SAVING CNN
“ CNN can bring together in brotherhood and kindness and friendship and in peace ,the people of this nation and this world”
Ted Turner June 1980 Atlanta
And it started that way , an ambitious , visionary effort to offer a broader, diverse, and global review of the events and concerns that were important and of interest to the American people who had cable .
I remember sitting off Columbus Circle with Sam Zelman upon his brief return to CBS , in 1979, right before he joined Turner and Reese Schonfeld . Sam saw the value of local news before mostly any of the big network chiefs, who still saw broadcast journalism as radio with pictures. Yet, he saw in Turner a swashbuckling , unbounded ,risk taker , who could punch the stuffed shirts in Black Rock and Thirty Rock in their upturned noses.
Zelman and Schonfeld knew how to turn stories, find them , verify their veracity and get them on the air, albeit, in a style forged in local news markets for the last decade. Burt Reinhardt joined the creator of formats , and most else of modern news, Ted Kavanau, to establish a wheel of news that turned news gathering into news cycles that appeared with a comfortable cadence over many hours.
The philosophical framework was based in traditional values founded upon the concept of being an “honesty broker “ of information. Over that lunch at the Gulf and Western Building, Zelman schooled me on the basic tenet, “ nobody cares what the hell you think, they care what both sides think, and then let them decide what is a better course of action”
“The only opinion, allowed, was that there are often competing opinions, and all of them should get a voice, period!”
CNN today has lost its way. The vision of Turner long blurred by the winds of editorial change. It ended when the AOL swells , and Gerald Levin conspired to end Turner’s influence. The unceremonious removal to a no show job as Vice Chairman was the beginning of CNN’s fall from journalistic grace and becoming a network with a celestial mission.
It is now a palace for pundits, who dip those who disagree with their zeitgeist , into an acid lake of sarcasm and ridicule, and leave only the bones of their viewpoints on a desolate shore , where robust debate once occurred . What CNN believes is obvious by the coverage and on air attitudes towards content.
CNN , if you don’t watch it , as I do 12 hours a day, aligns with these themes:
Israel is an oppressor, support pro choice, approve of equity, inclusion, diversity activity, support BLM, support large federal government and broader entitlements, unconcerned with 30 trillion dollar debt, believe in climate change and carbon free solutions, oppose expansion of nuclear power, support Build Back Better, guns are problem, not increase in crime by felons, in favor of bail reform, reduction in defense budget, single payer health care, critical race theory, social emotional learning, masks in schools, vax for children, slavery as defining construct of American experience… and so on
Supporting such a progressive laden mind set , defines the entire network and its coverage , including international affairs and subjects its current declining audience to a constant drum beat that brings the loyalists to them , and denies any efforts to apply a balanced or “honest broker” approach to their journalism.
How then to SAVE CNN. Here’s how:
Return to Ted Turner’s founding premise. Offer news that is expansive, not just politics, but everything. Make CNN once again a place to discover ideas, hope, and expression from a palate of many choices, hues and colors
Become an honest broker- turn all programs, including opinion programs into explorations of conflicts , in search of solutions that make good sense, regardless of where they come from the left or the right
Be post racial, gender, and origin. We are all the same species, what separates us is less than 2 % of our DNA. Treat and approach everyone for who they are in ideas, essence, approach to solutions, and not subgroups. The majority view should be treated with as much scrutiny and respect as strongly held minority viewpoints. Neither is right all the time, but, both have merit and inherent value to being part of the dialogue.
Create Dialogue , offer monologue sparingly. Most of CNN is a monologue , after persuasive speech, not more normative expository explorations. This buries other voices in a dung heap of discarded protestations.
Be Solution based- the anti-thesis competes with a thesis , in search of a synthesis, and inevitably progress. CNN allows only thesis to be promulgated , denying any progress.
Expand Content — politics is a one note , sour theme song. With all this time, where is adventure, art, activism, theater, fine art, poetry, emerging industry, advances in science and exploration. The narrow content subverts the value of the hours available .
Discovery Platform- most viewers know the news before they come to CNN. But, what if they brought new ideas, science , notions, potions and advances in disease , to offer the viewer what they do not know
Show America- get back to having affiliate centered journalism. This was a mainstay of the CNN creators, we saw the country through the eyes of local broadcasters, it was gritty, small town but real. The entire affiliate network has been downsized and broken for decades
Consumer Investigation — CNN launched with Ralph Nader as a commentator . CNN took on drug companies, corporations, and products, now they take their cash for advertising, whether or not the products have any efficacy. They have no standards and practices that can be seen by their on air clearances. America needs the next Nader, as technology cons us into compliance.
Ombudsman- get rid the ersatz media commentators and fake suck up pundits. Put a team of on lookers into the mix, looking at social media, verifying rumors, establish an in house SNOPES, and be transparent about it. No holds barred.
Stop the Attacks- taking on other networks and constant fights helps no viewers. It is just fist fights, back yard dust ups of no value to anyone. And everyone gets a bloody nose , for what? Focus upon only what is significant , matters, is of interest , is new, unheard of, or needs explanation . That is the mission of CNN, not the defense of so called , progressive thought.
Ultimately , the responsibility of CNN , and all other networks , is to help create sentiment , based upon truth and moving us all forward towards a more verdant and soulful future.
Sentiment is about feelings that ultimately lead to action. And feelings come from thought that we create in our collective consciousness , and become our guidance system of our individual thoughts, feelings and actions.
What is CNN offering now. Is it wholesome, kind and true?
And if not , can it be. Surely, all it takes is to change your thinking, develop a plan, and act in the direction of helping all of us understand our world, and develop a sense of courageous optimism.
CNN can be that again, if they want to be.
