CNN Cancels John King, USA…
Well I have to admit, I got it wrong. I didn’t think CNN had the intestinal fortitude to cancel John King, USA before the election. The New York Times’ Brian Stelter writes that The Situation Room will be extended by an hour.
Ken Jautz, the executive in charge of CNN, said in an internal memo that the schedule change was made to improve political coverage this year.
Hogwash. This move has “ratings related canellation” stamped all over it. King’s show just never caught on. If it had, this move would not have occurred.
Stelter also noted this…
Mr. King said in an email message to Talking Points Memo that when he was asked to host a weekday show, “we were always clear it would be temporary — daily newscast anchoring is not what I am built do do.”
Oh really? That the show was going to be temporary is news to me and probably a lot of other people. Two years? You call that temporary?
King will now be the network’s #1 campaign correspondent. TVNewser’s Alex Weprin phrased the change in roles thusly…
that is clearly not as plum a gig as having an hour-long nightly program.
I’ll say. This is a demotion for King, pure and simple. The question going forward is will King stay with the network long term after this move?
Inside Cable News 
June 13, 2012 at 6:29 pm
I always thought John was well suited to the Sunday program. I drifted away from it when he left and Candy took over.
June 13, 2012 at 6:50 pm
Not the kind of minor move I thought CNN needed to make. He’s a very competent guy,I didn’t particularly warm to him personally but that’s just a matter of taste. If an anchor was to be cut like this, I thought it might be Erin Burnett. She seems out of her depth.
June 13, 2012 at 6:50 pm
Could anyone really blame CNN for doing this? John hasn’t shown success in the ratings since day one, and he ultimately made a better Sunday show host, if even that.
June 13, 2012 at 7:41 pm
I didn’t particularly warm to him personally
Says everyone who watches cable news..
June 13, 2012 at 8:21 pm
John King seems to frequently get himself tangled in his own questions during an interview or discussion. This made me so impatient with the pace of his programme that I’d watch something else. If this was all off-camera stuff, I suppose it might be a good way of drawing-out information from a source to put a good report together.
I thought it’s been CNN’s strategy for some time now to put boring news programming on the air. If so, John King did exactly what was asked of him.
June 13, 2012 at 8:37 pm
If an anchor was to be cut like this, I thought it might be Erin Burnett. She seems out of her depth.
Too soon. Her show wasn’t the kind of train wreck Parker Spitzer was. That show had to go as soon as possible.
June 13, 2012 at 8:47 pm
Too cancel a new show too soon causes all kinds of problems. Who would want to come work for you? Admission of failure in the hiring? Management doesn’t like to admit mistakes. Often takes a new broom to sweep clean.
June 13, 2012 at 10:09 pm
I like Burnett. A for king, he’s ok but he kinda had a perpetually lost look about him.
June 13, 2012 at 11:35 pm
Still, it’s a starting point, but I can’t help but feel like CNN really does need to roll some heads across the board. I still don’t get why Malvauex, however that’s spelled, was transformed into an anchor vs. being the correspondent other than pushing her up the chain.
June 14, 2012 at 4:19 am
The problem with many CNN hosts is they are boring. They are competent but lack personality. Can you imagine King, Blitzer, Crowley ever being involved in a real controversy.
You may love or hate MSNBC’s and FNC’s Sharpton, Schultz, Hannity or O’Reilly but, for the most part, they aren’t boring. You know that at any moment the can go off the reservation and say something that will be newsworthy. Aside from Anderson Cooper CNN has no one that makes top management nervous about what they might say on air.
Based on her work at CNBC, I thought that Burnett might be able to generate some life into her CNN show but she hasn’t been able to escape the stilted format she’s been given. i think she works best as a co-host on a Morning Joe style show where she has the freedom to be herself.
June 14, 2012 at 5:08 am
CNN’s hosts should be boring. The content of their shows, or as Ted Turner would say, the news should be “the star”. Except, that content is often even more boring than the hosts.
June 14, 2012 at 6:52 am
^ I totally agree donnieboston. I always thought CNN could distinguish itself from Fox and MSNBC by making content the star and not the vain media personalities. CNN’s problem is about content. The phrase “lipstick on a pig” comes to mind.
“Based on her work at CNBC, I thought that Burnett might be able to generate some life into her CNN show but she hasn’t been able to escape the stilted format she’s been given. i think she works best as a co-host on a Morning Joe style show where she has the freedom to be herself.” – fritz3
— Before OutFront was launched, I would have totally agreed with fritz3. She was decent on CNBC and a good part of the team on Morning Joe. Compared to many on CNBC, she seemed warm, nice, accessible, and normal. But now that I have seen her full tilt for an hour, I don’t think the format is the entire problem and I certainly don’t think she has been held back from being herself. Personally, it looks like being herself is what has gotten her in trouble – much to my surprise, she is not at all who I thought she would be. I hoped she would shed the CNBC ethos and really grow into her own role. Perhaps this was just too big a leap and done way too soon. I agree that a morning show in an ensemble cast would be better for her – where she has other people to interact with. But doesn’t that inherently subdue her and diminish her role as a journalist? Yes, which is probably why we like her in that format. Small doses with limited opportunity to put her foot in her mouth. I actually think she needs to be a little stilted. As donnieboston said, the news should be the star on CNN – I do not think Burnett will allow that.
I do like John King but his show needed to end – it never really gained traction. He will do well as a traveling political correspondent and analyst since it is what he is good at. I would be surprised if King is at CNN after the election. Bummer.
June 14, 2012 at 7:40 am
, “the news should be “the star””
^^ That works great when there’s a big news story like a hurricane bearing down on the US or a big airline disaster. Then the host acts more like a traffic cop for various reporters on the scene and questioner of the ‘experts’ brought in to analyze the situation. At these times boring is good.
The problem is with 70%-80% of the time where the news is not the star and the host is asked to moderate political panels or make general news stories sound interesting. Then boring is not good and a host with charisma, or at least one that doesn’t act like a mannequin is best.
June 14, 2012 at 8:41 am
^^That’s true when a “news” network turns into a political talk network. It’s hard to keep political junkies, let alone anyone else.
But if they dropped the same set of pundits talking about the same things over and over again, looked at what’s happening out of the beltway or Wall Street and actually reported about it every day, there would be something interesting to see on their newscasts. It’s a big country with a lot of stories waiting to be told. It’s a big world, too. And CNN has the resources.
Of course, it’s a long road in gaining viewers back with this approach, but I think it might be their only solution cause CNN can’t really compete with Fox and MSNBC without taking any side. They killed Crossfire, but lately they often sound like Crossfire News Network. Boring as hell.
June 14, 2012 at 8:52 am
If I’m switching channels and pop by CNN when they are doing an international story, I always stop and watch. But that’s me, a daily viewer of the PBS NEWS HOUR and it’s a same more people aren’t as interested. My entire household refuses to watch any news unless unless Balloon Boy is flying with the ghost of Anna Nicole Smith to a Linsay Lohan photoshoot at Domald Trump’s.
June 14, 2012 at 8:53 am
same===> shame
June 14, 2012 at 9:01 am
— shame —
People don’t watch the news for ‘news’ anymore, and that’s what it all comes down to. CNN is little-changed from what it was 20-years-ago, except for having more conservative contributors. If they can hang on with what they have and still make money, more power to ’em.