This is called, "putting up a brave face."
Internet serves as proving ground
CNN's Klein welcomes influence
USA TODAY
The media mix By Peter Johnson
Many observers view the resignation of veteran CNN executive Eason Jordan, after a drumbeat of Internet criticism over his remarks about journalists being targeted by the U.S. military in Iraq, as evidence of Web bloggers' increasing clout.
Jonathan Klein, a former CBS News executive tapped to run CNN in December, said Monday that his past six years on an Internet venture prepared him for the kind of intense scrutiny that led to Jordan's undoing.
As the founder of The FeedRoom, a broadband video service, Klein says: “I became inured to the constant barrage of opinion. … You get used to instantaneous feedback.”
That, says Klein, 46, can be a good thing. “You learn to take it, ultimately, as very valuable — to have a direct connection with the people you want to consume your product. So I don't shudder at the thought that people can comment on what we're doing. There will always be a certain element of extremists on either side, left or right, who no mainstream news outlet is going to satisfy. We're just going to try to deliver the news straight down the middle.”
Witnesses said Jordan, speaking at a forum in Davos, Switzerland, in January, claimed that U.S. troops had purposely aimed at 12 journalists. Jordan, who had been at CNN for 23 years, was an editor at large.
A tape of the remarks was never released, and what Jordan actually said is in dispute. But in quitting CNN on Friday — a move the network said was voluntary — Jordan said, “I never meant to imply U.S. forces acted with ill intent when U.S. forces accidentally killed journalists.”
Former CNN chairman Tom Johnson calls the attacks on Jordan, largely on the Web, “unjustified … almost irrational.” University of Missouri journalism professor Thomas McPhail says Jordan “contributed to upgrading the craft of journalism. Now he is roadkill for the bloggers.”
Klein, who did not supervise Jordan, would not comment directly on his resignation. But he says the media can avoid becoming targets “by being as transparent as possible. I know it sounds hokey, but the best defense is a product that you feel proud to stand behind.”
Klein generated media attention recently, including a laudatory editorial in The New York Times, by canceling CNN's shoutfest Crossfire, noting that there was more than enough yelling and bombast on cable.
Instead, Klein plans to concentrate on covering news “in greater depth and breadth,” especially in prime time. That, he says, is the winning formula, true to CNN's brand, and will ultimately draw viewers.
But since Klein took over two months ago, he hasn't made much of a ratings dent. Arch competitor Fox News Channel continues to vanquish CNN in prime time.
And in overall coverage of recent events such as the Asian tsunami, the inauguration, the Iraqi elections and President Bush's State of the Union address, the vote is in: Viewers prefer Fox News. In prime time, Fox averages 1.7 million viewers — up 21% from a year ago — while CNN is up 2% with 820,000 viewers, and MSNBC is down 15% with 301,000.
Klein, echoing the words of his predecessors, says that increasing ratings is always “incremental.” He adds: “The bad news is how long viewer habits take to change. There's going to be a lag between improving quality and when we actually see results.”
Anchor Anderson Cooper says Klein has raised the energy level at CNN by “asking a lot of questions. It's easy to get in a rut and think, ‘This is the way it is done.' Now it's ‘Perhaps we should try another way.' ”
Anchor Paula Zahn says Klein has brought a “strong sense of discipline,” evidenced by his harnessing of CNN's vast organization to report on the tsunami. “He's motivating us all to dig deeper.”
McPhail says Klein faces an uphill battle, with “Fox clearly on his right, attracting big ad revenues, and the real news junkies of all stripes migrating to the blogosphere, adding considerable slippage to CNN.”
Says McPhail: “People want more news/information, but this group goes to the Internet to satisfy their media needs. Others wanting to hear ‘good news' — even about the war — go to Fox. So where do Klein and CNN go? To the ‘bad news syndrome' about the same war, the deficit, undoing Social Security and unemployment. A full day of that and the bridge jumpers will have to queue up. Not an easy overall news environment to pick a winning spot or formula.”
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