Letters to the Editor
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Aaron Brown
Whether out of exhaustion with the current state of television or annoyance with the celebrity-like status most news anchors seemed to strive for. We had long ago left TV news for the real news online and in print. We had whittled down our tivo-worthy newscasts to two, The Daily Show and Aaron Brown. Jon Stewart because fake news has often been more truthful than the real news and Aaron Brown because he had, in our perception at least, a genuine dignity and feeling for the subjects he covered. Anderson Cooper will surely do well and deserves a promotion. But why CNN would choose to relieve Aaron Brown instead such long-running disasters as Larry King and Lou Dobbs (or any of the bobble head dolls over on Headline News, for that matter) is hard to comprehend. Could it be Mr. Brown has more interesting options? Oh, and is �drippy� what you get when you stand out in hurricane force weather to add that genuine sense authenticity to storm reporting?
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Brown.
Brown was kind enough to frequently answer emails from us cranky bloggers. We were disappointed when he bought into the "you broke it, you own it" after-the-fact rationalization for the Iraq war, but we'll still miss him. Cooper won't bring us back to CNN.
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Cooper's Gayness---Will it Help or Hurt? Neither?
Any thoughts, people?
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Anderson Cooper
I've enjoyed his reporting since I was eleven years old (fourteen years now)and he was on "Channel One". I do believe he has helped news at least for people my age. I grow up watching "Sixty Minutes" with my parents and always wondered why there was nobody my age raising questions the way those folks do.
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What the world needs now is integrity...
Above all, we need the people in power within media conglomerates to believe deep down that if they build it -- thoughtful, quality programming -- we, the viewers, will come.
I couldn't agree more. If more journalists behaved like journalists and not gossips pandering to scandalous stories for higher ratings and, actually worried about things like integrity, honesty, and non-bias, the news media would be a vastly better place.
I have to admit that I'm a Cooper fan and I'm happy that his show, 360, will get the primetime slot vacated by Brown and will be expanded to 2 hours. Cooper tends to report on stories that need attention but are underreported. His piece on the famine in Niger in late-July/early-August was incredibly poignant and meaningful. I had no idea about what was going on in Niger until Anderson reported on it. If this means, that he'll have more time to report on things like that, then I'm excited about the changes.
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Shocked and Stunned
I am probably one of the few 28 year olds who will miss Aaron Brown. I enjoyed watching him at ABC and followed him to CNN. Although Mr. Cooper is quite attractive, I find him to be a little stand-offish. At least Lou Dobbs and Ted Koppel are still on the air.
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Damn You, CNN! Aaron Brown Should Have Stayed!
Don't get me wrong. I like Anderson Cooper. I might even love Anderson Cooper. But it's getting harder for me to think that CNN hasn't gone right off the edge in recent months. Aaron Brown out! Are you kidding? Mr. Brown, to my mind, was among the very best in the business. I watched him every night, and enjoyed every minute of his show. Thoughtful. Interesting. A great take on the day's events. No b.s. I love Aaron Brown, too. Can't I love them both? It's hard to believe that there wasn't enough room at CNN for both Brown and Cooper, particularly when you consider that CNN kept Larry King, Lou Dobbs, Paula Zahn, Nancy Grace and all the idiot women on CNN in the morning, all of whom are distinguished by their ability to make me laugh right out loud. Not because they're funny, but because they are incapable of an intelligent interview, follow up questions, or a sense of the news. Apparently they can "read" the news, they just can't understand it. Klein fired Bill Hemmer and kept Solidad O'Brien. That was the beginning of the end for me. Miles O'Brien is supposed to make me want to watch the news in the morning? Get real. There's something wrong with this picture, and there has been something wrong for a long time at CNN. Apparently, it's not going to get any better anytime soon. Where's a girl to go? If Bill Hemmer was the beginning of the end for me, Aaron Brown's firing is definitely the end of the end. It looks like MSNBC will be getting more of my time -- hello Keith Olberman, goodbye CNN.
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What are they thinking?
As a news junkie, I can't pretend that I will not find myself watching CNN again. But I am tempted to call it quits with what used to be the best provider of news in the industry. In fact, CNN set the standard. Now after a serious of bad decisions, it is heading in the entirely wrong direction. No, GEN X/Yers WONT be turned on to Cooper simply because he is younger and attractive. I'm 24 and I resent the implication that my generation does not acctively seek, cannot recognize and will not appreciate good reporting. I find Aaron Brown entertaining, witty and yet humble. He provides excellent observations that viewers cannot find elsewhere. I appreciated both his style and substance. I cannot imagine ratings will improve and CNN has yet again dumped one of those most able to restore its erstwhile reputation as a credible source of news. Shame!
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Real issue at the bottom of the column
I could not agree more with what was said in the column, both on the Brown/Cooper switch and on the Prince Charles interview. (Wish now that I had watched it.) If I were to clriticize this column it would only be on the point that the I thought the Prince Charles comments were much more more important than the rejiggering of anchors for reasons having absolutely nothing to do with journalism and everthing to do with ratings.
As a mid 1960s journalism school graduate, I still have romantic notions that journalism -- even TV journalism -- can and should be substantive, investigative, and serve a public interest. Changing out Aaron Brown for Anderson Cooper or anyone will never lead to the return of such documentaries as Harvest of Shame, or newspeople of such stature as Huntley, Brinkley, Cronkite and similar.