Is CNN Blaming Viewers For The Channel’s Lack Of Climate Coverage?
Posted in Main Blog (All Posts) on May 23rd, 2014 11:08 pm by HL
Is CNN Blaming Viewers For The Channel’s Lack Of Climate Coverage?
CNN president Jeff Zucker raised some eyebrows this week when, asked about the news channel’s increasingly slim coverage of climate change, he commented the network hasn’t “figured out how to engage the audience in that story in a meaningful way.” He added: “When we do do those stories, there does tend to be a tremendous amount of lack of interest on the audience’s part.”
Zucker acknowledged that climate change “deserves more attention,” but suggested that the issue isn’t receiving that attention on his network because CNN needs the topic to generate ratings, or “interest,” in order to receive more airtime.
I’m not sure I’ve ever heard an executive at a news organization speak so openly about what appears to be a company-wide decision to pay less attention to a completely legitimate news story because it doesn’t generate ratings; because it’s not good for business. For Zucker to suggest CNN doesn’t cover a pressing public issue because it doesn’t grab eyeballs goes against the basic tenet of journalism, which is, of course, to inform. CNN should be less concerned about engaging viewers and more concerned abut informing them.
Zucker’s climate coverage comments seem especially odd given that he said in the same interview that his network’s coverage of the Benghazi select committee would be driven by whether it is of “real news value”; he did not address whether such coverage would need to meet an “interest” threshold from the audience.
I’m not a purist when it comes to cable news. I understand CNN is a business and that increasingly it falls within ever-expanding sphere of the entertainment business. Cable news has changed dramatically over the last two decades, the scramble for the limited audience of viewers is fierce, and passive programming is not an option for commercial success. I get that the diet of cable news today includes large dollops of fatty foods buffeted by smaller servings of vegetables.
But suggesting you’re not covering an extraordinarily important and possibly life-changing topic because viewers don’t “engage”? That’s wandering into dangerous ethical territory. What other dire topics is CNN shying away from for fear of boring its news consumers? Do CNN editorial meetings revolve around gauging which news topic will generate minutes-long spikes in the channel’s ratings?
