JNN: CNN

CNN Comments 26

01.03.2003

Happy New Year CNN fans. Well I can't really say that to some CNNers as CNN is back to its old bag of tricks. In recent days the network has been purging some of its most veteran anchors and reporters. More on that in a bit.

I hope you all had a great Christmas holidays. I certainly did, while spending time with family and catching up on my CNN watching hours that I lost at work. Also, I finally finished the old classic adventure game Myst, which pales in comparison to another adventure game, Syberia, I bought after watching Next@CNN. First time CNN actually made me buy something. Syberia has plenty of logically puzzles integrated into a strong story with amazing graphics. This holiday season had a hint of déjà vu as my parents and I watched "Harry Potter: The Chamber of Secrets" and "Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers;" we saw the first movies in 2001. So the last thing left to do on my list was to write to you guys. Well let's get started.

CNN Layoffs 2002/2003
As I said in the above, CNN has laid off quite a few of its on-air anchors/reporters. The list, so far, comprises of Allan Dodds Frank, Mark Potter, Bruce Francis, Brooks Jackson, Garrick Utley, Bruce Morton, Rea Blakey and James Hattori. Other names still in the air - rumored - are Bill Delaney and Anne McDermott.

Renay San Miguel replaces Hattori as host of Next@CNN at CNN/Atlanta. It will now be hosted live at 2PM ET Saturdays. Replays are at 2AM Sundays and Mondays.

Insiders say that these recent layoffs represent a signal that CNN is moving away from think pieces and investigative reporting toward snappy live reports, "star" anchors, and younger reporters.

Christa Robinson, a CNN spokesperson, tried to downplay the recent firings to be a diminishment of the quality of reporting. She said that, "The quality of our reporting has not changed and will not change." Robinson also noted that CNN is always looking for newer talent by pointing out to four new hires, which includes James Colby (CBS News) and Whitney Casey (WCBS-TV). [CBSfan, DG, DM]

Whatever Robinson says, it is far too easy to let people go to maintain the bottom line. Firing on-air staff may save CNN here and there but it does not address the fundamental question of what will make CNN the leader again. It can't keep laying off staff to stay ahead. It is people and workers that make up corporations; once you take the people out of your business you don't have a business.

I am starting to think that CNN's anchors and reporters should start their own union. That way, I sincerely hope, their jobs would be protected.

Merger Update
In early December AOL/TW head honcho Dick Parsons said the ABC/CNN merger was on hold because it is too complicated to implement. On the other hand, Walter Isaacson had figured out a way to do it. It looks like the right-hand doesn't know what the left-hand is doing. All I know is that we viewers will be slapped in the middle.

CNN26: On the Side
CNN is also eliminating "Pinnacle," which is being replaced by another business show.

CNN has put away $35 - 36 million for covering the potential war. [DG, DM]

Also banned is CNN.com in China, for censorship reasons.

People
In CNN25 I reported that Willow Bay is expecting a new child. Well, I got it backwards. During the summer Ms. Bay had a little boy. That would explain why Christine Romans filled in for her on "Business Unusual." My mixed up occurred when I watched an old episode of "Pinnacle." In a more current edition, Bay looked like her old slim self. In any case, congratulations Willow!

In December Dana Bash debuted as CNN's newest White House Correspondent. Bash (31), whose parents were journalists too, started out at CNN as a freelancer. She gradually worked her way through the ranks. Bash's first fulltime position at the network was working in the video library, which she held for a year. So far, Dana has been doing a solid job covering the White House, although I do find her to be a little uncomfortable in front of the camera. But she is trying. One thing to note is that some anchors - Kitty Pilgrim, Aaron Brown and Kyra Phillips - slipped up and called her "Dana Bush."

Jim Moret made an appearance one day on CNN to cover the death of Dr. Laura's mom. On Friday (January 3) Roger Cossack was on CNN commenting on the Westerfield/Danielle Van Dam murder trial sentencing.

Whitney Casey, a fresh face, debuted this Christmas covering the holiday snow storms. She was CNN's trooper for the day braving the cold and icy conditions. Casey was also equipped with cheap plastic rules to measure the height of the snow.

Bertha Coombs of CNNfn has moved to CNBC.

