Jon Klein Jokes: Roger Ailes My "Single Most Important Problem"

CNN President Jon Klein joked that Fox News chairman Roger Ailes was his biggest problem in an interview conducted Monday by The Kalb Report's Marvin Kalb (via Politico, download transcript here):

MARVIN KALB: Jon Klein, I want to start with you. From your standpoint running CNN, what is the single most important problem that you face today?

JON KLEIN: Roger Ailes. [laughter] No, I'm kidding. I'm just kidding. Now my PR people are going to be angry at me. I love Roger as a person. I'm being facetious.

Klein was presumably referring to Fox News' ratings dominance, which has grown during the first months of the Obama administration.

He did go on to answer the question more seriously, discussing the ever-present difficulty of identifying streams of revenue:

Just speaking about systemic business issues, right this moment the problem is the uncertainty about where revenue--

What revenues are going to be. We know where they're going to come from, we have two
streams of revenue so we're fortunate in that respect. But I think the real challenge is the supply of future journalists, making sure that they come our way, because I have no doubt that there are going to continue to be people who want to practice journalism. But the crisis you're speaking of is really one of the business models in crisis. Those are clearly changing. We're never going to have a shortage of folks who want to find things out, and want to tell others about them. And we're not going to have a shortage of people who want to know what's going on. So in that sense, we're all pretty well positioned, we just have to figure out how to take advantage of that.

Comments

[wm1066]

12:51 PM on 03/27/2009

Well that explains alot. Instead of recreating what Ted Turner put together he's trying to out Roger, Roger Ailes

[boilinabag]

11:03 AM on 03/27/2009

cnn needs to get back to what it used to be. a news channel, not a gossip, nonsense, bloviating channel. we have fake news for that. although GPS on sunday morning is great, except no one is watching that show....

[dillydawg]

09:03 AM on 03/27/2009

Roger Ailes is not CNN's biggest problem. The sub standard quality of most on their broadcast and shows are the main problem.

[Plus15]

07:01 PM on 03/26/2009

Since he got the job Jon Klein has done his best to copy the FOX right wing staff and point of view. Even following the American peoples powerful rejection of the Conservative, Republican, Right Wing, Bush, Cheney, McCain, Palin, Limbaugh, O'Reilly, Hannity cabal Klein has failed to right the political imbalance and his rating will continue to show it. It has been clear for a long while that it is a biased unAmerican tactic. The media owners were muscled by Karl Rove, specifically, and in return for his promise to protect their government licenses and contracts supported Bush and Cheney down the line and to this day. Klein has been used for Republican political purposes. Try and find someone at CNN, anchor, correspondent, guest who is anywhere to the left of center, including Carvelle, Begala or Brazile and you will strike out.

[Plus15]

06:45 PM on 03/26/2009

Great picture of Roger Ailes. When is the long awaited Mr. Creosote eat-off between Roger Ailes and Rush Limbaugh, can you picture the result?

[michiganman2]

04:08 PM on 03/26/2009

campbell brown....... more bias, more bull

[JScott]

11:32 AM on 03/26/2009

So why Dr. Drew Pinsky and Jack Germond pic?

[Madmac]

08:47 AM on 03/26/2009

No it's your On Air reporters that the problem. They think they have to compete with fox and cease to be journalists and instead sometimes parrot republican talking points. You're supposed to be a News Organization...Start acting like one again

[Robert Cantor]

02:23 AM on 03/26/2009

CNN is Fox News lite - that is a serious problem. I think MSNBC turned lefty because they wanted to capture a market - not for any ideological reasons.

[Mohanna]

02:20 AM on 03/26/2009

John King did an interview with Cheney, just to make news. CNN left the fleshing out and followup discussion to other news outlets. It was the worst, unprofessional and inadequate interview I have ever seen. 20 minutes oh my life I will never get back.

[RickyPoo]

12:37 AM on 03/26/2009

You don't have a SINGLE most important problem, pal. You have a whole bunch!

In fact, you have more problems than most hives have bees, bub.

Want to identify a few?

John King

Anderson Cooper

Ed Henry

Dave Gergen

Bill Bennett

Alex Casteallanos

Candy Crowley

Roland What's-His-Face (I'm a LIBERAL and I can't remember a single one of your LIBERAL pundits' names. In fact, I only remember this one guy's FIRST name. Does THAT tell you anything?! LOL!)

Larry King

Wolf Blitzer

Campbell Brown (Pick a last name and stick with it, willya?)

The only people on this entire network who are remotely interesting are Jack Cafferty, who they seemingly keep imprisoned in a giant TV with Wolf Blitzer as his keeper for 5 minute bits rather than giving the guy his own show, and Jeanne Moss who does satirical puff pieces.

The rest of them are about as dull as watching paint dry. The bland leading the bland.

[dillydawg]

09:05 AM on 03/27/2009

Spot on.

[RationalRadioJack]

12:27 AM on 03/26/2009

Why are so many of the CNN journalist so in bed with AIPAC?

The fact that CNN keeps Lou Dobbs on board is proof positive that Mr. Klein can't see what his real problem is.

[eden4barack08]

09:24 AM on 03/26/2009

Same reason the NYT is. Loyalty to I.srael.

[Indie2008]

11:49 PM on 03/25/2009

Mr.Klein, surely there is room for more than one bigoted, right wing radical propaganda cable news outlet ! You hang in there-- but first, you're going to have to do a better job of holding on to your "talent". You just let Glen Beck walk right over to FOX, where he has really blossomed.

[btrim]

07:41 PM on 03/25/2009

Whoever is on the right in the pics is probably not long for this world, w/o some serious dietary alteration.

[Robert Cantor]

02:25 AM on 03/26/2009

Roger Ailes is undead; his soul has already left his body.

[Christian]

07:37 PM on 03/25/2009

CNN's problem is they are turning to the Fox news model and mixing news and opinion in almost every show. Dobb's has become more opinionated over time till I stopped watching him, and others are constantly adding their personal views to news stories. Why do they think we care about the opinion of news anchor who's talent is talking in front of a camera? I have turned to the net to get the full picture and from multi perspectives, not the one of the talking head. CNN needs to focus on being a great news source and quite trying to be successful by following others, be a leader for a change.