Paula Zahn: A Victim Of Olbermann's Success

[rodeodance]

http://www.talkleft.com/

Paula Zahn: A Victim Of Olbermann's Success

By Big Tent Democrat, Section Media
Posted on Tue Jul 24, 2007 at 03:40:51 PM EST
Tags: (all tags)
Paula Zahn has unceremoniously been given the boot by CNN:

A day after CNN announced that it was hiring Campbell Brown to replace one of its prime-time hosts, presumably Paula Zahn, Ms. Zahn confirmed today that she was leaving the cable channel, effective Aug. 2.

The unraveling of “Paula Zahn Now,” which made its debut at 8 p.m. in spring 2003, was ultimately a function of ratings. Though CNN took pains recently to note that the number of viewers for the show had ticked upward earlier this year, Ms. Zahn’s task remained a Herculean one.
The estimated 558,000 viewers her program has been drawing, on average, each weeknight this year, according to Nielsen Media Research, represents less than a quarter of the nearly 2.3 million who watch “The O’Reilly Factor” with Bill O’Reilly on Fox News. Ms. Zahn’s program also draws about 100,000 fewer viewers a night than “Countdown with Keith Olbermann” on MSNBC.

O'Reilly has been losing viewership, particularly in the key 25-54 demographic so it was not O'Reilly that did Zahn in. It was Olbermann, whose Countdown program is now the MSNBC flagship and ratings driver. I do wonder what CNN thinks Campbell Brown can do for them in the time slot. Mrs. Dan Senor (of Iraqi CPA fame) will, one assumes, attempt to do better in the 25-54 demo. But how she steals from Olbermann is hard to see. I guess she will be going after O'Reilly to get younger conservative viewers. We'll see.

[illinoisprogressive]

1. brown is just as mainstream blah as Zahn. she won't succeed

[ginnyinWI]

2. The problem is CNN is too conservative

And they are out of step with the majority of people. They went too far to try to capture some of FOX's audience. I don't watch them anymore; between the RW spin and the non-news fluff, it's simply not worth a hill of beans.

[janx]

3. It's ALL a ratings game.

Ratings = advertisers = $$$$$$$$$

MSNBC didn't bother to venture into the current Keith Olbermann territory until it was safe (in terms of ratings) to do so. I don't mean to disparage Keith Olbermann, but you can bet that he wasn't given the go-ahead until the political climate changed enough to make it profitable to do so.

[Berry Cool]

8. Then explain why he was questioning the outcome of the 2004 election

right after it happened, when nobody else in the MSM was.

That's what made me, and a lot of other people, fans to begin with.

Keith was on the side of truth before truth was cool.

[janx]

12. I'm not trashing Olbermann. Far from it. But there are, in media,

limits to which they will go. MSNBC was just as much of a cheerleader of the Iraq War as any of the other cables. Remember the tank shots? The "Shock 'N Awe" shots? So you remember the shots of the sutured faces of the corpses of Oday and Qusay (?)--Saddam's kids--on Hardball, right around the dinner hour? I do.

Olbermann was allowed to do what he is doing now when the tide of American opinion shifted.

[Supersedeas]

19. fingers in the wind and an ear only for Advertisers and Marketeers

[Doctor_J]

9. No it's not

if it was all about ratings, someone would have broken with Rove and turned into an anti-Fox by now. this would be 24/7 calls for impeachment, a Dem-heavy guest line-up (we're the majorities now, remember?), puff pieces about Hil and JRE and Obama,etc.

This is about serving the multi-billionaires by promoting right-wing conservatism.

[janx]

13. I have a graduate degree in media.

And you can ask any of the media people here in DU.

It's a ratings game. There is no ideology involved unless that ideology makes money. I wish I could tell you otherwise.

[Doctor_J]

14. I don't care what sort of degree you have. MSRNC took their

highest rated program at the time (Donohue) off the air, and said publicly that it was because it wasn't pro-war enough.

The same thing is happening now. A Dem-oriented network would smash all the others in the ratings. It isn't on the air because the network OWNERS are all right-wing republicans, who are probably making more off the war than they are on their TV stations.

[BeyondGeography]

4. Remember, folks, Campbell Brown is married to Iraq war flack Dan Senor

[rooboy]

5. Is Dan Senor the guy in the uniform next to Pee Wee Herman?

just joking...

[snowbear]

16. LOL rooboy!

Campbell Brown's wingnut husband does look kinda like PeeWee Herman now that you mention it!

[Nite Owl]

6. Zahn was on for a while

and before KO became an icon of truth, she must have at least had a following. The time slot with Brown will likely go down, she can't compete with KO. CNN will miss yet again in their run to the right.

[Berry Cool]

10. The only times Zahn ever outdid Keith in the ratings

were when she was riding the wave of a big tabloid story--a missing blonde, Anna Nicole, Paris Hilton, whatever. Her ratings and Nancy Grace's would skyrocket over Keith's for as long as that story was big...then they'd die down again to the usual levels.

[Doctor_J]

7. Trying to get even more Fox-like. This will be a miserable failure

Get a war cheerleader on there - that'll help

:eyes:

[sarcasmo]

11. Isn't she the one with the creepy voice?

[hatrack]

15. You aren't thinking of Rita Cosby, are you?

Her voice is so bad that only demons and the damned can hear it.

[sarcasmo]

18. Ah, Thanks, that's Her name. Creepy Cosby.

[snowbear]

17. If CNN is trying to duplicate MSNBC's success with Keith Olberman....

Why on earth would they drag in Campbell Brown instead of trying to lure someone like Allison Stewart to their network?



If you look at CNN's lineup, it really does suck.

The best people they have there (IMO) are international correspondents Michael Ware, Christiane Amanpour, and Nic Robertson.

.. ..

Tony Harris (daytime anchor) and most of the time, Jack Cafferty, are fine by me..

But damn.. If they were going to dump anyone, why not start with the dirtball Glenn Beck? His ratings can't be much better than Paula Zahns..