CNN's decision to replace commentator Lou Dobbs with veteran reporter John King may be the final test of whether traditional hard news reporting can survive against the fire and brimstone commentators who have fascinated huge audiences on Fox News, MSNBC and even CNN's sister operation, HLN, several publications observed on Thursday. The San Francisco Chronicle quoted Tom Rosenstiel, director of the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism, as saying that "cable has become so ideologically focused" that it raises the question "Can you build a primetime audience around people who are not ideologues? We don't know." Former CNN anchor Bobbie Battista had mixed feelings about the move. "The journalist in me absolutely believes in what they're doing, that it's the best strategy to be the most trusted network. The programmer in me is saying, 'Wow! That's going to be tough to win,'" she told the Atlanta-Journal-Constitution. " The move is a gamble," the Los Angeles Times observed. And online comments from viewers seemed to underline how big a gamble it may be. "Now CNN is totally worthless," wrote one viewer on the Arizona Star website.
13/11/2009
