CNN's Anderson Cooper off to a poor start... Media Life Magazine

[Radio_Lady]

From: http://medialifemagazine.com/artman/publish/article_1312.asp

Cable
A bumpy first week for CNN's Cooper
By Abigail Azote
Nov 16, 2005, 01:27

CNN booted Aaron Brown two weeks ago, hoping that a more exciting personality would boost ratings for the 10 p.m. timeslot. That more exciting personality was Anderson Cooper, still basking in kudos for his Hurricane Katrina coverage.

But while Cooper may have wowed audiences reporting from New Orleans, he's off to a poor start anchoring CNN’s revamped primetime news show.

For the week ended Nov. 13, its first week, “Anderson Cooper 360,” as the new 10-to-midnight show is called, averaged 593,000 viewers, according to Nielsen.

That’s down 27 percent from October's 813,000 average for “NewsNight,” on which Cooper and Brown shared hosting responsibilities for the past month. It’s also well below the 842,000 Brown’s show averaged during 2004.

Cooper also lost 37 percent of “Larry King Live’s” lead-in audience.

Cooper is even doing poorly compared to himself. In its old 7 p.m. timeslot, “360” drew 672,000 viewers last month, 13 percent better than “360’s” average last week. And last week's numbers came during an election week, when viewership should have spiked with the closely followed races in New York, New Jersey and Virginia.

Just why Cooper is off to such a poor start is unclear. He obviously has a fan base, and more so than Brown, it would seem. And he's certainly a livelier personality.

It could well be that viewers long used to Brown got confused when they tuned in and saw only Cooper after a month of the two serving as co-anchors. Cooper’s energy may be a turnoff to viewers used to Brown’s more sober approach.

If that's the case, the new Cooper show could well rebound as it finds its own audience.

But might it be a case of CNN assuming, and wrongly, that a change in anchors would boost ratings?

For Jeff Alan, author of "Anchoring America: The Changing Face of Network News," the days when changing anchors was a sure-fire cure for sagging ratings are past us.

“There’s a new reality in the way people view the news,” he says, with content driving viewers’ decisions about which programs to watch. “Personality-driven shows are becoming a thing of the past.”

Alan points to a similar trend in broadcast, where evening news anchors have diminished in importance, especially with the passing of the era of marquee network anchors. Says he: “People think that these shows are more personality-driven than they really are.”

[Norquist Nemesis]

1. When CNN wants to get serious about ratings

they'll hire a liberal host. Bill Press is available. So is Phil Donahue!

Till then...they'll keep spinning their wheels.

[in_cog_ni_to]

25. Hear! Hear! I've emailed those (almost) exact words to CNN.

Try to explain to the network, know-it-all head honchos, that the MAJORITY out here in la-la land is LIBERAL....they just don't care. Try telling them that trying to be FOX lite ain't gonna cut it because the robotic FOX news sheeple think they're hearing "The Truth" from that network and all the other MSM is LIBERAL. :eyes: Try telling the head honchos that their ratings would SOAR if they put a Phil Donahue or Bill Press on as hosts/anchors and they completely ignore it...have for YEARS. Hell, Donahue's show was the HIGHEST RATED SHOW ON MSRNC and they cancelled it because the sheeple wanted to hear the pro-war BULLSHIT? That was the excuse the network gave. :puke: People say that $$$$$ talks for the corporate heads of TV networks, but they would make MORE $$$$$ if they had LIBERAL people on/LIBERAL shows and they still don't do it. What's up with that? IF $$$$ is the issue, why aren't they catering to the MAJORITY out here?

[Lengsel]

2. higuihk

CNN is a boring network in general, that's why everyone watches Fox News because it is at least entertaining. You can't fall asleep watching Bill or Hannity because you're either patting yourself on the back or being pissed.

CNN puts everyone to sleep. Larry King is a fucking joke. That show is absolute complete bullshit every single night. Anderson Cooper is a tad bit better. Aaron Brown was the most boring host on television that I have ever encountered. It was like watching the dead host a news show.

The only channels or newshows I like are CNN International and Nightline.

Everything else is just bullfuckingshit.

[LiberalVoice]

4. I dont think i've ever heard a more truthful statement from a DUer.

"Larry King is a fucking joke. That show is absolute complete bullshit every single night."



Edit: Welcome to DU! :hi:

[RagingInMiami]

10. And his radio commercials on Air America are so annoying

Esther E and all the other Es.

