNN had decided “to throw in the towel and announce they’re out of the news business.”
CNN Worldwide president Jeff Zucker, beginning his second year in the job, disagreed. “CNN is not and never will abandon our first and fundamental brand equity, which is news and breaking news.”