In the profile by David Folkenflik, Whitaker says the days of CNN’s awkward attempts to wade into the partisan political waters with back-and-forth segments are over:

“I think perhaps there have been times in the past when CNN would have people who represented extreme views — let them go at it in a food fight, and then sit neutrally in the middle — and then toss to commercial,” Whitaker says, rapping the table with his hand. “Well, we’re not going to do that anymore.”

Zakaria says CNN plays to its strength by owning smart coverage of breaking news, investigations and international affairs, not trying to persuade Fox viewers to make the switch:

“The people who watch Fox are not going to watch CNN. Let’s be honest,” Zakaria says. He says people watching Fox are the faithful of a specific religion attending a particularly devout church. “Our competitors should properly be The New York Times, the BBC and NPR.”

Listen to the story here, from NPR:

(h/t Brian Stelter)

We talked about the circumstances last Friday, Keith Olbermann‘s criticism, Jon Klein, Eliot Spitzer and more. Here’s the full Q&A:

Mediaite: Let’s start with Thursday. You go on the radio show. It was after Rick’s List, that day?

Sanchez: Literally two minutes. After Rick’s List, there’s a studio audience that comes in, they have this thing CNN has its called “Rick After The Tour” and they come in and they get my autograph and they take a picture with me and its very nice. As soon as I was done with that I headed downstairs and right into a studio to do the interview.

Mediaite: So you do the interview Thursday. Did you think, before anything came out, what kind of reaction could come from it?

Sanchez: Yeah, I did. I even knew it as I was into it. But I was too impetuous to control myself. I should have been a little more careful. But yeah I kind of knew. I even told my wife when I got home, I said, ‘I just did an interview and I kind of went off on some things I shouldn’t have said.’ So yeah, I knew.

“ I don’t like what we’re going through in this country right now. If that’s where the business is going, I’m not sure I want to be a part of the business.”

Mediaite: So Friday, we wrote our story around 9am, emailed CNN about it, and I don’t know if that was the first time they had seen it or heard about it, but what was Friday like for you?

Sanchez: Oh it was difficult. I knew what you knew, that there was a whole lot of coming down the pike. All my wife and I could do was wait and see what would eventually come of it. We learned the news pretty much the same time everybody else did, when they put out a statement. Look, they have done what they needed to do. They have basically been good to me. They didn’t screw up, I screwed up. The onus is on me. My loyalty to them is not gone because they gave me six good years. And if there’s an opportunity to get back together in the future, that would be great. I made a mistake, I said some things I shouldn’t have, I insulted people. And they deserve a direct apology from me.

Mediaite: The Daily Show, Jon Stewart comments were probably the ones that got the most attention, but there were also things in there about CNN executives. Do you think that was the straw that broke the camels back?

Sanchez: (Those comments) had nothing to do with CNN, but it does have to do with the state of the media right now. And there’s several things that are working right now that bother me as a person in the media. A) we’ve got one camp that is nothing but vitriol and ideologically driven. That’s not good. We’ve got another side of the media that’s nothing but milquetoast. They do nothing but want to read teleprompters and ask whatever questions are handed to them and go home. And I write about this in my book. That in and of itself has kind of made me crazy over the last several years. I try to do a different kind of newscast, it’s very transparent, it involves social media, I ad-lib more than I read. I’m very involved. I write, I produce I gather my team at 7 in the morning. It’s very different than the way the media has been. The other thing is I look at the landscape of the media and I don’t see an African American, a Hispanic, an Asian anywhere near the prime time area of programming. All the top anchors are not in any way reflective of the minorities in the United States. And I’ll be honest, that sticks in my craw. I feel sometimes like, ‘gosh I’m so close.’ And then I put the Jon Stewart with that, always making fun of me, and I thought, ‘see I’m not getting the opportunity and damnit Jon Stewart that institutional media elite guy’ is keeping me down.’ And I lashed out, and I was wrong.

>>> NEXT PAGE: Sanchez talks Olbermann, Klein, Jautz, Spitzer…and reveals his new Twitter name.

It was particularly interesting as Ailes’ network and Klein himself have had quite a rocky relationship – at least until Klein officially was no longer at the helm of fellow cable news outlet CNN.

Ailes told the AP:

Jon is a respected journalist and an expert in the digital realm. We’ve enjoyed competing with CNN during his tenure and I’m confident he’ll be an asset to any news organization he joins in the future. I look forward to continuing our personal dialogue.

Klein told Mediaite the comment was “incredibly classy” and he was “grateful for it.” But Ailes describes a “personal dialogue” – was there some behind-the-scenes friendship kept mostly quiet during Klein’s run?

“I think if James Carville and Mary Matalin can be married, then Jon Klein and Roger Ailes can be friends,” he said, describing their periodic lunches through the years. “We’ve always gotten along, and I respect him immensely.”

Interesting – especially in the context of a stroll down the memory lane of Klein’s six years at CNN. There was the famous Fox News wishing-well when he got the job, knocks on performance and talk of a time machine ride, to name a few. Now, for the time being, the only comment coming out of Fox is the gracious one from the top.

There is an inevitable mixed reaction when a change in leadership is made at such a large organization. Some within the organization, or who have since left, will applaud the decision, while many others will be disappointed. Mediaite obtained an email from one CNN employee who is part of the latter. His email, in part:

During the eight years I was at CNN, there was no other president as involved, as invested in individual stories as you. Even before I actually had the chance to meet you, I was blown away by how much you seemed to be paying attention to the actual product. It all made sense when I learned that you were a documentarian and long-form producer at heart. I could see the passion and attention to detail and love of storytelling. I think we are all better for it.

On a personal level, I can’t tell you how much I have appreciated the time and attention and advice you’ve given me.

As the fallout continues, expect more reaction to the new CNN direction.

(image via)

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Meanwhile SVP of Programming Bart Feder, who Klein hired and is the #2 exec at the network, is “the single best news executive around.” I talked to Klein today about his plans for the future and more.

“I’ve always been a non-traditional media person in the midst of the traditional media world,” Klein told Mediaite today. ”

Klein has had a very varied career before joining CNN. He launched a series at CBS called Before Your Eyes in 1993, which he describes as the “first ever reality series.” The show led to more newsy roles at CBS, but Klein says it “remains the most fun job I ever had, the most fun I ever had in the business.” He also founded The FeedRoom in 1999, a broadband video company that “became one of the leading online broadcasters in the world, delivering more than 1 million video clips each day.”

