Sunday, May 01, 2005
Klein:"There's a real desire to win, a real thirst"
Source: Associated Press Here we go yet ANOTHER interview with CNN Chief Jon Klein. David Bauder writes: Jonathan Klein wants to bring out the Bronx in CNN. There's a toughness, an aggressiveness imbued in many residents of the new CNN chief's native borough. They have street smarts that residents of posher neighborhoods have rarely needed to get ahead.
Stamping that underdog personality on CNN requires nothing short of an attitude transplant, a willingness to fight at a complacent organization knocked on its heels by years of executive turmoil and ratings dominance by scrappy rival Fox News Channel.
"All I'm asking them to do is better journalism," Klein said. "Who could be resistant to that? Now that Fox has pretty well cleaned their clock for a few years, there's a real desire to win, a real thirst."
What do CNN'ers have to say?
"I don't agree with him on everything," said John King, a veteran Washington hand just appointed a CNN national correspondent. "But I will say that this place was desperately lacking in leadership, someone saying `This is what this place is going to be, this is what I'm going to do.'"
"If you want to get things going in a different direction, you cannot start compromising things right away," King said, "especially in a place that has a history of trying to undermine the leader." There's some nervousness about whether an emphasis on storytelling will crowd out hard news, King said. Washington news may get less attention under a Klein regime; he hasn't said whether "Inside Politics" will continue without Woodruff and virtually scuttled the long-running debate show "Crossfire."
Former CNN Washington bureau chief Frank
Sesno, now a professor at George Mason University, has come back to do some part-time work at CNN and is impressed with what he sees in Klein. "I think he has energized the place," Sesno said. "I think he has been very creative and smart and has a lot of new ideas. He believes that news and storytelling can work, can be compelling and can attract an audience."
Klein on the future of political coverage:
"The political landscape has changed radically, but political coverage on television has not changed in 40 years," Klein said. "It's time to change the way we cover politics."And finally comments from an FNC spokesperson:
"Our focus is on beating the broadcast networks," said Fox spokeswoman Irena Briganti. "We wish Jon well in his battle for second place with MSNBC."
# posted by ATN @ 1:29 PM 
