Cable '04: Hearts and Minds

Yes, Bush and Kerry are the candidates, but the cable news newtworks have their own fight to win.CNN Washington bureau chief David Bohrman vividly recalls a defining moment of 1984's Democratic National Convention in San Francisco. Surprisingly, it had nothing to do with the nomination of Walter Mondale as the Democratic presidential candidate or his pick of Geraldine Ferraro, the first woman to run for vice president, as his running mate. Though the election held plenty of drama that year, Bohrman, at the time a producer for ABC's World News Tonight, recalls another kind of theater at the George Moscone Center that July. Walking the convention floor, he watched in awe as ABC News anchor Sam Donaldson made his entrance and all heads turned. "Sam was like a rock star," says Bohrman, 49.Times certainly have changed. These days, the three leading cable news networks, CNN, Fox News Channel and MSNBC, provide wall-to-wall election coverage making the dominance of any one personality a near-impossibility. Of course, the major networks, CBS, NBC, ABC and Fox, are still in the game to some degree, too. To make things worse for the myriad news outlets, the presidential candidates were determined unusually earlier this year, opening up the possibility for a painfully protracted lag until late July and August, when the party conventions will hopefully provide more camera-ready election-year moments.Fortunately for cable news, though, the race between George W. Bush and John Kerry is shaping up to be a very close one. A recent Associated Press poll found Bush leading Kerry 45 percent to 44 percent; another one, done by Newsweek, showed Kerry ahead 50 percent to 43 percent. "Anything that makes the election more of a toss-up enhances audience interest and advertiser interest," says John Rash, senior vp and director of broadcast negotiations at Campbell Mithun in Minneapolis.And dramatic world news events, including America's troubles with Iraq, Afghanistan and North Korea, and the continuing threat of terrorism around the globe, virtually guarantee a hearty audience of news junkies tuning in to cable news throughout the election season. "It's a very full news cycle right now," says CNN's Bohrman. "In addition, it's the first presidential election cycle since 9/11."With foreign policy the dominant election issue for the first time since perhaps Vietnam, CNN, an established world brand seen in not only homes but airports and hotels around the globe, would seem to have the upper hand in becoming the go-to authority on election news. But the reality is that Fox News Channel has made enormous inroads during the last four years. In the first quarter of 2004, Fox News had 2.2 million total viewers, compared to 1.6 million for CNN and 666,000 for MSNBC, according to Nielsen Media Research. Fox News largely has dominated election coverage too, traditionally a CNN strength. During President Bush's April 13 press conference, nearly three times as many viewers tuned in to Fox News Channel than CNN, according to Nielsen Media Research. Fox also beat out CNN the week before while covering National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice's testimony before the commission investigated the Sept. 11 attacks. On most nights, Fox's The O'Reilly Factor pulls in more viewers than the other cable news networks combined (about 3 million).But CNN claims its viewers are more upscale. Greg D'Alba, chief operating officer of ad sales, recently asked Nielsen to poll out-of-home viewership and light viewership, defined as people who watch fewer than 1.5 hours per day of television. The results showed CNN had 16 million out-of-home viewers, more than any other cable news network. CNN also attracts the most light television viewers, valued for their high level of education and affluence. "We have trust, credibility and an ability to cover the story better than our competitors," says D'Alba. Phil Griffin, MSNBC's vp of prime-time programming, makes a similar claim for his own network's coverage, mentioning the advantage of having big guns from NBC like Tom Brokaw and Tim Russert at its disposal. "We have established ourselves as the best political program on cable," says Griffin. "It's going to be a long season, but we'll cover the news as it happens."Though few cable news executives were willing to acknowledge that this year's election schedule demands new strategies to draw in viewers, it is clear that the cable news landscape has changed dramatically since the last election, in large part due to Fox News' rise. In recent years, Fox has made waves and bolstered ratings with brash, opinionated on-air personalities such as Bill O'Reilly, Sean Hannity and Alan Colmes, and anchor Brit Hume, and in the process changed the rules of the game. This election season, look for CNN to push its name-brand talking heads such as Judy Woodruff, Wolf Blitzer and Anderson Cooper, to the forefront. Crossfire hosts James Carville, Paul Begala, Tucker Carlson and Bob Novak will also play a key role in combating the Fox onslaught. CNN's senior executive producer of political coverage, Sam Feist, who relaunched Crossfire in April 2002 as a live-audience show, says the hosts of the popular debate show, which was moved from its evening slot to 4:30 P.M. last year, will make appearances on prime-time shows such as Newsnight With Aaron Brown and Anderson Cooper 360° to address election-related events. "We've always regarded debate as an important part of our political coverage," says Feist.For MSNBC, which has suffered an identity crisis and slumping ratings in recent years, the new emphasis on personalities begins and ends with its most recognizable political powerhouse, Chris Matthews, the energetic host of Hardball. Though MSNBC has been bolstering its bench with more recognizable faces such as Keith Olbermann and Joe Scarborough, Hardball is the network's signature program. "Chris will be doing extended versions of Hardball for the conventions and other campaign events," says Griffin.Meanwhile, back at Fox, the self-ascribed "fair and balanced" network is looking for ways to broaden its appeal. Marty Ryan, executive producer of Fox News' political coverage, compares his network's current approach to those of the presidential candidates. "Both sides are still doing their trial balloons, trying to see what works," says Ryan. "We're using the time to carry the day-to-day story and get ready for the conventions."Fox's conservative bent gives it an innate advantage in an election featuring a Republican incumbent. When discussing Fox's election coverage, Ryan cites key upcoming events featuring appearances by President Bush, such as his June 5-6 trip to France to commemorate the 60th anniversary of