Says Klein:

When you’re steeped in an area and you come to really know it, you become aware of what’s missing. What consumers might respond to. That’s something I’ve always found a lot of fun. Now the opportunity to leverage that is much greater because of all the new platforms that are exploding.

Whether the new prime time line-up is successful or not, Klein will forever be tied to Parker Spitzer and the upcoming Piers Morgan show. “I hope they’re runaway successes,” he said of the new programs. “I expect they’ll be very successful from the standpoint of quality. And they’ll continue to grow audiences over time. I think CNN is very well positioned. I’ll be watching.”

Klein also responded to the warm words from Fox News Chairman and CEO Roger Ailes. More on that tomorrow.

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The firing has brought out some former and current staffers speaking openly about their positive reaction to the move. We spoke to several people inside CNN about the feeling Friday, and Klein himself.

Publicly, former CNN correspondent Jamie McIntyre wrote this column about the “de-Kleining” move. “The fact is Jon Klein has overseen the slow, and sometimes not-so-subtle tabloidization of CNN, as he has systematically shed programming that aspired to provide context and perspective, in favor of ratings-seeking formulas aim more at fanning the flames of outrage and emotion,” wrote McIntyre. “There are still islands of excellence on CNN, and Klein points to some of them in his valedictory missive. Candy Crowley. Fareed Zakaria. But those islands of excellence are increasingly threatened by an rising tide of mediocrity and cynical tabloid sensationalism.” More subtly, former correspondent Miles O’Brien tweeted, “There is justice in this world. You just have to be patient.”

Klein tells Mediaite he hasn’t read McIntyre’s piece. “I have not been gorging on the coverage,” he says. “I’m ok with all this. I really maintain nothing in life is permanent, everything comes to an end sometime, it was a hell of a lot of fun, and very rewarding while it lasted, and I’m looking forward to the next thing.”

We hear when Jim Walton made the announcement to the staff that Klein was being replaced by Jautz there was an “extended round of applause.” Jautz said he was keeping the executive structure – with the people reporting to SVP of programming Bart Feder remaining in place, as well as the political team of Sam Feist and David Bohrman. He also implied he was “keeping the door open for more character-driven personality stuff,” but impying the network would push to be more entertaining without being more opinionated, according to one insider.

“The internal level of frustration had reached a fever pitch,” said one CNN source, who described the timing of the firing as an “olive branch” from the external forces outside of CNN.

“I’m not dwelling on that stuff,” said Klein. “We all gave it the best shot we possibly could.”

The source said the move “breathes a new life into this place,” and described Jautz as both the “logical heir apparent” and the “opposite of Jon Klein.” But it’s not going to be easy. “This is a tough thing to inherit,” said an insider.

In June I asked Klein if he thought the Spitzer/Parker show and the rest of the revamped prime time would be “do or die” for him and the network. “Is it ever do or die? Of course not,” he said. “It’s an ongoing evolution process, and we have high expectations of all these new initiatives we’re planning.” In this case, however, as Klein himself put it, he “got shot” before Parker Spitzer even aired.

We’ll have more from Klein later.

(This photo is from nearly four years ago – but wow, what a group!)

As he begins his first week at the helm, we talked to Jautz today about his big picture plans for the network, whether HLN talent could end up at CNN and the characterization that he’s the “opposite of Jon Klein.”

Mediaite: As you look at the CNN you’re inheriting, obviously there are some issues that you’ll be looking to correct. Big picture, what is your vision there?

Jautz: Big picture I think I’d like CNN to be as engaging and lively in its programming as it always has been informative in its reporting. My mandate is to ensure that our strong, nonpartisan journalism continues to be showcased in the best manner possible. Also, we want to make the programming, particularly prime time, a little more compelling, engaging, lively. That will be my focus.

Mediaite: You have two new shows starting, that certainly will be traced to Jon Klein. Would you say they’re safe?

Jautz: We are going to adhere to the programming moves and scheduling announced. Of course, we’ll be launching Parker Spitzer on October 4, and Piers Morgan after the turn of the year. I have been involved in the development of these shows, that Jon has led, all along. I was in the first meeting that Piers had at CNN and was an early advocate of that show. I could see in that meeting he was smart, dynamic and charismatic person, who fills the room, fills a set. I lived in the U.K. in the mid-90s when he was prominent newspaper editor and journalist there. I’ve been very familiar with his work for some time.

Mediaite: You’ve been in the building with CNN, and had a job with CNN Worldwide, in addition to your HLN duties. As you looked at CNN over the past six years, has there been anything that struck you as something where you could say, ‘I wouldn’t have done that’?

Jautz: No.

Mediaite: Nothing?

Jautz: I don’t feel this early in my tenure it is productive to start second guessing what other people here or elsewhere have done.

Mediaite: You’ve had huge success at HLN. Is there any chance some of the people who are stars there under your reign, like Joy Behar or Robin Meade, could come over to CNN?

Jautz: I had a mandate at HLN to revamp and rename the network, to differentiate it from CNN. We wanted to set up two networks that were different in their basic audience appeal, and had a different offering to advertisers. We spent many years doing that. We purposely made HLN more about pop culture, more female skewing in audience. I have no interest in now undoing that. We would like to continue to keep these networks different.

Mediaite: One CNN insider I talked to described you as the “opposite of Jon Klein.” Someone who talks to people, listen to what they have to say. How do you feel about that characterization?

Jautz: I think it’s important to be open to new ideas. I’m open to input from others. I have worked in many different parts of this organization – at different networks and different divisions. This organization has a tremendous number of great, creative journalists who are passionate about journalism and CNN, and I want to be able to use all that great creative energy. It’s an impotent part of my job – to be open and collaborative with as many great parts of this organization as possible.

Mediaite: We talked to some people at CNN about their reaction to the news Friday. What was your reaction?

Jautz: I’m honored and humbled to be sitting in this position. It’s particularly meaningful for me having worked in this organization for a long time.

(This has been edited for length and clarity.)

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On Wednesday afternoon, CNN Worldwide president Jim Walton, who was in New York visiting from Atlanta, called a meeting with Klein, but ominously didn’t tell him what it was about. When Klein arrived, Walton cursorily told him he was being removed, to be replaced by HLN chief Ken Jautz. It was a brief conversation.

