Anderson Cooper's Rating Woes "Most Troubling" To CNN Staffers: Politico

Politico:

It's Cooper's ratings that are the most troubling, say staffers, given the resources and heavy promotion for his show, and persona. For years, Klein has talked up Cooper, once famously dubbing him "the anti-anchor" and, in the aftermath of Katrina, as "a reporter [who's] got that magical something.

But that magic may be wearing off.

Read the whole story: Politico

Comments

[TooTired2Think]

What CNN is still running.... I ran out on CNN, Nov. 2008 and have been with Keith, Rachelle, and Ed ever since. Didn't know CNN was still alive and trying to kick! Apparently kicking itself into yesterdayhood!

[MyGoodMojo]

Just can't get past the stammering.

[franklin14]

I have a hard time watching Anderson try to be objective while he is covering any gay issues knowing that he remains in the closet. Giving the impression being gay is something to be ashamed of. No, it's none of our business and he can do what he wants, just that as a journalist and we all know it and he sits there acting like he is being objective.

[MyGoodMojo]

I agree with you.

[Girl28]

I don't watch the show anymore because I grew tired of CNN and their "faux" balance. The format for practically every show is the same, get a republican and a democrat to "blah, blah, blah" talking points, and nothing substantive ever arises. I also grew weary of all of the Obama bashing as soon as the president took office.

[MedinaM]

I don't think I watch anything on CNN anymore except for Rick Sanchez and Larry King (I only watch that for the guests).

[learntofly]

CNN's problem is its lineup of hosts:

American Morning with John Roberts and Kiran Chetry. Completely forgettable and sleep inducing.

Newsroom with Heidi Collins, Tony Harris, Kyra Phillips, and Rick Sanchez. - News on a loop. Made obsolete with the internet.

Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer - Over-aired neo con. Jack Cafferty is the only bright spot.

Lou Dobbs - Who actually watches this guy? Why would any network pay him to be an on-air 'personality'?

Campbell Brown - She IS biased, and all bull

Larry King - Boring and rude.

Anderson Cooper - Cold and on the boring side. Too many guest appearances on shows like Regis and Kelly. The promotions for Planet in Peril with Anderson, Sanjay, and that other guy - all in black crew t-shirts - What kind of statement was that? The show is too subdued for the time slot, which requires a much more extroverted person.

[rob2007]

CNN lost me when they covered by helicam the Breaking News of Bret Favre disembarking from a private jet during Farve's cry-a-thon. I'm sure the other cable networks did the same, but for me CNN has the "Most Insufferable News Team on The Planet" (FoxTV is exempt from the News Category).

[Derelict outlaw]

I sincerely hope that all of the MSM moguls will "get it" that there needs to be CHANGE of producers and talking heads that brought us the Iraq war and the Bush disinformation campaign and now have little or no credibility, Duuhhh.

Change has occurred in the electorate and the audience but the MSM is still reporting the new administration with the same old hacks that screwed us each day by following the talking points and caved totally to the Bush/Chene­y/Rove/Rum­sfeld cabal and sucked the d*ick of the White house rethugs until more than 70% (according to the polls) no longer trusted the media's representation of the war's or the administration, duuhh.

[One more Thing]

The cable viewing public owes a lot to CNN but we shouldn't permit them to rest on those laurels. They maybe like the U.S. auto industry in that they don't listen to their audience. I share many of the critical comments to this article. I also have two things that drive me to switch channels:

(1) Wolf Blitzer or another reporter saying something is coming right up after the next break and it doesn't come up until the last break and what ever it was is reported in 10 secounds (after they spent minutes telling me they were going to tell me).

(2) Illogical comments by reporters such as Ed Henry and Campbell Brown. Such as the suggestion that President Obama should first take a pay cut before asking bailed out companies to do so!

I hope they "right their ship" and it comes sailing back into my TV room soon.

[ranchero42]

It's all about perception. If you are NOT a lightweight; but SEEM like a lightweight...

