John King On CNN Ratings, Lou Dobbs And Plans For His New Show

John King takes over the 7pmET timeslot on CNN early next year, as the network moves from its advocacy journalism previous host, Lou Dobbs, to a more traditional newscast.

We spoke to King yesterday as he was on the road in Little Rock, Arkansas, visiting his 45th state in 45 weeks. He talked about plans for the new show, what he’ll take from Dobbs’ previous program, and yes, ratings.

The CNN anchor still has some time before the show debuts in a couple months, and for now, King is focused on his current show, State of the Union. But King told Mediaite there was a “diverse group” of young people and those with more experience that are “kicking around a whole bunch of ideas.”

“We’re having a fun, lively debate about how to structure the format, the pacing of the show,” he said.

“If you over-worry about [ratings] then you don’t have consistency and don’t have foundation.”

One thing he said he does expect is to have extended interviews, upwards of 8-10 minutes, to let the story breathe. This seems to be something he’ll take from his current Sunday show role, where he has the luxury of four hours. While the show will be largely a “Washington-based public affairs show,” King plans to incorporate a little sports, arts and culture as well.

Of course, the big question is will it be able to help turn around CNN’s ratings, which are low in comparison to the cable news competition. But King, somewhat echoing the sentiments of his boss Jon Klein, says he’s not focused on them. “I want people to watch the program obviously,” he said. “One of the goals of having a program is to have an audience…But you can’t do that. If you over-worry about that then you don’t have consistency and don’t have foundation.”

But he did have a goal in mind when it comes to the tone of the show. “People are still as thirsty and engaged as they were during the presidential campaign, we’re just not giving the information in an interesting and compelling way,” he said, saying the program needs to be “relevant” in its news dissemination. Some other adjectives: he hopes the show is “fun, fair, interesting, provocative and compelling.”

Of his predecessor, Dobbs, King notes he has a different approach to journalism. But, “One of things I admire about Lou is he had great passion for what he did…Some of how Lou approached issues became controversial and I will leave that debate to others.”

King also pointed to Dobbs’ focus on the middle class and issues for the group as something that put the former CNN anchor “ahead of the curve in identifying important issues.”

>>>NEXT PAGE: Will The ‘Magic Wall’ be a part of the new show?

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5 comments

Maggie Denson says:

November 19, 2009 at 5:19 pm

Mr. King, I suppose you will be talking IN FAVOR of the Obama Administration. IF NOT, you won’t last on CNN either! It is very disgusting that there is ONLY ONE station we can count on for Truthful information. That, of course, being Fox News. Yes, they do make mistakes, but who is perfect. When they do, the will apologize for it, which is more than any other station would do. When they tell you something, you are sure to believe it bcause it is always about their man, the president. I believe all stations should give us the news, NOT just tell us how great and what wonderful things this president is doing, which is of course, NOT the truth. When I happen to go back another station, I usually get some dirty words said about anyone who may say something they do not agree with and put them down. Why can’t all stations tell the true things that really have happened, not the things they say WILL happen?”

TfT says:

November 19, 2009 at 5:26 pm

“One thing he said he does expect is to have extended interviews, upwards of 8-10 minutes, to let the story breathe. ”

Now that would be a refreshing change during primetime. With the exception of the occasional superstar (Sarah), the interview segments during prime time are way too short.

We’ll see if King can help CNN — they came in fourth place again last night. They are in sorry shape.

libra blue says:

November 19, 2009 at 5:49 pm

Excellent post Steve. John King is one of the few, very few, journalists that I admire and respect on CNN which coincidentally includes his wife Dana Bash, who is a first rate journalist in her own right.

Although in theory I agree with John’s statement that “If you over-worry about [ratings] then you don’t have consistency and don’t have foundation,” I don’t believe he or CNN are unconcerned with the low ratings they have been receiving lately and that they are not trying to do something to change them. I think his new appointment is a direct result of those efforts.

When Nancy Grace is beating all of your highly paid and highly promoted talent in the ratings, not only in the total viewers, but in the heavily sought after demo, how can you, and your sponsors, not be concerned? As I recall, CNN was very braggadocious when AC360 briefly beat On the Record in the ratings last year. It even prompted its host to make one of his rare appearances on the AC360 blog thanking the viewers for their support:

John will have a tough competitor in “The Fox Report” with Shepard Smith, which is everything John promises his new program will be, “fun, fair, interesting, provocative and compelling,” but it also has the charm of Shepard Smith which is difficult to dispute. Even though I think John is affable, he will have to compete with Smith on a different level, which may just be those longer interviews which I would definitely be interested in watching.

My one piece of advice to John would be to respect his audience. Lou Dobbs understands that, but it is the one thing that all of the anchors and most of the reporters on CNN don’t seem to care about.

However, it is something that FNC understands perfectly.

I look forward to watching John’s new show.

libra blue says:

November 19, 2009 at 6:00 pm

@Maggie Denson, I have to agree, that is one of the challenges King will have to face. However, he and his wife Dana Bash, have done their best to try and inject fairness into the pre and post election, heavily biased, pro Obama CNN panels that have become a regular feature of every CNN program.

Sunnyr says:

November 21, 2009 at 3:25 am

Frankly,Scarlett………………I don’t watch CNN. Does anyone?

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