“People get shot in our business. I got shot,” Klein said in a phone interview.

CNN is about to debut two new shows that are already getting a lot of buzz—Parker Spitzer, starring Kathleen Parker and Eliot Spitzer, and a talk show hosted by Piers Morgan, which will be replacing Larry King Live—which makes the timing of this announcement surprising. Klein, who will be replaced by HLN chief Ken Jautz, speculated that he may have gotten the axe now because it would have looked worse to fire him later. “There could have been a fear in making a change later which could make it seem like these shows and the schedule are in trouble,” he said.

Klein took over as president of CNN six years ago, a period that coincided with a steady and significant decline in ratings at the cable news network. In March of this year, this reporter suggested that CNN’s ratings tailspin made Klein vulnerable, though at the time, Walton voiced his support.

Walton’s memo to the CNN staff reads below:

To: CNN Staff

From: Jim Walton

=======================================================

I have some news to share with you about our executive leadership and
how our programming teams are going to work together to ensure we’re
prominently featuring CNN’s quality journalism across our multiple
platforms. Two accomplished CNN executives whom most of you know and
have worked with are stepping up to new roles, effective immediately.
A third senior leader will be brought on in the role of managing
editor to help leverage our newsgathering resources across multiple
platforms in a more collaborative way.

Ken Jautz is moving from HLN to CNN/U.S. to run the network as its
executive vice president. Ken is a rarity-a working journalist who is
an even better news executive. The reinvention of HLN is the latest
in a string of successes he has led at CNN. Ken has launched, made
profitable and turned around businesses for our news organization,
Turner Broadcasting and Time Warner literally around the world. To
his new assignment he brings deep experience as a reporter, both
overseas and in the US; a CNN-wide perspective; and relationships from
multiple positions within Turner. Most importantly, he has a
demonstrated ability to collaborate and lead strong teams, and a
track-record of programming successes.

Scot Safon assumes the executive vice president role at HLN and will
run the network. Scot and HLN are in my view an inspired combination.
He is an innovator; HLN is an ideal news and information laboratory.
He is an expert in audience targeting and development; HLN’s audience
is young, engaged and growing. And he is a charismatic leader who is
passionate about journalism, storytelling and our brand. As Chief
Marketing Officer of CNN Worldwide, Scot has led a dynamic team that
has done award-winning marketing, advertising and promotion for CNN,
HLN, CNN International and CNN.com.

Additionally, to put our multi-platform advantages more fully to work,
we will be naming an executive vice president and managing editor of
CNN Worldwide to lead collaboration across all platforms and elevate
CNN’s unique journalism and analysis. A managing editor, with full
access to our journalism resources and my mandate to shape and connect
our newsgathering across networks, shows, and websites, is a new role
for the organization. Ultimately, the goal is that the kind of
front-page reporting and analysis that captures a news event,
translates its meaning and shapes the dialogue about the story will
continue to emerge in even more prominent and more accessible ways to
CNN’s audiences. The search for this person is currently underway.

Our colleague Jon Klein is leaving CNN. Jon’s six years as head of
CNN/U.S. are reflected in the quality of our coverage of signal news
events during his tenure: the tsunami in South Asia, Hurricane
Katrina, the 2008 election cycle and the Haiti earthquake, as well as
shows like Anderson Cooper 360, The Situation Room and Fareed Zakaria
GPS, all of which bear his imprint. Jon has made important
contributions to the CNN story, and he leaves with our respect and
friendship, and with my sincere thanks.

We are going into a busy fall and winter with November elections and
two new prime time shows on CNN. Ken, Scot and the new managing
editor will impact these and all of the other events ahead, as will
you. My expectation is that our leaders and our new operating
discipline will put CNN’s advantages to work where they matter most:
for our audience. Our coverage will be relevant and resonant; will
have meaning for millions of people around the world; and it will
reflect the qualities that CNN is rightfully famous for: commitment to
truth, respect for facts, service to no political agenda and passion for
journalism and analysis done right and well.

f

During a brief interview with Extra TV, Cowell said he personally helped “broker the deal.” As in, done deal.

“Well I knew about this weeks ago, because he was under contract to us on America’s Got Talent,” said Cowell. “So he called me. We helped, sort of, broker the deal.”

“Weeks ago” makes sense with the timeline – the first rumors that Morgan was negotiating with CNN was in early June. Cowell reiterated his point: “When someone gets offered a job like that you can’t stand in their way.”

If CNN is mad at Cowell for speaking out about what it hoped to keep quiet, they will at least be happy to see the American Idol judge heap praise on Morgan, the interviewer. Cowell called him “the best interviewer I’ve ever been interviewed by…We’ve always said this is eventually where he’s going to end up.”

When we interviewed CNN/U.S. President Jon Klein earlier this week, we asked about the Morgan leaks – leaks Klein described as “not worth talking about.” Marisa Guthrie of Broadcasting & Cable got a more straight answer from Klein: “We have never negotiated with Piers.”

Does that mean Jon Klein personally? Who is this “we”? Because with Cowell’s admission, even if it takes months to hear Morgan will be CNN’s new 9pmET host, it will feel like all this was settled in June – before Larry King’s announcement, and certainly long before CNN wanted to admit it had lined up a replacement. We’ll have more as we get it, and we’ve contacted CNN for comment.

> Update at 1pmET: Here’s the statement from a CNN spokesperson (which doesn’t address Cowell’s comments directly):

We have not offered Piers Morgan a job, and we are not currently in negotiations with him. We are always open to new opportunities and to various talent who express an interest in our programming. Piers is one such talent, but there is no deal.

Side note: for you American Idol fans, Cowell thinks Harry Connick, Jr. will replace him as a judge:

Check out his Piers Morgan comments:

While Cowell may have brokered this deal, he’s never been named a CNN.com “Connector of the Day.” But Piers Morgan has! Check it out, from June 10 of this year. Foreshadowing?

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The CNN host announced last night he’s ending his 25-year show in the fall. His boss, CNN/U.S. President Jon Klein told Mediaite “to be able to pull together and get out on air in a classy, optimistic way, blew me away.” We talked to Klein about what happens next for King (and Anderson Cooper, and John King), the new Spitzer/Parker show and more.

Mediaite: In your statement last night you said “Larry is a beloved member of the CNN family and he will continue to contribute to our air with periodic specials.” Can you describe what King means to CNN but also, what you expect his new role to look like?

