Cnn Goes Hip, Flash, Bang For A Younger Audience
The Age
Wednesday August 8, 2001
WASHINGTON
The stalwart of cable news, CNN, has revamped itself as a hip, happening, pacy, broadcaster with young celebrity anchors and so much information flashing on the screen there are those who wonder if it will confuse, rather than illuminate, viewers.
CNN was founded 21years ago by Ted Turner, who insisted that, at his network, ``the news is the star". The relaunch of Headline News yesterday turned that premise on its head, with Andrea Thompson, the former TV star of NYPD Blue, one of up to six anchors on the set at any one time.
The hiring of Ms Johnson, who acknowledges that she is not a ``seasoned journalist", is an implicit surrender to what other television networks have argued for years: that audiences like their news mixed with entertainment.
CNN was supposed to be different, but its dominance in the cable news business has been threatened by rivals MSNBC and Rupert Murdoch's Fox News Channel, an in-your-face conservative network with opinionated hosts.
Leading Republicans keep up a sustained attack on CNN for an alleged liberal bias and pointedly favor the Murdoch channel.
CNN strongly rejects the bias allegation, but its new chairman, Walter Isaacson, last week visited senior Republican figures reportedly to ask them how to attract more conservative viewers.
More viewers of any political stripe would help its flagging ratings. The average audience for Headline News, a breaking-news channel, is 170,000 at any time, down from 219,000 five years ago.
Its sister network, CNN, which includes more talk and analysis programs, attracts 319,000 viewers. Overall, cable news channels are still a niche industry in America, watched in five million out of 100million homes switched to television each night.
The motto that flashed on CNN's Headline News screens yesterday was ``Real News Real Fast", and fast it was.
Facts beeped away at the bottom of the screen, along with the weather, stockmarket reports and headlines such as ``Enjoy your flight - Not!", about an embarrassed airline that sent unaccompanied children to the wrong destination. The newsreader took up only a quarter of the screen, and techno and rock music blared away between news segments.
The aim, says its news chief, Teya Ryan, is not just ratings. It's to attract the illusive younger viewer demanded by advertisers. The average viewer of Headline News is 54 years old (it's 64 for CNN generally). Even 30 and 40-somethings would be an improvement. Ryan says the flashy graphics and fast-paced news is designed for ``time warriors", Americans who juggle work and family, have short attention spans, and want their information quickly.
The network is also spending much more time on entertainment and lifestyle segments, reflecting a view that younger people are less interested in politics and foreign affairs.
© 2001 The Age