In a column from Thursday's edition of the New York Times, Jennifer Yellin, a former chief White House correspondent for the Cable News Network, discussed “how to save CNN from itself” by creating “a consortium of concerned Americans,” including philanthropists, foundations and small-dollar donors, to “fund a trust to operate an independent CNN dedicated to news in the public interest.”
The refurbished cable television channel would also receive “subscription fees from cable and other service providers, along with ad revenue,” to “allow the network to support itself,” Yellin added.
She began her article by stating:
In 2004, eight years after he’d sold CNN to Time Warner, Ted Turner, the network's founder, sounded an alarm about the dangers of corporate ownership of news organizations.
Mr. Turner wrote that in his day, “we put journalism first, and that’s how we built CNN into something the world wanted to watch.”
“In his view,” the former correspondent noted, “quarterly earnings-obsessed” corporate owners would not have the same priorities because “the emphasis instantly shifts from taking risks to taking profits.”
“His warning is especially chilling today, when the integrity of the press matters more than ever,” Yellin asserted. “Unfortunately, in the past 20 months CNN’s management has let down its viewers and its journalists by sidelining the issues and real reporting in favor of pundits, prognostication and substance-free but entertaining TV 'moments.'”
Nevertheless, she indicated, “I believe the network can again play an essential role. At its best, CNN is a journalistic enterprise with unparalleled reach and resources, connecting its viewers with people and conflicts half a mile or half a world away.”
“That’s why I believe that as a condition of Time Warner's bid to merge with AT&T, CNN should be sold to a new independent entity,” Yellin stated. “This sale would also include CNN international, Headline News and its digital and related properties.”
“I became a devoted viewer of CNN in 1989,” when “during its coverage of the standoff in Tienanmen Square,” she continued. “I remember my father telling me that the only reason the Chinese government didn’t massacre those kids right away was because CNN had cameras on the scene.”
“From Tienanmen Square to the fall of the Berlin Wall, from the Exxon Valdez oil spill to Hurricane Katrina, CNN provided exhaustive live, on-the-ground reporting,” Yellin continued.
“Consider how far CNN departed from this model in the last election,” she noted. Even though the network “has many able journalists prepared to report stories and talk to voters in communities across the country, its programs were dominated by pundits in Washington and New York squabbling over tweets and polls.”
“From a journalistic perspective, this model poses real problems” since “surrogates are held to a different standard from reporters and often given airtime even when they’ve proven to be reckless with the truth,” she noted.
As a result, the columnist asserted, “CNN’s expert input is often of questionable value, as evidenced by the panel last Saturday night, which at one point consisted of one woman and eight men discussing the Women’s March.”
“But from CNN’s perspective,” she claimed, “a pundits-on-panels model offers several benefits. To start with, it’s cost effective. On-the-ground reporting requires expensive crews, satellite trucks and travel.”
“With far less effort, news executives can present polarized, high-drama debates that spike viewers’ outrage and short-term ratings,” Yellin continued.
“Most of that recent drama was centered on Donald Trump, who, during the early months of the campaign, got coverage from CNN that dwarfed that of the other 16 Republican contenders,” she stated.
“All this was about one thing, and it’s not better journalism. It’s bigger profits,” Yellin declared. “Insiders have reported that CNN made more than $1 billion gross profit in 2016, at least $100 million more than the company projected.”
“While CNN made its numbers, it missed the story,” the former correspondent charged.
“Freed of the relentless pressure to drive up profits, an independent CNN could rededicate itself to 'journalism first,'” she noted. “Reporters could focus on informing the audience and exposing wrongdoing.”
“A healthy democracy needs trusted news sources to which all citizens can turn,” she noted before comparing a retooled CNN to the taxpayer-funded Public Broadcasting System and National Public Radio, which “often cover issues with more complexity and nuance than corporate-owned networks.”
“Thanks to CNN’s innovative technology, seasoned journalists and global reach, it can again be the world’s most trusted TV news brand, but only if the coming years are different than the last,” Yellin concluded.
However, NewsBusters previously reported that CNN President Jeff Zucker stated in a mid-January interview: “I think our credibility is higher than ever, and our viewership is higher than ever, and our reporting is as strong as ever.”
Apparently, Zucker doesn't think his network needs saving by Yellin ... or anyone else.
