“Seems Pretty Obvious” That Opinion Shows Rule
“A day after CNN announced that it was hiring Campbell Brown to replace one of its prime-time hosts, presumably Paula Zahn, Ms. Zahn confirmed today that she was leaving the cable channel, effective Aug. 2,” Jacques Steinberg reported on Tuesday for the New York Times.
|
|
|
|
“The unraveling of ‘Paula Zahn Now,’ which made its debut at 8 p.m. in spring 2003, was ultimately a function of ratings. Though CNN took pains recently to note that the number of viewers for the show had ticked upward earlier this year, Ms. Zahn’s task remained a Herculean one.
“The estimated 558,000 viewers her program has been drawing, on average, each weeknight this year, according to Nielsen Media Research, represents less than a quarter of the nearly 2.3 million who watch ‘The O’Reilly Factor’ with Bill O’ Reilly on Fox News. Ms. Zahn’s program also draws about 100,000 fewer viewers a night than ‘Countdown with Keith Olbermann‘ on MSNBC.
“In a telephone interview shortly after breaking the news of her departure to her staff, Ms. Zahn said the decision was a mutual one between her and CNN management. Her contract, she said, is up at yearâ??s end.
“We worked so hard to maintain a high quality of objective reporting on the air,’ she said of her show, which recently featured a series of special reports about intolerance, including racial bias. ‘Yet what has become clear when you look at the landscape, particularly in the 8 o’clock hour, it seems pretty obvious the audience is drawn to opinion-driven shows. That is not what I do.’
“Ms. Zahn [said] she had no idea what she would be doing next, beyond taking some time off.”
Asked Monday what would happen to the racial initiative, Jonathan Klein, president of CNN/U.S., said, “We are very committed to covering issues that just don’t get talked about much . . . that is not going to change regardless of what programs are in what time slot.”
“I will be monitoring that,” Barbara Ciara, vice president/broadcast of the National Association of Black Journalists, told Journal-isms on Monday. NABJ is awarding its “Best Practices” award to CNN this year, based in large part on the Zahn show initiative.