Mary Matalin (formerly of "Crossfire") is being courted by CNN once again. Matalin had recently left her job as Council to the VP. Some at CNN are thinking of pairing her with husband, James Carville, which is unlikely. This turns Carville off. He says that, "There ain't enough money to get me to go in there and argue with my wife on television." [DM]

One week in December, Aaron Brown finally went to War School in Georgia. I guess if war breaks out, Brown will be going to oil country.

Not allowed in Iraq is Baghdad Bureau Chief Jane Arraf. She has been banned from the country for "biased and unfair" reporting, according to Iraqi Chief Information Officer Al-Sahaf. Despite her departure from the country she will retain her position as Bureau Chief. [DG, DM]

CNNI News and Commentary with Svetlozar Aleksiev and et al.

CNN Perspectives
In December, CNN Perspectives aired Serena Altschul's "Fried" which I found particularly interesting. In addition, CNNI also showed Mike Chinoy's "North Korea: The Nuclear Dilemma" and a "CNN Presents" edition with Jeanne Meserve on the war on terrorism.

The Nobel Peace Prize
Traditionally, Jonathan Mann interviewed the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize winner in December. I'm not sure if the one-hour program aired on CNN/U.S., but if it did not, it was a great mistake to miss the discussion with former U.S. President Jimmy Carter. The weekend before, CNN International also aired some shows about the Nobel Prize itself. Jim Clancy was hosting "Insight" during Mr. Mann's assignment overseas.

Business Traveller
In December's "Business Traveller" Richard Quest was in Mumbai, India and also reported from Sydney, Australia. The show was focusing on doing business in different countries with different business climates. In a sketch called "Annoying Passenger," the show had lent a British Airways plane. Sonia Sequiera participated in this piece and Richard Quest was the annoying passenger who disturbed hard-working Sonia. Funny is a too weak word to describe it.

Business International on CNNfn
I noticed several weeks ago that "Business International" is being aired on CNNfn, too. When the first edition of the show (6-7 a.m. ET) returns from its last break, CNN shows a screen with information on what's next on CNN. For international viewers - "World News," for CNNfn viewers - "Money Morning." I knew CNN International is being broadcast on CNNfn at times during the weekends, but I didn't know it also shows some of the international business programs.

Ask CNN International
CNN International produced two "Ask CNN" segments in December. Jim Clancy answered a question about the difference between the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives, while Michael Holmes explained what technology CNN uses to connect its 42 bureaus around the globe. I really enjoyed watching the latter one for it showed interesting shots from the corridors and control rooms of CNN International. The camera got so close I could see what the people sitting behind the newsdesk were doing (to me, it looked like the people were chatting over the Internet with staff from other bureaus). Interesting, indeed.

Global Challenges
The December edition of "Global Challenges" was awesome. For a change, Jonathan Mann was doing the show from Germany. First of all, he is great when he isn't covering serious issues. He can be almost as funny as Richard Quest. Jonathan Mann had prepared the main report on the hi-tech cars of the future - no pedals, small electrical engines, removable chassis... You get the idea! He made really suitable, but subtle jokes which left an extremely positive impression on me. However, I felt somewhat disappointed because it seemed (to me) that the show had been taped long before December - probably when Jonathan Mann was covering the German elections, which was in September. Yuk! I don't like old materials. Anyway, the show really deserved thirty minutes to watch.

Your World Today
Several months after its launch, "Your World Today" (YWT) is probably the most professional program CNN International has today. It really evolved and my initial criticism of Daljit Dhaliwal has now toned down a little. Still, the better team is Zain Verjee and Jim Clancy - both very thoughtful, sometimes funny, and incredibly experienced when it comes to Q&A, which, in my opinion, is better than ever. I had thought that CNN International will relegate the program with the launch of YWT, but Zain and Jim brought new life to show. You can say Daljit Dhaliwal makes efforts to be as good as her colleagues, but you can also tell she had been working in a vastly different environment. Around the holidays all "Your World Today" anchors took some time off. Filling in: Tumi Makgabo, Jonathan Mann, and John Vause.

Baby Anchors
The International Weather Center brought some fun on Christmas and New Year's day. It puzzled its viewers with a clip showing 10 photographs (numbered 1 thru 10) of CNNI anchors (including news, sports, and weather) and 10 baby photographs (A thru J) of those very same anchors. The viewers of "Your World Today" had to match the photographs. The baby photos were really cute and funny. Because the interest on Christmas was high, CNN International put up "Baby Anchors: Part II" on New Year's Day.

