It's tough being CNN. The brand that invented the 24-hour news cycle and which made its name covering the Iraq war and other crises has always had to find a way to drive tune-in when there isn't an OJ Simpson-on-the-lam or other breaking news story.

So if you're a CNN executive these or most other days, you're hoping — to yourself, at least — for another "drop everything and watch this" story to unfold somewhere in the world. Nothing really nasty, mind you; just something that will rivet viewers' attention on CNN the way they always do when something goes bad somewhere around the globe.

"The world still knows to turn to CNN whenever a crisis erupts," David Bohrman, the Current TV president who served as CNN's Washington bureau chief, commented to the Wall Street Journal. "That is the brand." And therein likes the rub.Continue reading...

Anheuser-Busch InBev tries a tea-lemonade "light alcohol" drink for Michelob.

Ann Taylor woos younger women by featuring stylish students.

Avon replacing Andrea Jung as CEO.

Best Buy finds that deep discounts sacked profits.

Canadian Tire buys house in Toronto just for webisodes.

China plans to impose duties on U.S.-imported cars, ratcheting up trade tiff.

Chrysler picks up sales and financial momentum while parent Fiat treads cautiously.

CNN rehires Christiane Amanpour, who will continue to contribute to ABC News.Continue reading...

It's likely CNN can't wait for 2010 to come to a close.

When Campbell Brown departed earlier this year, the cable network announced with much fanfare that the new Parker Spitzer, a kind of right vs. left on-air debate of current issues, would fill the vacant 8 PM slot. Journalist Kathleen Parker didn't cause a flurry, but eyebrows were raised over the hiring of Eliot Spitzer, the debauched former governor of New York, as co-host.

Now, only two months later, it seems Parker Spitzer has been something of a bust.Continue reading...

After 25 years in the role, Larry King announced this evening that he will be leaving his show later this year.

In a statement posted on his CNN.com blog, King wrote that "I would like to end Larry King Live, the nightly show, this fall and CNN has graciously accepted, giving me more time for my wife and I to get to the kids’ little league games."

King added, "I’m incredibly proud that we recently made the Guinness Book of World Records for having the longest running show with the same host in the same time slot."Continue reading...