Jeff Zucker is...Staying at CNN

[PGage]

But, have I mentioned lately that He is an asshole?

The LA Times broke the story this morning that Zucker, who had been assumed to be leaving CNN around now, with speculation he might run for Mayor of NYC, is going to stay on at least another year (link and extended excerpt below).

I dislike Zucker, but agreed at the outset of his tenure at CNN in 2012 with his intended approach: strengthen the news capacity and segments, replace weak pretend news segments with stronger feature programming, which makes CNN more like a newspaper. 

Zucker has made CNN more successful, though aside from dipping in to compare to broadcast and MSNBC coverage of big and breaking stories, I still find CNN distinctly unwatchable. I also almost never go to CNN online, as I find it irritating how aggressively they push the reader to video. I will leave it to those who watch regularly to judge whether he has actually made CNN better.

https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/business/story/2021-02-04/cnn-chief-jeff-zucker-will-stay-with-the-network-through-2021

“...While overseeing CNN, the channel has experienced its largest profits in history, topping $1 billion annually over the last few years. He expanded the network’s business, investing in the production of original series and nonfiction films and building a library of durable programming that can attract audiences during lulls in the news cycle. CNN’s digital platform is also the most popular source of news online according to Comscore statistics.

“CNN has a lot more confidence,” Zucker said. “We used to get bullied. We are not bullied by anybody now.”

Zucker’s career has complicated ties to President Trump, especially during his CNN tenure. Zucker scored his biggest hit in his years at NBC with Trump as the host of his reality competition series “The Apprentice,” which gave the real estate mogul massive media exposure that helped launch his political career.

Once Trump declared his candidacy for president in 2015, Zucker, like other news executives, recognized that the provocateur was a big draw for viewers. Trump’s rallies and interviews generated ratings spikes, which led to more airtime. Zucker later acknowledged that CNN gave too much exposure to his campaign events....

While CNN has long positioned itself as a down-the-middle purveyor of news and information, Zucker gave his anchors and hosts the freedom to speak more frankly when dealing with Trump’s unorthodox, bizarre and legally dubious actions as president....”

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[Kevin M.]

I’ve flipped back and forth between CNN and CNBC the past two weeks as the GameStop stock story was unfolding. Keep in mind the people in charge at CNBC used to refer to it as “the best damn college TV station in town,” joking that they had no budget at all and the youngest and least experienced pool of talent. And yet, their reporting on the story was incredible, possibly the best solid journalism I’ve seen on TV in years. They explained the story using experts, covered what it means in the bigger picture, and when they did have pundits and non experts like JaRule commenting on it, they still eked out substance and nuance. 

By contrast, CNN mocked it as a Reddit scam by a couple of crazy kids... they couldn’t report on the story, because nobody at CNN can understand the story. Their chief economist Richard Quest makes Jim Cramer seem sane. He spends all his time kissing Wall Street’s ass, as well as the ass of any CEO, and he cannot explain even basic economic concepts. 

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Kevin M. (RPCV)

[Doug Eastick]

I can't take Richard Quest seriously, because I only knew him from two years of New Years Eve specials where he does segments from Olive Garden in Times Square, often in a costume.

I'm sure if people knew him from the financial reporting FIRST, then the NYE stint is a "oh... look at Richard being out of character and loosening up".    But not me.

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Doug Eastick <eas...@mcd.on.ca>

[Kevin M.]

On Thu, Feb 4, 2021 at 8:46 AM Doug Eastick <eas...@mcd.on.ca> wrote:

I can't take Richard Quest seriously, because I only knew him from two years of New Years Eve specials where he does segments from Olive Garden in Times Square, often in a costume.

I'm sure if people knew him from the financial reporting FIRST, then the NYE stint is a "oh... look at Richard being out of character and loosening up".    But not me.

The thing that gets me about CNN’s coverage, and Quest in particular, is not one of them could see this as more than a quirky economic human interest story, instead of what it was, which was a deliberate economic attack by unknown forces using the same unregulated internet that kept spreading Trump’s lies and led to an attempted coup on Jan. 6th. To them it was funny to watch hedge fund guys lose while the everyman  won. While that would be funny, that wasn’t what happened, and it wasn’t the story. 

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Kevin M. (RPCV)

[PGage]

Agree that CNBC has done a good job on the GameStop story. I’m sure you are right about CNN, though not sure if it’s that they can’t understand, or that understanding stories like this is not what their mission is about.

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