[Skittles]

11. yes; I don't want to take anything he is taking

he looks like a f***ing corpse

[Swamp Rat]

17. ARRRGGGHHHH!!!!! ... I can't stand Larry King in AAR!!!

I can't hit the mute button fast enough! Just hearing his voice makes me want to...:puke:

[RagingInMiami]

18. Yes, I turn the volume down or switch stations

And to think how much money he is getting paid for that. I just hope Air America is banking on those commercials.

[Digit]

19. If you actually watch sometime, you will see he is losing it

He is often unable to follow what his guests are saying and misquotes them all the time. In addition, he often forgets what they have already said.

He might have been okay in his day, but his day has long since passed. It is too painful to watch. The guy thinks he still "has" it.

Larry, seriously, you need to retire....

[Selatius]

3. They're NOT connecting with people, that's why!

You want viewers!? Than talk about WORKING CLASS ISSUES. Talk about people's fucking jobs, for God's sake, or lack of jobs due to outsourcing. Talk about the abominable cost of health care, fuel prices, or their children's failing education system or something. Gee, how about covering the fucking war in Iraq!? We hear a lot of crap from Iraq, but footage of what the hell war is about is missing for some reason.

[MissMarple]

5. Right. they do need depth, and a touch of the real world.

It's too bad CNN is so afraid of of the reality based world. :shrug:

[Lengsel]

6. I'm

I'm convinced no one in the USA cares about what is going on besides us. I was talking to this girl about pollution, politics, or whatever and she was like, "You care about all that stuff?" I was like, "Um, you're the one with a baby. You should care more than I do." If I fall off the earth, no one cares. AGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!

[MissMarple]

8. Welcome to DU, Lengsel.

I said to a friend today, fine, you don't like politics. In ten years you will be looking around and wondering...what happened to your country, to your rights. Things are changing, you need to be aware. I think he heard that. Some people are just too distrustful of politics, or, more likely, ignorant. They want to justify that somehow. I say, kick them in the butt. In a nice way. ;)

[DemFromMem]

7. I miss Aaron

I know a lot of people at DU didn't like him. But he seemed to be less tabloid and more serious than most of the other evening newscasts. Now that we've lost Ted Koppel, there's the Newshour with Lehrer, 60 Minutes and not much else. Pretty sad given that we have three 24 hour news channels and three broadcast news organizations.

[Digit]

20. I miss Aaron, too

I miss his "realness".

I would love to see him in place of Kaygan or whatever her pruneness is called.

I also don't like that Indian woman. She was saying how she wants to buy a pair of shoes. I don't need to hear that crap on a news show, and I am a woman!

[Hekate]

21. What did Aaron do to piss off his corporate masters? I like "sober" news

Sheesh. Give me sober news any day -- I'm watching it for information, not dancing monkeys.

Aaron was no Jim Lehrer or Gwen Ifill, but he was okay, and I miss him too.

Hekate

[leftstreet]

9. Anderson "Oprah" Cooper

I can't believe they tossed Aaron for this guy. During the most significant news week in ages (Harry Reid's demand for a closed Senate Session) AnderOprah was missing in action. Not a single decent news story on CNN. Guess Anderson was too busy re-designing the CNN sets to perfectly match his blue eyes.

[Swamp Rat]

12. Anderson Cooper's coverage of New Orleans stunk like lizard dung...

... at best. :puke:

[thebigidea]

15. "I'm standing outside... where it is wet... and as you can see, windy."

god, I hate that kind of asshole-in-the-wind coverage.

Cooper is like an upgraded Wolf Blitzer(TM) with additional plasticuteness chips. Horrid monotone voices.

[proud patriot]

13. Radio_Lady please read

in the future please limit your snips of articles to 4
paragraphs as per the Democratic Underground copyright
rules.

proud patriot Moderator
Democratic Underground

[Radio_Lady]

14. OK. I should have known better. Sorry about that -- I must have been

hung over on turkey.

Thanks for the reminder.

In peace,

Radio_Lady

[ngGale]

16. CNN needs to do a '360' - then it may work...eom

[symbolman]

22. Take two Wolf Blitzers and call me in the morning if you can't sleep

:)

Honestly (and I appreciate the comments here on Larry King and others), after fighting and watching and working with the Media (as Takebackthemedia.com) I cannot imagine a time in history when so many boring assholes ruled the airwaves..

King looks like some kind of cellular revival experiment, ala Frankenstein - take a look at his body, try to see past the suspenders, look at those shoulders - they look like the knobs at the tops of banister railings in old houses.. what is he now, 2, 300 years old? And the people he has on, WHO CARES? So many "stars" now that I've NEVER heard of and I pay attention - everyone's a "star" now and they're all parading past Larry. When's the last time he asked someone WHY WE are actually AT WAR? Where's the Big Interview with Feith about how he helped to RIG Intelligence to create a faked war? When is Larry going to take over for the "Crypt Keeper"? He's pretty damned close in looks about now :)

And Wolf - Wolf sounds like some kind of know it all retard who sat in the front of the class and annoyed everyone except the teacher with how "smart" he was.. meanwhile that droning, droning, droning voice of his actually WILL put you to sleep if you listen, I've done it to sleep and it works..

