Well, we've all seen this coming. A couple months ago a Peon Confidential reader tipped me off that Campbell Brown was most likely going to replace Paula Zahn at CNN. The day has finally come. Personally, I'm not sad to see her go. She doesn't seem like an unpleasant person, but on the other hand, she didn't do much for ratings. And here's the thing: I've talked to plenty of PR people, producers, writers, graphic designers and other behind the scenes professionals at various networks who take the heat for lackluster ratings. I guess because contracts keep the anchors locked in, these behind the scenes people become targets when the ship is sinking. So they are reprimanded for not getting enough good press, threatened with removal from shows, and sets are rebuilt a couple times until the anchor finally gets a nasty surprise when contract renewal rolls around.
But instead of replacing Paula with Campbell Brown, maybe CNN should consider what a cable news titan once said of Paula Zahn's performance at FNC: "I could have put a dead raccoon on the air this year and got a better rating than last year."
Take note Mr. Klein. A dead raccoon would be a lot cheaper.
1 comment:
Paula is a very sweet woman. She's a whole lot easier to work with than some other people I could mention.
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