Klein: Larry has meaning of course to CNN but really the entire TV industry. Larry lured tens of millions of Americans over to cable. There really wasn’t a compelling reason to watch those weird channels until Larry came along. That’s his place in media history. That of course helped put CNN on the map. Ted Turner says news is the star, but in fact Larry King was the star. He will continue doing specials, and his mind is racing with possibilities. At lunch yesterday it was so much fun to see him brainstorming, blue-skying about the next phase. So with the announcement behind him, he and Wendy Walker will focus on developing specials, thinking about what the scope will be, what the style will be. They’ve got a lot of initial thoughts to really wrap their arms around in the coming months.

Mediaite: Last night Keith Olbermann tweeted: “Larry King is a lovely, generous man who tried, for eight years, to convince his bosses to hire me to be his 8 PM lead-in at CNN.” Is this true?

Klein: Well it didn’t work.

Mediaite: But is it true?

Klein: Larry’s got a million ideas a day.

“To suggest all our marbles are in one particular show, one schedule, one lineup is not the way the world works especially in a 24-hour news operation.”

Mediaite: It feels like when fall comes, with Eliot Spitzer and Kathleen Parker’s new show and whatever is put at 9pm, this will be a majorly revamped prime time. Do you have the feeling this is do or die, in the sense the stakes are particularly high?

Klein: Have you noticed every fall, every network has a new lineup? Is it ever do or die? Of course not. It’s an ongoing evolution process, and we have high expectations of all these new initiatives we’re planning. To suggest all our marbles are in one particular show, one schedule, one lineup is not the way the world works especially in a 24-hour news operation where we’re judged minute by minute on how well we’re covering what’s going on in the world.

Mediaite: If, and I know it’s a big if, Piers Morgan is named host of the 9pm hour on CNN, it would mean all the leaks and speculation, Spitzer/Parker and now Morgan, was correct. Does that concern you, that there are leaks coming out of CNN regarding these major staffing decisions?

Klein: It’s such a big “if” it’s not worth talking about.

Mediaite: But the leaks about Spitzer and Parker turned out to be true.

Klein: It’s a big organization with a lot of moving parts. People can speculate away. Usually the people who don’t know are who are doing the speculating. It’s a reflection on the place CNN holds in pop culture. A lot of people care what we’re doing.

NEXT PAGE: Will Anderson Cooper’s 10pmET show stay the same, the value of patience.

Howard Kurtz talked to CNN President Jon Klein about the decision on his own network during Reliable Sources yesterday.

In an interesting set-up, Kurtz played clips of CNN’s reporting on Spitzer’s prostitution scandal and subsequent resignation, giving viewers a chance to see Spitzer’s soon-to-be colleagues Wolf Blitzer and John King show very clearly what’s leading to some of the criticism. Kurtz’ first question hit right to the point. “Why did you want a man who proved unfit to serve as governor of New York, who resigned in disgrace, as part of this network?” he asked.

“Eliot Spitzer still has a lot of ideas to contribute, a lot of things to say, and I think our viewers are going to find him a very interesting person to tune into every night,” said Klein.

In the middle of the interview, Kurtz threw out the idea that “a sizable number of people within CNN at various levels disagree with this decision” – a fact that Klein didn’t dispute. “It doesn’t surprise me,” he said. “It’s an innately controversial decision.”

The other story here will be whether this show, despite sounding more like Morning Joe than Crossfire, will shift the long-standing objectivity found in CNN prime time. Obviously there are points of view on every show, otherwise there would be no guests, but the faces of the programs have remained unbiased until, seemingly, now. Klein doesn’t see it as a problem:

I think in this day and age, especially with the rise of blogs and YouTube, there are so many different types of people who have gotten very good at expressing points of view. And I think there’s room for that on the CNN schedule.

Again, this sounds like a discussion of guests. It’s not a bad thing, however, to look to new and unique voices found within the new media to be part of a revamped traditional media lineup. That sort of forward-thinking should be welcomed. But is Spitzer and Parker’s “unpredictability,” a point driven home by Klein, enough to dispel the notion they won’t continue the objective CNN direction? And perhaps more importantly, are unpredictable and nuanced opinions what viewers want?

Here’s the Klein interview:

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Right?

(via HuffPost)

In today’s piece for the NY Times, Carter wrote:

CNN continued what has become a precipitous decline in ratings for its prime-time programs in the first quarter of 2010, with its main hosts losing almost half their viewers in a year.
…
CNN had a slightly worse quarter in the fourth quarter of 2009, but the last three months have included compelling news events, like the earthquake in Haiti and the battle over health care, and CNN, which emphasizes its hard news coverage, was apparently unable to benefit.

The losses at CNN continued a pattern in place for much of the last year, as the network trailed its competitors in every prime-time hour. (CNN still easily beats MSNBC in the daytime hours, but those are less lucrative in advertising money, and both networks are far behind Fox News at all hours.)

Carter is putting it nicely. Some lowlights for CNN’s First Quarter include the following:

• CNN is down by double digits for every program in P2+ and A25-54
• CNN lost nearly half of its prime time demo viewers for the quarter – network was down 42% over 1Q’09
• Anderson Cooper is down a whopping 46% in the demo (at 10pm) and down 42% in P2+
• Campbell Brown had her worst quarter ever with Total Viewers (down 44% in 25-54 and down 40% in P2+)
• Larry King had his worst quarter ever with both Total Viewers and Adults 25-54 (down 43% in 25-54 and down 44% in P2+)
• CNN’s recent addition, Rick’s List, is down 49% in 25-54 and down 42% in P2+
• American Morning is down 29% in 25-54 and down 32% in P2+ and is getting beat by Morning Joe for the first time ever for an entire quarter in P2+

The news is not good for CNN, but to be fair, the cable news landscape has changed dramatically in the last few years. Opinion media, or as some would call “Personality Journalism” appear to be the most commercially viable (and most watched) programs on cable news. Fox News ratings dominance is well accepted (and their murderer’s row prime time lineup often rates better than MSNBC and CNN combined.) Under Klein’s leadership, CNN’s has eschewed personality driven, or opinion programs for straight news (though Larry King sometimes fits in that category.) CNN’s sister channel HLN is the place for personality, featuring Nancy Grace, Joy Behar and Jane Velez-Mitchell. Not surprisingly, HLN is widely viewed as enjoying a resurgence, while CNN is fading.

