While You Were Sleeping, CNN Was Still Live From The Gulf
CNN consistently makes the case that they are the newsiest of all cable news channels. They are putting significant resources toward covering the oil spill – but so is every network.
But they were certainly the only network to cover the story live until 2amET last night.
Anderson Cooper anchored from 10pm-MidnightET, an hour longer than usual but not a rare occasion for Cooper when he’s on location covering a story. But then the network stayed live. Dr. Sanjay Gupta, also live from the Gulf Coast, anchored from Midnight-2amET. Gary Tuchman and other correspondents contributed throughout the night.
We asked David Doss, Senior Executive Producer for AC: 360, about the decision. He tells Mediaite:
During the 10pm hour, BP’s underwater cameras showed the cap being lowered onto the spewing well. We broadcasted ‘live’ and watched as the submersible robots worked to adjust the fit and attach the cap. Would it work? Would the leak be sealed? CNN’s resources in the region and our commitment to this story made it possible to do an extended version of our show last night and we were on the air live for almost four hours.
Will it show up in the ratings? Not necessarily. Although Cooper’s 10pm program is seeing a definite uptick in ratings since the BP oil spill focus has taken hold, he’s not anywhere near Fox News territory. and as it got later, the ratings likely fell off too – we’ll know soon by how much. How many people are glued to CNN at 1:45amET besides the hardcore news junkies (short answer: not that many, but more than usual with this story).
But this isn’t about ratings. It’s about CNN doing what it does best – devoting its resources to covering a story, and going live while others were in tape. Say what you want about CNN’s ratings woes (and we have), but in many minds they won the night last night.
Here’s a clip from last night:
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