NewsNight with Aaron Brown
Well, well... Aaron Brown finally goes global. CNN International will be airing "NewsNight with Aaron Brown" live beginning Monday, January 6. This is another awesome move on behalf of CNNI's management. I hope Mr. Brown proves the impression CNN's promos (and banners at CNN.com) have given me. Unfortunately, it will be incredibly difficult for me to watch NewsNight since 10 p.m. Eastern translates to 5 a.m. in Eastern Europe. [SA]

More on NewsNight on CNNI, Bjoern Janssen writes, "NewsNight, scheduled to air at 4AM CET on weeknights, replaces World News and World Report. In addition, repeats of Larry King Live will be broadcast at 2PM CET instead of the 10-11AM time-slot, which is to be filled by World News and World Report." [BJ]

CNNj
"CNN and Japan Cable Television have teamed up to launch CNNj, a news channel tailored for Japanese viewers. CNNj, which bows in March, combines content from CNN in the U.S. with that from CNNfn and CNN Intl. Some 126 hours of content a week will be in Japanese, with major breaking news also translated into Japanese. Japan is CNN's largest market in Asia." CNN/US shows available on CNNj include "American Morning" and "Connie Chung Tonight," plus "The Biz" from CNNfn. [Variety, DG, DM, TS]

Canuck News Network
In CNN25, I left out a couple of Canadians that work/worked for CNN. They are Ali Velshi (CNNfn) and Rosey Edeh, who might have left the network a while back. Her bio is no longer listed on CNN.com.

CNN on the CBC
Was watching a couple of news programs on the Canadian public broadcaster and caught two references on CNN.

One reference was on CBC Newsworld's "Inside Media." One of the hosts blasted American news outlets, including CNN, for beating the war drums. She (the host) also criticized how CNN and Paula Zahn dismissed the opinions of Hollywood actors and their anti-war message, and for not getting ordinary people to speak out on the war. It appeared to her that CNN had more interest in interviewing actors to plug their movies for AOL/TW. In addition, the host questioned if Zahn knew more information on the 12000 page Iraqi Arms Declaration than the average Joe, citing that the US media has not informed the public enough on this emerging conflict.

The second reference was on "CBC Sunday," the network's Sunday morning newscast. The CBC did a piece on the future of the Vatican and Pope John Paul II. A journalist that covers the Vatican mentioned that CNN is getting ready for the Pope's departure. It is spending $200,000 a year for office space in the event the Pope leaves.

Verbatim
"Yes, you know, I was thinking about Bob Novak, and I was thinking about Christmas. And I always thought of Bob Novak as Scrooge, very conservative guy, he wants to make money, and he's Scrooge." - Art Buchwald, Syndicated Columnist on Bob Novak during an interview with Al Hunt (Capital Gang)

"The shopping, wrapping, charging mail ordering, click here to buy, max your credit cards out version of Christmas and the figures some Austrians have decided most represent the worst of it all is Santa." - Aaron Brown for a story on a group of Austrians and their anti-Santa sentiments (NewsNight)

Shortest Debut of a Program
On December 1, 2002 "Talk of CNN" made its short debut on CNN at 10:00 AM ET. The show was basically a collection of the network's best interviews from the past week. The most notable segment was Christiane Amanpour's interview with UN Weapons Inspector Hans Blix. This hour-long program aired for one edition only.

HLN Shorts
Due to family reasons, Angela Astore has left CNN HLN and moved to Phoenix, AZ. She will be missed. [JB]

Sophia Choi took part in the 2003 Rose Bowl Parade appearing on a float celebrating Korean-American immigrants.

Linda Stouffer looks like she'll be a mom once again.

Charles Molineaux's bio has been delisted from CNN.com, but he remains at the network doing news alerts. Some say he might be on his way out. Recently, Molineaux has done some reporting for CBS Atlanta.

Heidi Collins' bio has officially been added to CNN.com.

In mid-December Carrie Lee was "Back in Business," as noted on the HLN decko. She returned from her honeymoon.

Patti Tripathi has gone to ANN - America's News Network - a new news service for independent TV stations based in Atlanta. [DG]

NewsNight Ladies and Gents
Judy Woodruff and Carol Costello filled in for Aaron Brown for a night each in December. Both lit up the screen while proving to be a welcoming change. Even Judy's sweet personality shined brighter during a segment on giving gifts at the workplace and re-gifting. I only caught a few minutes of Costello when she hosted the program, but as always she showed plenty of class, as well she was poised and articulate. Good stuff there.