“Jon Klein is a strong leader and a talented programmer, and he has my full support.”
Jim Walton — President, CNN Worldwide

Which bring us back to Klein. Let’s start with the prime time line up. Most television programmers understand a basic trough to crafting a lineup – keep viewers tuned in from show to show, ideally offering consecutive programs that offer some common ligature between them. It’s sort of best viewed as a relay race – and the most successful networks handle the hand-offs beautifully. In that context, let’s look at CNN’s prime time lineup for the last three years. At 7PM Lou Dobbs offered a unique blend of business news and right-of-center politics, followed by Campbell Brown at 8pm – a show who’s amorphous mission was “No Bias, No BS” or something. At 9pm we have the legendary Larry King, who clearly appeals to an older demographic, then back at 10pm, the allegedly young and hipper Anderson Cooper till midnight. If anyone can explain the programming logic here, please comment below. Because this slate flows about as well as the Hoover Dam.

Last Fall, Lou Dobbs abruptly left his spot on the CNN dial, which gave Klein a perfect opportunity to show some creativity and forethought at the 7pm spot. He chose CNN Reporter John King, a rather predictable choice, that says as much about CNN’s lack of up-and-coming talent at CNN than correspondent John King. King is a world-class reporter, but his straight-ahead style recalls Judy Woodruff, Deborah Norville, Connie Chung, Campbell Brown, Aaron Brown, and sadly, every other failed CNN prime time program

When it comes to serious news reportage, nobody does it better than CNN (evidenced by their quick, thorough and intense coverage of the Haitian earthquake.) And in the brave new world of partisan news, there is a place for a fair arbiter of news; which is a role that CNN has ostensibly tried to fill. But unbiased does not mean uninteresting – as it often appears on CNN.

Earlier this year, Jon Klein seemed to suggest that ratings are besides the point, that advertisers are loathe to associate themselves with the sometimes bitter opinion makers, choosing instead to go with the safe outlet. In fact, while speaking at a NY Media Summit, Klein made that very point. Writing for econsultancy.com, Meghan Keane reported:

Speaking at the 2010 Media Summit in New York, the president of CNN said that television ratings don’t paint an accurate picture of his network’s strengths. But his reasoning is interesting — it’s not because FOX is beating them there, but due to competition from online sources that aren’t being tracked by the Nielsen ratings.

FOX consistently beats CNN in the ratings. And Klein has plenty of evidence to prove that those ratings don’t present a fair portrayal of popularity. For instance, CNN had 100 million viewers last month. That’s 10% more than FOX’s 90 million. But FOX’s visitors stay longer, view more often during primetime, and do other things that Nielsen takes into account when compiling its rankings.

Klein says “we think of ourselves as being first.” But that’s not exactly how these things work. Even if CNN sees itself as the most fair and balanced, informed and fast network out there, that doesn’t mean that viewers are going to.

To be fair, the larger point of the importance of being first, fast and fair is completely legitimate. But its convenient for Klein to dismiss the importance of television ratings, particularly with regards to CNN’s economic viability. One would gather that neither Jim Walton (President, CNN Worldwide) nor Jeff Bewkes (CEO of TimeWarner) would be quick to agree with Klein’s assessment. You know who else would disagree? Jon Klein from exactly five years ago to the day, when he told Charlie Rose:

“A couple of years down the line, we ought to be essential viewing. You ought to actively look to see what it is we have on when you come home, because we will have by then well established the idea that we’re always giving you some fresh angle or fresh information that you couldn’t get in any other way. That’s — I’ll consider that success. And my bosses will, too.”

When reached by Mediaite, CNN provided the following quote from Jim Walton: “Jon Klein is a strong leader and a talented programmer, and he has my full support.”

Jon Klein is a gentleman and an intellectual who is widely regarded as a class act, and is beloved personally on the staff at CNN. But the continued and consistent failure of ratings (and unspired programming choices) beg the question: how much longer will Jon Klein be allowed to drive this ship into the ground?

Disclosure – prior to working at Mediaite, I wrote and produced for HLN.

Besides a meeting that took place at the D.C. bureau, there are also concerns at the network about the need for John King‘s upcoming 7pmET show to begin the process of turning the nighttime ratings around.

Calderone writes about a meeting that was attended by CNN Worldwide President Jim Walton and CNN/U.S. President Jon Klein in D.C., although “CNN staffers didn’t realize that Klein was sitting in the back of the room.”

Blitzer has a loyal following in the Washington bureau, which, according to one CNN staffer, “tends to be more traditional in its approach to news.” Sanchez, who incorporates Twitter heavily into the show, is viewed by some in Washington as merging entertainment more with the news content than is customary at the network, and at one point Howie Lutt, senior director for “The Situation Room,” stood up and asked the roughly 200 staffers assembled in the bureau to raise their hands if they respect him or Blitzer as a journalist, according to network sources.

Almost everyone assembled raised their hand for Blitzer; only a few showed similar support for Sanchez.

This type of inner dissension bubbling up publicly is not something normally associated with CNN, which takes pride in its outward display of solidarity while contrasting the sometime volatility at competitors MSNBC and Fox News. More:

[When] CNN announced the Sanchez move, internal scuttlebutt has revolved around Blitzer being somewhat sidelined by management.

While Blitzer loses an hour at 4pmET, the three hours of hard news remain with John King’s 7pmET hour starting soon.

And that new program is the other part of the story. Political Director Sam Feist wouldn’t give “away any details about format or content,” but claimed it would be “the most-watched political show.” A political show is an interesting description. The program will be competing with a hard news hour on Fox News (anchored by Shepard Smith) and a politics-heavy opinion show on MSNBC (the Chris Matthews repeat). It’s a tough field, and as Calderone points out, CNN at 7pmET is “a consistent loser.”

CNN needs help in the ratings – mostly during prime time. But they’ve made some changes during the day, with Ali Velshi for two hours from 1-3pmET and Sanchez from 3-5pmET. Sanchez’ ratings will have to show an improvement, especially at 4pmET which was Blitzer’s first hour of The Situation Room until recently, to prove to Sanchez’ detractors that his style is a winner. And King, although not in prime time, has another hill to overcome – will a hard news political show improve on CNN’s 7pmET ratings, and help lead into prime time?

