Miles to Go: CNN Fires Technology Unit, Keeps Ridiculous Technology
You'd be hard-pressed to find anyone who's been screwed as thoroughly and with as much sheer audacity by CNN over the past few years as Miles O'Brien.
Yesterday it was announced that after 16 years with the network, Miles is being given the chance to "pursue other opportunities" along with six producers in a move that effectively dissolves CNN's Science and Technology unit.
For Miles, it marks a somewhat anemic end to an impressive tenure at CNN -- sort of like putting down a former champion horse that you yourself are responsible for running into the ground. Miles was once the proud owner of a very nice, largely secure gig as the co-anchor of a daytime show based out of Atlanta alongside Kyra Phillips. But that was before mercurial CNN President Jon Klein decided to inexplicably pull the affable Bill Hemmer off the anchor desk on American Morning and "experiment" with the team of O'Brien (Miles) and O'Brien (Soledad).
The experiment, apparently, wasn't a success. Less than two years later, Klein had another one of his arbitrary "Eureka!" moments, spun the Wheel-of-Anchors and replaced both Miles and Soledad with the current team of John Roberts and Kiran Chetry.
Miles returned not to the anchor desk in Atlanta, but to reporting duties and the occasional fill-in host slot. (He anchored The Situation Room as recently as last Wednesday, during the Mumbai terrorist attacks.)
In other words, Jon Klein offered Miles O'Brien a major promotion -- the chance to helm a flagship show in New York -- if he'd leave behind his stable situation in Atlanta; he uprooted Miles and disrupted the lives of his family only to then turn around 22 months later and say that it just wasn't working out.
That's not "strictly business" -- the nature of the beast.
That's sociopathic.
It's an unwillingness to accept or a complete disregard for the fact that you're capriciously toying with people's lives.
What makes these lay-offs particularly conspicuous, though -- maybe even reprehensible -- is that they come less than two weeks after an article in the New York Observer detailing CNN's lavish spending during its election coverage: the celeb-studded parties, the new show launches, the pricey A-list pundits and, of course, that stupid pretend "hologram." In the piece, Jon Klein boasted to writer Felix Gillette:
"We can afford more people on our air and off our air. So, goddamn it, we're going to have more people."
Except that, obviously, they can't -- and they're not.
Which makes him entirely full of crap.
Although it's almost superhumanly ironic that Klein is willing to pay for the silly technology but not for the technology unit, it shouldn't really surprise anyone at this point. He's proven time and time again where his priorities lie -- and they're nowhere near the maintenance of true journalistic excellence. It would be amusing if it weren't so sad that Klein's pride in the ability to create a phony, "holographic" image of a human being now serves as a kind of metaphor for his entire way of thinking. He's become the George Lucas of the TV news universe: tinkering like a mad scientist to create a soulless, graphically enhanced feast for the eyes -- minus the actual people required to breathe life into it -- just because he can.
I'm not worried about Miles O'Brien; he's smart and talented and he'll likely find new work quickly -- even in this economy. After all he's been through over the past few years, he may even see this as a godsend.
What concerns me is the future of the rest of the excellent and now unemployed tech staff -- people like Peter Dykstra, who's been with CNN pretty much since the dawn of time. Or Alex Walker, who typically does most of the work while receiving none of the glory.
These are the ones who will really suffer.
Well, they, and you -- the audience.
But hey, at least you'll still have the pretty holograms.
Follow Chez Pazienza on Twitter: www.twitter.com/chezpazienza
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Maybe Miles O'Brien could move to MSNBC and they could try to give us news on the weekends instead of Lockup Raw or some other garbage. I would really like to see MSNBC try harder to be a news channel. Wolf is getting really old and the quality of news is really bad. I do enjoy Jack but then he is as cranky as I am about the state of the world.
I am so sick of MSNBC's documentary fetish. I would probably never change the channel except for that.
CNN lacks any real serious newsmen (remember Bernie Shaw, Aaron Brown); and there's no loyalty anymore, like there was in the days of Bobbie Batista and Donna Kelly.
Soledad and Campbell had better watch their backs; the only CNN celebs with guaranteed slots are Dobbs, Blitzer, Anderson and Larry King.
Thank you.
Klein's choices seem absolutely nuts. In what universe should Blitzer have THREE HOURS a day? (Or Dobbs even be on the air at all?)