[zizi]

What did CNN think would happen when it ditched Aaron Brown's thoughtful show for all the Anderson Cooper glitz and fizzle? Well, it fizzled out. That's what happened. Aaron Brown on his first day on the job on 9-11-2001 did the best job keeping us informed and somewhat calmed on a horrendous day. His segments on "tomorrow's newspapers" was great to buoy up the dying newspaper industry. But no, CNN had to kick him to the curb. Now they reap the results of short-term thinking.

[hillaryj]

He is a cold person....­.........a­nd CNN has become fake and boring!

[Okieborn]

I absolutely do not think Anderson Cooper has a thing to do with the bad ratings on CNN, this station is another titanic !!
Cooper is a great commentator !!
He would be great on MSNBC !!

[ladyskeptik]

Part 1:

I was never a fan of Anderson Cooper’s show, but he's better than a lot of CNN’s other atrocious programs. Anderson just needs to stop with all the ridiculous celebrity segments, nobody wants to know what some star said or did, I can just turn on E-News for that. Cooper and CNN need to stop breaking out the 'breaking news' for every little thing. He needs to cover more substantive subjects. The segments he does with David Gergen and that CIA dude are great, he needs more of that type of serious discussions instead of silly celebrity stuff. You can do a funny segment here and there, but cut down on the repetitiveness. When discussing serious issues he needs to beef up on the policy, the politics, the history, and the context of the subjects he talks about. Most times he sounds like he’s unread, unstudied, and really not researched about the subjects/issues he’s reporting on. He needs to stop asking inane questions like ‘can we really close down Guantanamo’ or ‘why do we need to close Guantanamo’ or something stupid like that. The smart question here would be how do you transfer, try, and deal with the prisoners? Or giving us a detailed report on Guantanamo Bay itself, the prisoners inside it, and what steps it would really take to close it down would be delving into the substance of the issue instead of the easy superficial go to‘s.

[ladyskeptik]

Part 2:

Anderson Cooper and CNN as a whole need to STOP WITH THE FALSE EQUIVALENCIES. The earth is either flat or not, global warming is true or not, and Guantanamo Bay prisoners will be ‘freed’ into our neighborhoods or not. You cannot have one side espousing total lies without checking them. Giving people who are blatantly lying and distorting the facts a platform to do so without stepping in as the journalist and getting the facts out there is why CNN is losing viewers.

That is my 0.02 cents about Cooper’s show. CNN take note lol. Anderson Cooper has a lot of potential in my opinion, he just needs to be well researched with a more serious and substantive show. He can really do a knock-out two hour go to show about the issues of the day and the world by bringing in people like David Gergen, Christiane Amanpour, Fareed Zakaria, Michael Ware and other’s like them to discuss, delve into, and inform the viewer. If he did something like that, I KNOW I would tune in.

[airforcevet43]

Ditto.....

Anderson Cooper, in his reporting of Katrina and other special investigations did a great job. He has the potential to be a younger version of the late Tim Russert. Tim would always hold his commentators feet to the fire. And if they decided to spew there talking points he would have already anticipated their action and would be prepared with past commentaries that dispute their latest talking point. It often made them prepare before coming to his show or not come to his show at all.

[troika]

CNN has lost all its reputation. I watched every democratic debate and was teed off by the so called "best political team". I watched Carl Bernstein spewing venom at Mrs. Clinton in every which way totally denigrating her. Isn't Jeff Toobin an attorney? Then why was he on the team? What experience did he have in order to do the so called analysis? To me this so called "best political team" is nothing but a team of self aggrandizing MCPs. Until CNN changes its ways of reporting I will not tune onto CNN. BTW where is the hypocrite Carl Bernstein now? Seems to have vanished into thin air as soon the election was over.

[whitegayrepublican]

He reads questions and sound rather reminiscent of a guy I was always debating on the forensic speaking team back in high school. Always a bubble thought but never an answer. At least his boyfriend the cameraman guy thinks he's cute though.

No news here. He gets fired or rehired on another network with a different lineup of stars, they often do.

[troika]

The problem with this is CNN itself. They have so many reporters and so many one hour shows, that they keep recycling the same news over and over again. Can someone explain what the show "Campbell Brown - NO BULL NO BIAS" show is about. They should discontinue this show because this show is NOTHING but lot of BS.