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RMA Presents: Cable News and How it Changed the American Landscape

By Fred Wu

At the Retired Men’s Association (RMA) meeting on February 1, Hollister Sturges of the RMA introduced as the speaker of the day, David Fitzpatrick, a former staff writer for CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360, who spoke about cable news and how it has changed the American landscape. Prior to joining CNN, Mr. Fitzpatrick spent 25 years at CBS News in a variety of positions, including producer in the network’s Washington, Los Angeles and London bureaus as well as the network’s bureau chief in Chicago and later, national editor. He joined the CBS Evening News in the late 1980’s and subsequently joined 60 Minutes as a producer and worked with the late Morley Safer. Upon leaving CBS News in 1998, he joined the staff of the ABC News primetime newsmagazine 20/20. Mr. Fitzpatrick is a graduate of Brigham Young University and 35 year- plus resident of Darien.

Mr. Fitzpatrick started his presentation by stating that he is proud of having worked for CNN for two decades. Even though some people think it is too liberal, and some think it is too conservative, CNN has become like a utility; it is adept at getting news from remote corners of the world and bringing it to its audience immediately. The breadth and reach of CNN is unmatched according to Mr. Fitzpatrick. Ted Turner founded CNN in 1980, and lost hundreds of millions of dollars starting it up. Only beginning in 1990 did it become profitable because of its satellite link with the war zone in Iraq. This event catapulted it into a leading news source. When CNN started in 1980, CBS staffers deprecated it, calling it “chicken noodle news.” It took a long time for CNN to become established and respected.

CNN has become famous for its “breaking news” slogan but according to Fitzpatrick this descriptor may have been overused in efforts to try to improve ratings. That changed when Chris Licht took over CNN last year. Chris is famous in the cable industry for producing The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. The transition to Licht has not been easy, with about 400 people being fired, and some of these firings receiving a lot of notoriety in the press. The current average audience of about 440,000 viewers also has not been kind; it’s on par with many unknown cable channels. One reason for CNN’s current difficulties may be the policies set by David Zaslav, the new head of Time Warner, which owns CNN. David Zaslav had been with Discovery Network which merged with Time Warner last year by taking on $50 billion in debt. CNN is now going to have to reduce costs by $3 billion, mainly by cutting programming. Some top reporters considered “liberal” have been fired. CNN is trying to reduce the abrasiveness of its opinion writers. For a long time, Republican lawmakers would not appear on CNN. Chris has turned that issue around, but it has not helped its ratings surpass MSNBC, a major competitor. CNN also has not yet replaced Chris Cuomo, who was fired for giving advice to his brother Governor Andrew Cuomo, against CNN rules.

CNN just announced that it will air a weekly show hosted by Bill Maher called Overtime on Friday nights at 11 p.m. Licht also has reached out to Gayle King, anchor of the CBS Mornings show, to host a weekly nighttime show on CNN. Trevor Noah, who recently left The Daily Show on Comedy Central, is reportedly also being considered for a post at CNN, in an attempt to provide more entertainment and improve ratings. But as a comedian Noah is accustomed to a huge, expensive team that CNN probably cannot afford. If all this makes it sound as though CNN is moving from news into entertainment, Mr. Fitzpatrick noted that Fox News calls its prime-time hosts “entertainers,” not ”journalists.”

Mr. Fitzpatrick then focused on carriage fees that are fees paid by cable operators to content providers, on a three or four year contract, based on the popularity of their content. Ted Turner devised this system by which content providers get paid twice for programming – once for carriage fees and again through advertising. But this system is being undermined by streaming services, which are making an aggressive pitch for consumers’ money. This change threatens the cable networks’ carriage fees. It inspired CNN’s failed attempt to start a new streaming news service called CNN+. After hiring more than 300 people, CNN+ was shut down by new owner Discovery after less than a month. Mr. Fitzpatrick predicts that sometime soon cable operators will start offering a bundled cable news package that includes CNN, but it will be fought tooth and nail by the cable news services.

Mr. Fitzpatrick believes that in spite of its precarious situation, CNN will not disappear because it is too valuable a national and international resource for imminent breaking news, especially international news. CNN is also unique in that it sends teams all around the world to cover important breaking stories. He believes it might be acquired by a company with deep pockets, like Apple.

In response to audience questions, Mr. Fitzpatrick stated that CNN has fallen behind Fox and MSNBC because Fox appeals to conservatives and MSNBC appeals to liberals. People want to hear what they agree with. He said that CNN has tried to capture the middle, which has been a losing proposition. Cable news has morphed into 24-hour broadcasting; opinion has filled up the time in between real news stories. Opinion has become endemic to cable news, which is far different from Ted Turner’s original model. Social media is the main reason why people want to hear news reports that support their opinions. BBC and PBS are old-fashioned news sources because they have long-format stories and interviews that young people do not have the patience to watch. Most young people don’t watch news broadcasts, but instead get news from the Internet.

The entire presentation with all of its detail is available for viewing at https://greenwichrma.org/, click on “Speakers.”

At the RMA’s next presentation, come hear Maestro Stuart Malina who is in his first season as music director of Greenwich Symphony Orchestra. He will discuss the repertoire he has chosen for his fourth concert and his experience with the orchestra to date. Maestro Malina majored in music at Harvard College, received a master’s degree in music from Yale University and a diplomate in conducting from the Curtis Institute of Music. He has conducted numerous orchestras in the United States and abroad, including in Russia, Hong Kong and China. Mr. Malina is a skilled pianist and is also a composer and music arranger.

This presentation will occur on Wednesday, February 15, at 11:00 a.m. at the First Presbyterian Church in Greenwich as well as on webinar at: https://bit.ly/30lBj21.

Note: The views expressed in these RMA presentations are those of the speakers. They are not intended to represent the views of the RMA or its members.

RMA speaker presentations are presented as a community service at no cost to in-person or Zoom attendees, regardless of gender. The RMA does request that all eligible individuals consider becoming a member of our great organization, and thereby enjoy all the available fellowship, volunteer and community service opportunities that the RMA offers to its members. For further information, visit https://greenwichrma.org or contact Joe Mancinelli (mailto:jlmanc@optonline.net) or Peter Stern (mailto:members@greenwichrma.org).

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