CNN Continues to Boil as Brown Leaves

Maybe it's time for straight news on cable to throw in the towel. In an increasingly noisy environment, cable television has become a place for loud, opinionated voices rather than reasoned, objective reporting. Think of it as talk radio with video.

As we've reported, that trend leaves CNN uncomfortably in the middle, leaning neither toward MSNBC's left nor Fox News Channel's right on the US media spectrum. The result is a squeeze play that has seen CNN losing viewers—and talent, with high-profile departures indicating a venerable TV brand in danger of losing its identity and audience.

Last November, acerbic anchor Lou Dobbs left the network, followed by veteran global correspondent Christiane Amanpour's departure in March (although she doesn't pop up on ABC News until August).

Now anchor Campbell Brown is out, of her own accord, and she has made it very clear why: "she was unable to compete with the opinion-mongers that dominate cable news in prime time," reports the New York Times.

Campbell feels she doesn't have the heart for the posturing and vitriol that's dominating cable news these days—or as the above clip during the Haiti earthquake aftermath shows, perhaps it's a case of having too much heart.

It's also a case of nice guys finishing last. Brown's CNN slot ran behind Fox's Bill O'Reilly and MSNBC's Keith Olbermann, both of whom have been known to spend time on their programs bashing each other. Even Nancy Grace's tough-as-nails show on crime and justice, running opposite Brown on CNN's HLN, had more viewers.

But the bigger story for CNN is abysmal ratings, which are down over 30% this year, compared to a year ago at this time. That obviously spells trouble for the brand, which originated cable news thirty years ago. The pressure's on Anderson Cooper, Wolf Blitzer and the aging Larry King to shore up its primetime ratings.

Although CNN says it is "committed to objective reporting," the latest rumor has none other than former (and disgraced) New York governor Eliot Spitzer hosting some sort of debate show on the network. Spitzer denies it.

If that were to happen, perhaps it would ratchet up ratings. But what would Spitzer do for CNN's brand, at home and internationally? At this point, CNN owner Time Warner may just be happy to get US ratings up first and worry about the brand impact after.

It also highlights the disconnect between CNN's domestic and international brands, with its global newsgathering operation trying to uphold CNN's roots as a hardcore journalism brand.

Indeed, CNN International last year unveiled a new tagline, "Go Beyond Borders," and an image campaign (explored in a case study, below) that taps into CNN's coverage of the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Perhaps Brown would have been more successful on the less polarized CNN International. In any event, her departure highlights that CNN US is fighting for its life in a different kind of warfare than that typically covered on CNNI.