We’ll see soon.

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“A couple months ago I thought I had the perfect line to describe Sanjay. I was going to call him the Tiger Woods of TV doctors. But I’m going to stay away from that right now.”

– CNN/U.S. President Jon Klein complimenting his network’s Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta at Gupta’s book party Monday night in New York City.

Gupta’s new book, “Cheating Death,” was released in October, but the celebration took place this week. In the crowd was a mix of talent and executives from CNN and other networks – including a large contingent of TV doctors. Pictured, from left to right, are: Dr. Manny Alvarez of Fox News, Dr. Mehmet Oz, Deepak Chopra, Gupta, Dr. Nancy Snyderman of MSNBC and Dr. Richard Besser of ABC.

“If something happens you’re going to be well taken care of,” joked Gupta in his speech.

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Lovato is the co-founder of Presente.org, a grassroots-meets-online organization for the advancement of Latinos, responsible for Basta Dobbs, the most notorious of the Latino grassroots organizations that demanded the firing of the anchor. The activists accused Dobbs of fueling anti-immigrant extremism, and CNN of double standard for profiting from hatred against Latinos while courting them with Latino talent and Latino-oriented programming.

Main points of contention for the campaign were Dobbs’ false assertions that illegal immigrants had caused an exponential rise in leprosy, and that this group also constituted one-third of the prisoners in federal jails. The Latino tide against Dobbs gained strength this year after a series of hate crimes in New York City and Long Island was attributed by activists to the anti-immigrant rhetoric of which he was the most visible face. The spark that finally lit the fire was the commentator’s participation in the “Hold Their Feet to the Fire” rally in September in Washington, DC. The event was organized by the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), considered by some to be a hate group.

“We knew that CNN was divided by Lou Dobbs…We made a strategic decision to help the forces of good inside CNN.”

When the campaign against Dobbs was gaining momentum, CNN aired the four-hour documentary “Latino in America,” the most ambitious attempt by a network to date of painting the mosaic of the Latino experience. To many, this was a point of no return for the network: it was either for or against Latinos. According to its organizers, Basta Dobbs and other efforts gathered almost 150,000 signatures in less than two months.

As everybody knows by now, Dobbs resigned on air on Wednesday November 11, attributing his decision to the “winds of change” that had “begun buffeting this country,” while promising to engage in “constructive problem solving.” No specific mention of the Latino campaign against him was made. Dobbs’ resignation simply stated that he had “talked extensively” with Jon Klein, president of CNN/U.S., over the last months and that he had agreed to release him from his contract.

The following day, Klein gave interviews to NPR and the New York Times, saying that the decision was made after conversations held since the beginning of the year “about the overall positioning of the network and the need for him to remove opinion from his show.” Klein expressly denied that the move had been influenced by the Latino groups, even when he acknowledged meeting with Alex Nogales, of the National Hispanic Media Coalition, to discuss the controversy over Dobbs. According to him, it was a “routine meeting” of which Nogales came out “unsatisfied” and with no promises on his part. (Mr. Nogales did not return phone calls to comment on the meeting for this article.)

But the Latino activists disagree with this official version of Dobbs’ exit. They say they are aware it happened in part because of CNN’s drop in ratings and a change in the course of the network. That doesn’t diminish the fact, they say, that Mr. Klein knew he had a major problem in his hands with Mr. Dobbs opinions, and was facing an uphill battle against them. The movement, Lovato argues, was already spreading over Latin America to target CNN en Español, while here in the country they were ready to boycott the advertisers of the network. Here, he gives us his take on Dobbs sudden exit, CNN’s decision-making process and what it all says about Latino clout in this country.

>>>NEXT: Interview With Roberto Lovato: “You can’t have it both ways, CNN.”

CNN/US President Jonathan Klein has been making the choice clear to Dobbs for some weeks: Objective, or out. Yesterday, all of a sudden, he let Dobbs make his own announcement: he was leaving CNN “to engage in constructive problem solving.” Somewhere else.

Better than Dobbs’ departure, though, is the choice of his replacement. John King, straight-story minded basic reporter, up from AP, lead political reporter for the network, in a powerful move to reclaim the tarnished CNN brand for non-partisan reporting. Geneva Overholser, director of the school of Journalism at the University of Southern California, concurs, she told the New York Times: “If CNN wants to be seen as the thoughtful, unbiased, middle-of-the-road alternative, this decision goes along with that.”

Indeed it does. Even with Dobbs in the prime slot, CNN was outscored in the ratings by the polemics Fox on the right and MSNBC on the left. But its precious non-partisan reputation has been the core for double-digit growth of a worldwide empire of international networks and wholesale news reports, web site, wire services. It is hiring, and this month is opening a new production facility in Abu Dhabi. “That’s what we deliver around the world,” Jim Walton, president of CNN Worldwide, told David Bauder of AP. “We compete against a lot more than Fox and MSNBC.”

King for Dobbs beefs up that batting order.

Bill Rappleye has spent the last 60-plus years in journalism. Read more about him here.

At 6:21 yesterday, Media Decoder broke the news that Dobbs would be leaving the network to “engage in constructive problem solving.”

Amid early speculation that that meant he might be leaving media entirely (since when has media been constructive?), CNN President Jon Klein released a statement that Dobbs had decided ”to carry the banner of advocacy journalism elsewhere,” which revived old rumors that he might be headed over to Fox Business. Yesterday, a spokesperson for FNC and FBN told Mediaite that they had not had “any discussions with Lou Dobbs for Fox News or Fox Business.”

So … how is a career decision that might not even result in Dobbs’s winding up under the Fox umbrella (though that result is still the odds-on favorite) Worst Person-worthy? After reading Dobbs’s press statement in his trademark ‘spooky voice,’ Olbermann justified it thusly: “you’ve just denied me that impression? How dare you, sir!” Olbermann also passed on the rumors that for the time being, CNN would do two hours of their 8pmET show (that would be Campbell Brown), and that Dobbs would be poached by Telemundo.

Broadcasting at 8pmET, Olbermann did not mention Klein’s statement — which Mediaite posted at 7:45pmET — but the “Worst Person” segment still showed some pretty quick turnaround in incorporating something that had happened less than two hours before the show began.

For CNN/U.S. President Jon Klein, it sounds like the path relates to changing the topic from ratings to ‘journalism.’ Will it work?

