CNN shakes up news administration

CBSMarketwatch ^ | 01/23/04 | Jon Friedman

[upcountryhorseman]

The trouble is : many folks in the red area didn't vote!

[BigLittle]

The trouble is : many folks in the red area didn't vote!

Agreed, and that's a sad thing. I cannot understand at all the lack of so many people getting out and voting.

[Bobby Chang]

But also Fox uses not just attractive women, but the men are tough as nails -- the brawniest newsmen (as in their questioning) -- just how many liberals are scared of being taken to the cleaners by Brian Kilmeade, just a little sports guy, and his tenacity? Watching the mornings with Fox & Friends sometimes makes me wonder how many laptops are on that desk on a typical morning.

Rita Cosby may not be as attractive as the news readers, but her job assignment is different, and she is one of a few Fox anchors who have clothing deals. Some of the female anchors, however, on Fox have to watch what they wear. Some of it is too immodest for business.

Or wonder about Shepard Smith -- many Americans heard his name from the 2000 recounts when he pulled no punches and took no prisoners for a parking spot. Is CNN attempting to copy Smith's hard-nosed style? I don't think they can because Shep is too unique to be anything but Shep. He can be in-your-face in terror-bashing, enemy-bashing, or even thug-bashing (witness his blow-by-blow of Hot Pursuits), but he understands the family man knows who's the bad guy, and to tell it like it is makes sense.

There are so many features of Fox that CNN might try to copy, but won't work. The different graphics for each "major" headline has become a hot button topic -- whether it's Kobe, Michael, Scott, Martha, War on Terror, Hunt for Usama, or others, they know why the grahpics are used. "War on Terror" was a big one Fox used shortly after Usama's Attacks and each time I see it I know Fox is discussing the nastiness of UBL and what's next.

Too many of Fox's men are tough.

Watching Stuart Varney pummel Beckel one week and then the Kerry campaign advisor Saturday was a hoot. He called Kerry an appeaser and used things such as the Madrid Blasts to prove his point. It seems all the Fox financial show people are for the most part understanding of what UBL is and how he affects our economy.