CNN, Anderson On Top

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CNN Hopes Its Hard News Coverage Will Make You Think Fox And MSNBC Are 'One-Dimensional'

Caroline Shin | Mar. 24, 2011, 8:31 AM

All eyes are on CNN these days. Literally.

In the last few weeks the network has been dominating the prime time ratings, thanks in the most part to the unprecedented (recently, at least) news cycle we've been in lately.

"If much of the cable space is politically oriented and partisan politically oriented, the way to be different is... to talk about different subject matters and approach it differently," Ken Jautz, CNN's domestic chief since last fall, told David Bauder at the AP."

That means "aggressively independent" coverage that takes capitalizes on CNN's huge infrastructure and ability to quickly cover big breaking news.

As part of Jautz's strategy, CNN sent 11 crews including Anderson Cooper and Sanjay Gupta to Japan; Wolf Blitzer to France, Egypt and Tunisia, and Piers Morgan to Israel to interview Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last week.

CNN has also begun featuring news talent from CNN International.

Fortunately for Jaust the recent news cycle appears to be cooperating with this plan.

CNN's weekday prime-time audience is up 28% this year compared to the last three months of 2010, with MSNBC up 5%, and Fox down 8% in the same period.

Jautz also wants a greater range of coverage and consistency in tone among different CNN broadcasts. Actually he says NPR is a great model: they have "built a strong business as a substantive news network despite management troubles."

Short version: "CNN's hope is to create a contrast and make it appear that rivals Fox and MSNBC are one-dimensional with a focus on political arguments."