TVNewser obtained a transcript of a call yesterday from Klein to his staff, in which he addresses the ratings issue. Here’s part:

Yes, our ratings in prime were down in October. Remember – we are a 24hr network – not a 3hr network. We are also just one network in a group that attracts hundreds of millions of viewers a month. Media writers might not understand that. Our competitors don’t either.

So basically – this whole discussion is partly our fault. By the way, we want to understand! We’ve reached out to CNN to speak to Klein – he’s traveling today but we hope to soon.

Here’s what Klein thinks the discussion should be about:

Excellent journalism is what we are focused on. We refuse to do the things that might get us a quick number or cater to the extremes that would alienate our core viewers.

We get it – Klein’s point is CNN does news, and when people want news, they tune to CNN (like during their successful coverage of the 2008 presidential campaign). Of course, there’s a lot of news still happening, and CNN is shedding viewers. And while Fox News opinion shows are skyrocketing, their news programs (like Shepard Smith‘s and Bret Baier‘s) are seeing enormous ratings also.

Additionally, some would call it a stretch to extend the “excellent journalism” label to CNN’s big coverage push of Michael Jackson’s death, which gave them great ratings but was a departure from the way other cable news networks chose to cover the story.

The journalism comparison is one CNN has touted before – it’s what Campbell Brown was implying in her interview last night with Valerie Jarrett – but one that we’ve discussed walks a fine line when it comes to the entertainment side of CNN’s line-up.

One more thing about the ratings though (back to us media writers not understanding): CNN will tout demo victories when they’re happening, or any other victories that benefit the network at the time. This isn’t unique with CNN – all cable news networks can massage the numbers to tout what works the best for them. But numbers do matter, and prime time matters quite a bit. CNN shouldn’t be crossing their fingers for a big breaking newsy event to up that rating – there may be a shake-up necessary.

For now, CNN is just one element of CNN Worldwide – which, from International to the web to HLN, has seen success. But for “The Most Trusted Name In News” to be the least watched cable news outlet is not a good direction.

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Buried in Brian Stelter‘s story about the battle between Fox News and the Obama Administration is a little nugget: Last month, Lou Dobbs met with Roger Ailes.

Fox Business Network, which recently picked up firebrand Don Imus, is reportedly interested in Dobbs, whose controversial anti-immigration, anti-Administration stance has sat awkwardly with the rest of CNN’s programming of late.

Dobbs got some unwanted attention for CNN this summer during the “Birther” controversy after giving airtime to Birther conspiracy theorists questioning President Barack Obama’s birth certificate and nationality. Over the course of his “reporting” on that story — including after an internal memo from CNN president Jon Klein said the story was effectively dead — Dobbs lost 15% of his viewers. CNN meanwhile, was distancing itself from Dobbs, who continue that line of reasoning on his radio show — and subsequently became the target of protests and boycotts from several liberal and Hispanic organizations.

The AP in August called Dobbs “a publicity nightmare for CNN“; Gawker said “Well done Lou, well done. Just go ahead and fax your resume over to Fox News now, because you’ve probably alienated the average CNN viewer to the point of no return.”

And now, this news, which Stelter reported was sourced by two separate people within the network. Stelter said that FBN was “keen on” Dobbs, as certainly a meeting directly with Ailes would suggest. So, too, would this quote in the piece: “Don’t pick a fight with people who like to fight.” That, according to one of Stelter’s sources (an executive at Fox) was said by Roger Ailes, about the Obama Administration and their recent aggressiveness towards Fox. Dobbs, for his part, has shown that he has no problem picking fights; it only makes sense for him to find a home at a network where they do, too.

Related:
Fox’s Volley With Obama Intensifying [NYT]
Radio Lou Dobbs Slowly Killing Career Of TV Lou Dobbs [Mediaite]
Controversy Surrounding Lou Dobbs Has Failed to Increase His Ratings [Observer]
El Diario’s Case Against The “Hateful Lies” of Lou Dobbs [Mediaite]

Back then, hearing the news of a VP selection by text message made us all giddy; hours of cable news time was spent pondering the hubris of Greek pillars at Invesco Field; Hurricane Gustav was threatening to wipe the whole GOP event off the map; and the country was about to be introduced to a little-known politician who showed enormous promise named Sarah Palin. Wow.

PHOTOGALLERY: 2008 CONVENTIONS

Through it all, a cadre of journos, news execs, pundits in TV makeup, upstart bloggers and jockeying political operatives had gotten used to each other’s faces on the campaign trail, through stops in Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, South Carolina, Super Tuesday and more, with their speeches, rallies, debates, spin rooms, hoe-downs, barbecues, fundraisers, black-tie dinners, arugula, waffles, shots of JD, the thrill of final victory and the bitter, bitter pall of defeat. In August-September 2008, it all converged into one Mega-Week (give or take a few days of travel time) as the whole gang plus everyone else who could score some couch space converged on Denver and Minneapolis/St. Paul. It was lots of work but lots of fun — like sleepaway camp for politicos. So – if you’re bored and nostaligic on this sleepy summer long weekend, you’re in luck — I took the best of my 600+ photos from last year and winnowed it down to the very best of the bunch, for some golden Kodak moments featuring any and all of — in no particular order — Joe Scarborough, Joe Klein, Mika Brzezinski, Arianna Huffington, Jake Weisberg, Dana Milbank, Luke Russert, Kevin Madden, Mark Salter, Ana Marie Cox, Jon Klein, Anderson Cooper, Rick Stengel, Mary Katherine Ham, Chuck Todd, Betsy Fischer, Trent Lott, John Roberts, Laura Ingraham, Jonah Goldberg, Patrick Gavin, Rick Klein, Tucker Carlson, Amy Argetsinger, Norah O’Donnell, Pat Buchanan, Ryan Lizza, Joel Stein, Walter Isaacson, Courtney Hazlett, Keli Goff, Chris Cillizza, Mike Isikoff, Alan Cumming, Jason Jones, Samantha Power, Cass Sunstein, Carly Fiorina, Larry Page, Henry Kissinger, Chad Hurley, Jon Hamm, John Dickerson, Obama Girl, Ari Melber, Josh Green, Joan Walsh, Ron Brownstein, Matt Cooper, Fred Armisen, will.i.am, Markos Moulitsas, Chevy Chase, Tammy Haddad, Lynn Sweet, Karen Tumulty, Ben Smith, John Oliver, Karl Rove, David Carr, Kathleen Sebelius, Sammy Hagar, Rahm Emanuel, Katie Couric, Peggy Noonan and various people eating free food at the CNN Grill. Was that just a blatant attempt at showing up in all of your Google alerts? Perhaps. But still, the pics are pretty fun. Check them out here — and happy Labor Day Weekend!