I sort of have this tin foil hat theory that Wolf really Hypnotizes people with that droning voice and NO SEE stare.. his eyes are completely DEAD if you look at them.. I think I saw him smile once - I spend times wondering what he'd look like without that half beard and realised he's look like NOBODY.. seriously, he could be the guy that works at a car rental company for what he does..

So what did they do? Fired one Boring Sellout and added TWO boring Sellouts to fill out 4 or more hours of "news"..

I do have to admit that I DID admire Cooper for being on the scene in NO in some ways, he DID ask some Tough questions - like when he was roasting Trent Lott saying things like, "Most people don't have a helicopter to come and check on their houses.." etc.. good stuff..

But when he's back in the studio he's almost Wolf without the beard..

Aaron Brown reminded me of some ponderous creature in a zoo, like a sloth, slowly moving around pretending he had some huge Gravitas and was the epitamy and apex of guys like Chronkite, that moving SLOW makes you appear confident and 'smart' or something, while making remarks during 911 like, "This is the New Reality.." idiocy..

Funny thing is that I KNOW that Brown is a SELLOUT because I used to watch him on the news in Seattle back in the 80s and he was the BEST on TV.. I'd actually watch local news because of HIM.. he was like Olberman then.. Brown would read a propaganda piece, look right at you and say, "Yeah.. Riiiight.." a great bullshit meter and good at it..

Once he got on CNN he put on 300 lb 2000 dollar suits and turned stupid. Too bad. He even wrote back when you'd email him, and I got him hot a few times calling him a liar - and once I'd finally PROVED to him he was a liar he quit writing, which made him a coward.. total sellout, not to be believed..

Remember folks, sometimes we get all emotional about cable networks like CNN and FOX, etc - but in the end if you look at their numbers it's REALLY nothing to be excited about - for all their chest thumping there are NOT that many people actually WATCHING THEM..

Look at those numbers.. a little over 3 quarters of million viewers?

How many people do you think out of 300 + million americans have just gotten out of the shower from a hard day's work are sitting there CLIPPING THEIR TOENAILS? I'm willing to Bet that MORE people in the US on any given evening are clipping toenails than watching all these turkeys combined..

We only ALLOW them to have the Pull and Strength they have when we become like the rest of society (who used to gab over the fence about news) and become "repeater stations" for the bullshit.. DON'T pass what CNN and FOX says along to anyone, seriously, it will make a dent if a LOT of us don't talk about what they say or do..

Want to hear something funny? MORE viewers watch "SpongeBob Squarepants" than watch O'Reilly -- wonder why he says insane things? Because more people watch SpongeBob and O'Reilly's Jealous :)

the REAL action is CBS, ABC, NBC (MSNBC) - BROADCAST NEWS.. they have MILLIONS watching and THOSE are the ones we want to force to toe the line - at least Takebackthemedia.com does..

Looks like I've gone off on a rant, but once it occurred to me that CNN/FOX, etc REALLY don't have all that many viewers then I felt a lot better..

Maybe TBTM needs to start a campaign to get folks to only refer to BROADCAST news as something worth talking about - maybe we can somehow IGNORE Cable News into obscurity - wouldn't that be fun? :)

Good post, love reading about the media talking about itself sucking, lol!

[upi402]

23. oh god, there is NO news. what a friggin' joke -traitors

[rainbow4321]

24. What news they do show is so repetitive

I sat down to watch the cable news one night a few weeks ago and was reminded on why I stopped doing so...they all show the same news video, never give updates, it is the same story on ALL the shows all night long. You can pretty much watch the first 15 minutes of the first show and that covers what you will see on all the news channels/all the shows for the next 3 hours. The night that I watched all I saw was:

1> the cell phone bank robber
2> the lady in Asia who got her kid's stroller caught in the subway doors (video shown over and over and over)
3> the idiot who stayed outside w/ his wife and kid to film a tornado hitting his neighborhood (ditto..same video all night, every channel).

Zzzzzz..then it was time to get back on the Internet and find some real news..like the SIX US Marines who are not allowed to leave the Philippines' US embassy because they are accused of raping a woman in that country, and potentially face the DEATH penalty if found guilty. Hmmm..Americans (military) facing the death penalty in another country..nah..that's not news at all:sarcasm: