"Three years ago, when we canceled Crossfire, we did so out of an appreciation that the mood of the country had shifted from partisanship toward a search for answers. We planted the seeds then, and we're seeing it pay off now with the success and popularity of our straight-down-the-middle election coverage," Klein says.
Tom Rosenstiel, director of the Project for Excellence in Journalism, says his organization's recently released State of the Media study shows that CNN has carved out a distinct identity as a "hybrid" of traditional network and cable news standards in packaging and values. A large part of that image is the result of CNN gathering information on its own, rather than just lining up panels of experts to opine on stories that other organizations have reported. But he cautions about overstating CNN's influence on the trend.
"Is it possible that the success that CNN has enjoyed this year with the election has encouraged the other two to move in its direction?" Rosenstiel says. "Perhaps, but perhaps there are other factors involved as well. And I'm not so sure everyone is convinced that CNN is going to keep the audience after the election."
According to Rosenstiel, other factors involved in the changes at MSNBC and Fox might include Carlson's conservative politics having become an increasingly worse fit with MSNBC's "liberal audience base," while Fox's conservative-oriented lineup simply found itself in need of some "tweaking" after eight years of stability.
Of course, Rosenstiel is right: The kind of change taking place in cable TV can rarely be attributed to only one factor. But, whatever the cause for the change, he acknowledges that citizens are much better served - especially in an election year - by news organizations practicing traditional journalistic values based on providing reliable information rather than ideology and opinion. And, based on his channel's research, CNN's Klein believes such journalism will continue to mean "good business" for CNN even after the last votes are counted in November.
"Not only is this kind of political coverage something that we began planning for three years ago, it is also a trend among the audience that is going to continue well beyond the election," he says.
"The kind of unfiltered, aggressively independent coverage that we have brought to this election is the kind of journalism that people have been telling us they wanted. Finding answers and keeping people honest - not parroting the talking points of the right or the left - is what viewers say they want. And that's what we are all about."
david.zurawik@baltsun.com