PHOTOGALLERY: 2008 CONVENTIONS

But now a source at Media Matters says that cable providers have refused to let it run on CNN — for all but a portion of the New York viewing audience. According to the Media Matters official, five of the six cable providers contracted for the project have informed the group that they are declining to put the spot on CNN. All of them will air the ad on Fox News and MSNBC.

In case you weren’t aware, cable stations don’t actually have control over what commercials air on their stations. UPDATE: A CNN spokesperson tell us “CNN retains the right to object to any ad run by the cable operator on our network whose purpose is to attack CNN or our employees.”

That said, does the refusal to air them give them extra credence? Or make CNN appear as if they are going to extra lengths to protect Dobbs? Or will it just speed up the process of get Dobbs out of the headlines? Or will any this even matter after Olbermann does his thing on tonight’s Countdown?

In fact seems that this story has kept Dobbs in the press more in the last week than the last year combined – but is all press good press in the eyes of CNN or Jon Klein? Yesterday Mediaite revealed an email exchange between Fox News producers and Dobbs’ staff members attempting to arrange a Dobbs appearance on the O’Reilly Factor. Some surmised that it was vetoed by CNN in an effort to keep the story from growing any bigger.

The negative attention will no doubt continue next Tuesday now that Media Matters has announced plans to run ads critical of Dobbs on MSNBC, Fox News and CNN — specifically during Dobb’s 7PM time slot. By buying airtime in that slot, Dobbs and CNN were forced to make a decision: accepting the ad promotes the growing criticism of Dobbs, while declining them fosters the festering controversy.

Dobbs responded to the ads on his radio show by labeling Media Matters the “Swift Boat of the left” and “really extraordinary.” He also mentioned that he has no plans to put a stop to the ad running: “So it’ll be interesting to see what Media Matters runs. That sounds like a fascinating ad.”

The silver lining for CNN? At least they have another advertiser.

Media Matters has released the ad:

Dobbs responds to the Media Matters ad:

CNN President Jon Klein put out a memo last night to Lou Dobbs staffers in which he declares, “It seems this story is dead.” Here’s his note, courtesy of TVNewser.

I asked the political researchers to dig into the question “why couldn’t Obama produce the ORIGINAL birth certificate?”

This is what they forwarded. It seems to definitively answer the question. Since the show’s mission is for Lou to be the explainer and enlightener, he should be sure to cite this during your segment tonite. And then it seems this story is dead – because anyone who still is not convinced doesn’t really have a legitimate beef.

CNN has already distanced themselves from Dobbs’ comments, but the notoriously independent CNN host showed no signs of letting up. On last night’s Lou Dobbs Tonight, the debate raged on.

Here’s the segment:

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After seeing the HuffPost headline, Greta Van Susteren of FNC decided to weigh in and counter Brown.

Here’s some of what Brown had to say:

CNN is the only one who is still doing journalism. I don’t mean that as a criticism of what the other guys are doing, it’s just, we’re comparing apples and oranges. Fox has made a choice to go in one direction, MSNBC has made a choice to go in the other direction…You are, in all likelihood, going to get a bigger rating when you do opinion rather than straight news because you have a built-in audience. There are a lot of people who want to be in an echo chamber and want their views validated.

To be fair, the conversation started about her 8pmET competition, but it continued as a broader debate. In a blog post late last night, Van Susteren wrote, “While I don’t want to engage in a verbal duel, ON THE RECORD at 10pm has been steeped in economics, finance, government, bailouts, economy and politics (and yes, crime and we did some Michael Jackson) so I find it hard to think we are not ‘doing journalism.’” (Another line Greta may be interested in: Brown on tabloid elements in news – “There are other shows that specialize in that. That’s what they do. I don’t like the missing girl of the week story.”)

But while Brown was on the “doing journalism” storyline, she was also asked about her network’s huge Michael Jackson coverage – coverage that was far more massive, even, than the other cable news outlets. Here’ show Brown justified the “journalism” of MJ:

We covered it. Did we go overboard? I don’t know. I don’t want to be above the news either when there is something that is attracting that level of interest, I want to cover it…I get that ratings was driving a large part of it. Michael Jackson got enormous numbers. Just look at the number of people who watched the day of that memorial service. But I have a boss who was literally calling all of us and saying ‘Okay, you’ve been doing really well with Michael Jackson, I know you’re getting a big rating, but there’s a lot of other stuff going on in the world and you need to cover it.

First of all: Jon Klein was asking the prime time shows to stop covering Jackson? Did they? Because it seemed to take a while for the coverage to fully subside.

But look, Brown admits it. Ratings was a “large part” of the reason for the coverage, and that is not journalism. It’s hard to fault CNN, or Brown specifically, who have struggled in prime time since the ’08 presidential election. But just because the coverage isn’t “left” or “right” doesn’t make it automatically more capital J journalism.

We’ll see if Greta has anything more to say on the matter – keep an eye on Gretawire.

Note: Thanks, Campbell for the (unnamed) shout-out over how we dared to ask for a statement about why CNN was staying wall-to-wall for Sotomayor hearings Day 3.

Check out the full video:

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HLN announced Joy Behar will have her own program, replacing the re-airing of Lou Dobbs at 9 PM. Headline News’ evening lineup now consists of relative murderer’s row Jane Velez-Mitchell, Nancy Grace, and now the co-host of the View.

HLN Head Ken Jautz seems to continue to make decisions that  are smart and successful, particularly compared to his counterpart at CNN Jon Klein.

Compare the like-minded lineup of HLN (Jane Velez-Mitchel, Nancy Grace and now Joy Behar) to the schizophrenic CNN slate (Lou Dobbs, Campbell Brown, Larry King, Anderson Cooper). Regardless of the content of the shows, the HLN shows all seem to appeal to the same demographic. One cannot say the same about CNN.

With HLN’s ratings consistently better than CNN’s, one can only wonder if Jautz is being considered for the Jon Klein’s seat — which has to be getting hotter with each passing week in the ratings cellar.