FOX is having fun with CNN.
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Fox billboard sticks it to CNN again
By TONY WILBERT
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
JOEY IVANSCO / AJC
Fox's new message on a billboard across from CNN includes the line "Brought to You by Your Friends at Fox News."
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Paula Zahn's new show on CNN is performing so poorly that even archrival Fox wants CNN to bring back Connie Chung.
At least that's what a comical new billboard Fox erected late Tuesday catty-cornered to CNN Center says.
"Come Home Connie. CNN Needs You," the billboard reads. "Brought to You by Your Friends at Fox News."
"We thought this would lift the morale and bring a few smiles to the faces of the CNN staffers in Atlanta," Fox News spokeswoman Irena Briganti said Wednesday.
CNN officials were not immediately available for comment.
CNN canceled "Connie Chung Tonight" in March, prompting Chung to leave the Atlanta-based network. The network canceled the show, which did relatively well in the ratings but took flak for its tabloid style.
CNN replaced the show with one that featured Zahn and was designed to to sharpen CNN's hard-news focus. Last month, the show, which airs at 8 p.m., was relaunched as "Paula Zahn Now."
But the show's ratings have been disappointing.
During "Paula Zahn Now's" first month on the air, the number of viewers has fallen about 19 percent from the time slot a year ago, when Chung's program was airing. Zahn's show drew an average of 575,000 viewers during its first four weeks on the air.
The O'Reilly Factor, hosted by Bill O'Reilly, dominated the 8 p.m. cable news time slot.
Though the billboard's tone is meant to be comical, the message should hit a nerve at CNN, which has bristled at its declining ratings.
The Fox billboard at Centennial Olympic Park Drive and Marietta Street has featured several messages during the past several years, including ones welcoming Greta Van Susteren, who left CNN for Fox in December 2001.
Other messages on the billboard have promoted the morning show "Fox and Friends" and announced Fox's ascent to the No. 1 position in cable news.
In Manhattan, CNN has erected a billboard of its own across from Fox News. In February, CNN's billboard featured a smiling Paula Zahn and read, "Real News Makes the Difference."
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