President of CNN "leaving" (probably fired for lousy ratings)

[No Elephants]

No tears. His severance package is probably more than 10,000 busboys will earn in their collective lifetimes of hard work.

CNN chief Walton to leave network

Fri Jul 27, 2012 12:20pm EDT

(Reuters) - CNN Worldwide President Jim Walton said on Friday that he was leaving the once-dominant cable news network, which has struggled in the ratings in recent years, on December 31.

<snip>

"CNN needs new thinking. That starts with a new leader who brings a different perspective, different experiences and a new plan," Walton, who had been president of CNN since 2003, said in a memo.

CNN, which is owned by Time Warner Inc, has tried to hold the middle ground in its news coverage, a position that some blame for its ratings erosion, while ratings have risen for Fox News and MSNBC, which combine news with opinion and political commentary.

For the second quarter, CNN posted its weakest primetime ratings in 21 years, while its total viewers also fell 35 percent from a year earlier.

(Reporting by Liana B. Baker in New York; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)

Funny. It did fine when Ted Turner owned it.

Meanwhile, MGMA (Middle ground, my ass) CNN slanted right only slightly less obviously than did FOX.

If it really gave good journalism, i would watch CNN in a heartbeat, but the pretense at objectivity while slanting heavily right is too phony to abide. Meanwhile, those who enjoy that kind of thing probably prefer Fox anyway.

[lbrtbell]

1. You summed it up perfectly

I watched just a few minutes of CNN the other morning. They asked viewers to sound off about an issue, then came back a few minutes later to air some of the opinions that people posted online.

75% of them were from right-wingers. I know. I counted.

Freakin' pathetic.

[No Elephants]

2. I took a college journalism course and worked on my high school yearbook,

my college yearbook. I also did layout and wrote headlines for a union newspaper on a volunteer basis.

So, I am an expert.

In my own mind, of course--where it really counts! ;-)

[Enthusiast]

3. As you say, this is their reward for

emulating Fox "News". CNN has become pretty much unwatchable.

[No Elephants]

4. Fox has the heart of the right; MSNBC pretends to be left. Objective really is the only

option still on the table. CNN should have at least experimented with that, as opposed to attempting to be stealth Fox.

Maybe Turner can buy it back at a heavy discount?