Miles O'Brien really added a charismatic, intelligent, enthusiastic presence to the important subject of science and technology.
He gave CNN some depth--something they sorely lack these days.
Agree wholeheartedly. CNN seems determined to shoot themselves in the foot by getting rid of real news people like Miles O'Brien and handing us Rick Sanchez who is only interested in promoting himself and sounding like the "National Enquirer." Thank heavens they moved Don Lemon out of the afternoon slot and put him someplace where we don't have to listen to his drivel.
How about giving us more of Jack Cafferty and real news people like that. Give Lou Dobbs his own show at 4:00am where he can discuss immigration to his heart's content. We're sick of this one trick pony in prime time.
Exactly! My first thought when I read about this was how could they keep a buffoon like Sanchez and ditch O'Brien?
I guess CNN has to save some money to hire the next idiot to replace Glen Beck.
I used to watch CNN a lot, but gave up on them when they were cheerleading for the Iraq war, especially Paula Zahn. Miles O'Brien and Jack Cafferty were the only two left I ever cared to watch (OK, Soledad is nice and Bill Hemmer is harmless).
But I always made it a point to watch Miles' reports on space and science. They were excellent, and I thought it was great coming from someone with the same name as a Star Trek character. America needs more science reporting and less celebrity nonsense.
Hopefully, he'll come over to MSNBC, which is the only news I watch (not counting C-SPAN).
Except when there is real time breaking news, I watch CNN because a, I have nothing better to watch or b, I'm in an airport terminal without a laptop or smart phone. The internets has made TV news almost obsolete. And this post is sooo right about that so-called hologram.
Getting rid of Science and Technology to have more room for breaking celebrity news, I am sure. Miles was one of the few remaining people on CNN that I truly enjoy watching. Their loss.
I like Miles and Hemmer cause they're both smart as heck and amiable. As for Klein's regard of his employees, welcome to corporate America. When AT&T wants to get rid of workers it moves it's jobs from one part of the state to another knowing full well that not all employees will be able to make the move. It repeats this cycle every 4-5 yrs or so, the families be hanged. That white collar workers are being treated the same way is indicative of how crass American managed has become. Reminds me of " the good ol days" during the 1890's-1930's when the "robber barons" ran the show......
This is terrible! I really like Miles and always look forward to hearing his take on the space program or whatever he is covering. He has the personality and the "know how" to make boring issues interesting. I'm going to miss him and hope he pops back up, perhaps on MSNBC.
CNN has been going down the tubes since back during the election when they were clearly in the tank for McCain and Palin. I had almost quit watching them....no
CNN? do they still have viewers?
I fully agree. As a software test engineer, I am especially a fan of science and technology, and, with US students scoring low in the maths and the sciences, it is sad to see science and technology undervalued at CNN, right when we need to be investing more, not less, in disseminating interest in these areas.
NASA is making new discoveries all of the time, as is demonstrated by the Cassini probe of Saturn's moons like Titan and Enceladus. Maybe a hologram can tell us all about these discoveries, or maybe we just won't hear about them.
I have always been a big Soledad O'Brien fan. She was host of American Morning with Miles. Soledad used to host the "SITE" on MSNBC late 90's. She went to CNN and is one of the brightest female journalist/anchors on CNN. What Klein has done to her is almost as shameful as what he has done to Miles. Does Klein have a hatred for people named O'Brien? Soledad actually emailed me back a few times about technology issues in late 90's. She has a family now so maybe not as interested in full time work. But Soledad is qualified and has a following enabling her the right to host a regular show on CNN. Instead she pops up from time to time as a sub host or feature's host. Klein can go blank himself. Why CNN does not get rid of this dufus is beyond understanding.
Totally agree that Soledad O'Brien is one of the brightest, most affable on-air personalities. Very classy, easy to listen to, easy to watch -- not like those "babes" over on Faux Snooze who are sassy, rude, downright unprofessional at times. Soledad definitely a keeper.
Agree too but Soledad O'Brien is NOT Miles O'Brien who is a bore, right wingnut, and knows next to nothing about science and technology. The writer of this pap says he's a "champion horse" because he had success on a daytime program in Atlanta? Give us a break. Give us more Soledad and less Miles.
Could not agree more.
When Miles was on I always paid attention because he was always interesting, had a great attitude and knew his shiite.
CNN is just going further and further downhill trying to get the E! audience.
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