OPINION:
I just watched an hourlong special on CNN, “35 Years of CNN,” primarily because nothing else was on. This program amounted to 60 minutes of news personalities boasting about the network being the “only news organization” present at major historical events, such as the beginning of the Iraq war. I found all this in-house hype entertaining. CNN has, in fact, been on the air 35 years. But what has it accomplished in three-and-a-half decades? Not much, if anything.
Virtually everyone knows that news networks live and die by ratings. CNN is no exception. For the first quarter of 2015 CNN was up from the previous first quarter, that of 2014, but it still came in with a mere 466,000 viewers in prime time. That is pathetic for the investment Ted Turner made, and for having been broadcasting for 35 years. Comparatively, the Fox News Network remained the top cable news network for 159 consecutive months, with 1.76 million prime time viewers for the first quarter of this year.
Surely even liberal, left-wing hacks who continually attack, belittle and criticize Fox. saying it is not a “real” news network, must acknowledge that Fox is eating their lunch in the ratings game. Even the White House has joined in with President Obama declaring Fox as a ’fake’ news organization, going so far as to remove “News” from Fox’s credentials at official White House events.
The obvious question lingers. How much longer can (or will) CNN hang on with such dismal performance? If you just eliminate any political slant and examine CNN as a business investment, one would have to conclude it is a sinking ship.
JAMES W. ANDERSON
Talladega, Ala.
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