Anderson Cooper hosted the first "NewsNight" abroad in Doha, Qatar. (I still can't get over the name "Doha.") He was in Qatar covering the US Military's major command and control exercise "Operation Internal Look."

Other "NewsNight" highlights of December were Lingerie Barbie's night out and the cloning of Anderson Cooper. The folks at "NewsNight" took the new adult Barbie doll for a night in the town with camera in tow. In addition, CNN did some nifty camera tricks to get two Anderson Coopers at the anchor desk. This was used as a sight gag for the alien cloning baby Raelian story. CNN = Cloning News Network.

Life Imitating Art or Art Imitation Life
In December HBO finally aired "Live from Baghdad," its movie on CNN and how the network covered the first (and I hope only) Gulf War. As HBO is not available in Canada I did not have the opportunity to watch the film. Nonetheless, CNN did a short piece on how the cast and crew made the movie and faithfully recreated the US newsroom circa 1991/1992.

Throughout the segment, hearing Bernie Shaw's voice reminded me how good he and CNN were at the time. Truth must be told: I didn't get CNN during the Gulf War, yet I can imagine their brilliant work. If war breaks out this time, I wonder if CNN is up to the task. They have a lot on the line.

AM Highlights
As many of us CNN/US viewers know, during the Thanksgiving Holiday Paula Zahn fractured her right knee or more specifically her tibial plateau, which is right below the knee. Zahn's injury occurred during a skiing trip in Aspen, Colorado. She was starting her run down a hill and then the toe of her ski boot popped out. Seconds later she lost her balance and went down.

After her work on "AM" she has six hours of physical therapy since she wants to be off crutches by March. Her injury means the end of her skiing days, which she started at age three. [CBSfan]

Out of sympathy, Bill Hemmer gave Paula a huge box of chocolate truffles. I was really surprised that he brown-nosed so much.

A while ago, I saw Paula wearing a brace during the newscast. Also, the day before Paula's Christmas vacation, the crew on "AM" decorated her crutches. Well Paula, get well soon.

One day on "AM" Miles O'Brien was at this military flight simulator expo and he got a try at one of the machines. As being a pilot himself, he didn't do as well as he would have liked. He crashed the virtual helicopter in the water and failed to land the craft on an aircraft carrier.

During a Christmas holiday shopping segment, Daryn Kagan revealed that she purchased a gift for Bill Hemmer at BlueFly.com.

The folks down on "AM" decorated the set pretty nicely this holiday season. At times it was really festive. One camera shot had Hemmer's head between two stars while he was sitting on one of the couches. Then all of the sudden Paula blurts out that Hemmer was now a king. He did look mighty regal as if he was sitting on a throne, which was kind of funny.

CNN Holiday Briefs

CNN Employee Slams JNN
And finally, as you have probably read in my latest letters column, I received a letter of criticism from an entry level employee at CNN/Atlanta. She complained that JNN, its contributors and readers tended to slam certain anchors. I have responded to this person - which you may read my response in the same column - but have yet to receive a rebuttal. So it looks like JNN got the last word.

Just like two years ago, in 2001, CNN is off to a bad start this year. Once again, it had to fire many of its most talented veteran anchors and reporters. The network has let go several years of experience between very distinguished journalists in the field. It is a damn shame.

This time CNN has over done it. It should not have fired the folks I stated in the beginning of this column. Plain and simple.

If CNN truly wants to be the World's News Leader, it has a long way to go. With the recent dismissals it has made a big step backwards in terms of pure hard journalism. CNN can no longer cover the news it once did by having its "star" anchors monopolize the screen.

I fear the worst for CNN as this time many die-hard fans will balk the network. Many have done so before. Several will now.

JNN will continue to cover CNN, but it will not back down from offering its dissent. I do hope to hear from other CNN staffers so I (or JNN) can tell them to wake up and make CNN better. Yet, I don't see that happening. Sadly the powers at be never listen to the people.

Welcome to 2003.

Contributors: SA - Svetlozar Aleksiev, JB - Joy Baker, CBSfan, DG - David Glass, BJ- Bjoern Janssen, DM - Doug Mehus, TS - Tatsuya Sato