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Why Doesn’t Obama Ban Iranian Press TV? by Kenneth R. Timmerman
The Case of CH2M HILL: $2 Billion in Crony Stimulation by Rusty Weiss
The Truth about George Soros by AIM Staff
Lifting the Veil on WikiLeaks by AIM Staff
The Truth about Al-Jazeera English by Cliff Kincaid
Reaganomics and Obamanomics in the Media and in Reality by Malcolm A. Kline, Don Irvine and Spencer Irvine
How State Budget Battles Could Mean More Criminals Back on the Streets by Michael Tremoglie
Radical Muslims, Environmentalists and the Green Jihad by Mark Musser
Russian-Backed Propaganda Networks Claim Obama is a CIA Agent by Cliff Kincaid
Media Conceal True Nature of Flash Mob Racial Violence by John T. Bennett
NBC’s Mitchell Should Resign Over Telling Gaddafi’s Lies (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3) by Cliff Kincaid
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Special Report
The Newswire
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CNN Revamps Lineup—Spitzer Out
CNN today removed one of the last vestiges of former CNN president Jonathan Klein with the canceling today of former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s show, “In the Arena,” after only nine months on the air.
Spitzer, who was paired last year by Klein with conservative columnist Kathleen Parker in a show that failed both in terms of on-screen chemistry and ratings, received a second chance when Parker left the show in February.
But in the last few months, while being in control of his own program, Spitzer showed that it wasn’t Parker who was holding ratings down as much as it was his own ego and the fact that viewers were never comfortable with the prostitute-loving former governor.
Yet no matter what he and the network tried the program remained a distant third place in his time slot, and often fell below 100,000 viewers on the key A25-54 demographic that advertisers use to determine where to spend their money.
The handwriting was on the wall after CNN signed former CNBC anchor Erin Burnett and started to hire staff for the still to be named show, though some rumors circulated that it was John King’s show that was in danger and not Spitzer’s.
“We engaged serious people in conversations about national and global issues in a way that was informative and challenging,” Spitzer said in a statement provided by CNN. “I believe that we provided diverse and valuable perspectives during the show’s tenure.”
For CNN this brings to an end one of the worst programming decisions ever made in cable news, with the pairing of two hosts who couldn’t get along and the subsequent effort to save face by remaking the show, all to no avail.
Anderson Cooper’s “AC360″ will take over the vacated time slot which should give CNN a lift as Cooper’s program has been one of the network’s better performers. It certainly won’t do any worse than Spitzer.
Besides Spitzer the other loser in this lineup change is Keith Olbermann whose new program on Current TV will now face much stiffer competition than originally envisioned, which isn’t likely to elicit much sympathy from his former employer MSNBC.
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About the author
Don Irvine is Chairman of Accuracy in Media. He is active on Facebook and Twitter. You can follow him @donirvine to read his latest thoughts.
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2 Comments for CNN Revamps Lineup—Spitzer Out
[...] CNN Revamps Lineup—Spitzer Out [...]
Spitzer did a pretty good program on his own … BUT … the prostitute thing was classless … and reduced his gravitas and likeability factors. Smart guy … bad behavior … FORTUNATELY … doesn’t compute!