The Future of Television News
MEDIA BLOG
11/09 03:31 PM
First, the New York Times wrote a love letter to Anderson Cooper last September, applauding his Katrina coverage and even writing, "He says he has no intention of returning to his hip New York existence any time soon." The piece quoted CNN president Jon Klein saying, "He is the anchorperson of the future." Sure enough, as soon as Cooper returned to his hip New York existence, Klein tossed NewsNight anchor Aaron Brown overboard and the future had arrived.
Now, the San Francisco Chronicle's Tim Goodman writes that actually, Keith Olbermann is the anchorperson of the future:
If you want to know what the face of the future looks like — at least the successful version, not some warmed over Bob Schieffer action or a trio of Triple A prospects on "Nightline," then look no further than this man: Keith Olbermann...[snip]
The thing with Olbermann is that he has always been a bit of a misunderstood visionary on television. Part journalist, part comic, equal parts dry, silly, skeptical and angry, there has been no traditional role for him and thus he has either been an outcast or a noble failure or a square talent in a business full of round openings. Until, that is, he started "Countdown" on MSNBC in April 2003.
This all strikes me as amusing, because while these newspaper prognosticators look to the future and see Cooper and Olbermann, they overlook the fact that the future they're predicting, where anchors deliver the news with more personality and edge, is already here! It's called Fox News, and they've been doing it for years. According to the latest TVNewser scoreboard, Roger Ailes' Fox News Channel currently dominates so-called anchormen of the future Cooper at CNN and Olbermann at MSNBC by factors of two and five respectively (Cooper has recently moved to a new time slot, where his ratings have gotten worse).
I've often found that if you want to know what the future is going to look like, a good place to look for clues is the present. |