D-Day and the G8 Summit at Sea Island, Georgia, on June 8-10, which Bush is chairing this year. Ryan views such events as opportunities for Fox to hone its deployment of what he describes as "the strongest and smartest group of personalities on any cable or broadcast network." He adds, "When you get to the Super Bowl, you want to have your strongest players in position." Fox News and MSNBC first challenged CNN's monopoly on 24/7 news coverage back in 1996, but it took the beginning of war in Iraq in March 2003 for the cable-news competition to really heat up. Many observers expected CNN to use its hard-news expertise to clobber Fox News, which had raced ahead with its right-leaning gab formula in the relatively peaceful Chandra Levy-obsessed months that immediately preceded 9/11. All three cable news networks saw double-digit gains in last spring's upfront. But Fox remained the ratings leader even after the U.S. invaded Iraq, leaving its two competitors to battle it out for second place.The new cable news order has forced the runners-up to become specialists. This election year, CNN is touting its we're-there-first political know-how. Its newest election initiative is a 40-foot-long bus dubbed the CNN Election Express, which travels with a full production crew and sports a TV studio. Part utilitarian ingenuity and part gimmick, it will allow regular CNN shows such as Inside Politics and Crossfire to broadcast from campaign hot spots. "We're putting our shows on the road and going outside the Beltway," says Sam Feist. This fall, the bus will visit swing states such as Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan and Florida in search of the kind of of-the-moment election stories that thwart advanced planning.CNN is also promoting its ability to provide marketing proposals to advertisers interested in reaching a diverse 18-54 audience across multiple platforms. "I'm out there [telling people] we're all things to all people," says Greg D'Alba, who claims that he's doing more business in the beer category than CNN has in 25 years. CNN also customizes ad bundles that include Headline News and CNN.com. During breaking news events, D'Alba claims, CNN delivers more young viewers than the market leader. "Fox is essentially just one program—it doesn't provide dimension."AS for MSNBC, the net knows it can't hope to match the breadth of CNN or the ideological muscle of Fox. So the underdog news network is focusing on the media-savvy younger viewers it says it already attracts with the youngest demo in cable news. In the months before Election Day, for example, MSNBC expects to devote many more hours to dissecting campaign ads than its competitors. "We want to own looking at ads," says Phil Griffin. MSNBC also prides itself on having started its election coverage earlier than most, just days after California's gubernatorial recall. On October 13 it launched Hardball: Battle for the White House, a series of roundtable discussions at Harvard with the Democratic contenders.MSNBC also has something its competitors can't beat: The strength of a major broadcast network behind it. Jim Hoffman, senior vice president of sales for NBC News properties, says 99 percent of his clients buy ads across all the NBC properties. "When you're selling election-type packages," says Hoffman, "NBC can deliver ratings the other cable news networks can't." Ironically, the Democratic convention, in Boston on July 27-29, and the Republican Convention, scheduled for Aug. 30-Sept. 2 in New York, traditional flash points for election-year drama, are playing a secondary role. Due to declining viewership, the broadcast networks have pared down their coverage from the customary four days to three, ceding the territory to the cable news networks. But CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer points out that even the conventions will be suffused with overtones of world news events and political symbolism this year. In the days before the Democratic Convention, the 9/11 commission will release its book-length final report, which will draw conclusions about the Bush administration's culpability in the 2001 terrorist attacks. The Republican Convention is conveniently timed to coincide with the lead-up to the third anniversary of the attacks. "It's the first time in a long time when national security and war and peace are issues in a presidential election," says Blitzer, who will report live from both conventions. "If relevant news happens, we will certainly break away from the conventions to cover it."As for the race to see who can draw the best ratings with its election coverage, Blitzer says he is encouraged by the need to excel in a cluttered marketplace. "I love competition," he says. "I play tennis, and when I'm playing against someone who isn't as good as me, my game deteriorates. A better player makes me run much harder." KAlec Foege is a freelance writer who often covers television for Mediaweek.Rich Kaplan, MSNBCNBC News president Neal Shapiro handpicked Rick Kaplan, who was president of CNN in the United States from 1997 to 2000, to replace Erik Sorensen in February. Most recently Kaplan was employed as a senior executive for ABC News, where he worked as a producer for 20 years prior to his CNN stint. While at ABC, he created Primetime Live, ABC's premier newsmagazine. Some observers predict more newsmagazines in MSNBC's future and a turning away from the talking-heads format that quickly sank Sorensen hires such as Phil Donahue and Jesse Ventura.Kaplan has drawn scorn from some conservatives for his close ties to Bill Clinton, who hired him as an adviser in 1992 when the Gennifer Flowers charges threatened his campaign for the Democratic nomination. Kaplan was fired from CNN in 2000 after AOL bought Time Warner, CNN's parent, after ratings dropped 23 percent under Kaplan's watch. But supporters say his experience as a veteran newshound should strengthen MSNBC's election-year coverage.—A.F.Princell Hair, CNNOnce the only cable news game in town, CNN now must redefine its mission. So far, though, the journalistic vision of CNN/U.S. executive vp and general manager Princell Hair—hired last October from Viacom, where he oversaw 39 regional TV stations—remains unclear. In a January staff memo, Hair outlined a six-point plan that included a reorganization of bureaus and personnel to consolidate resources and hone the network's brand and image. The changes were intended to free up correspondents so they could spend more time doing actual reporting and less time on live reports.In recent months, CNN has experienced plenty of staff turnover. Veteran correspondents including Jeff Flock, Art Harris and Tom Mintier have left, and the network has hired eight new correspondents, many of them from local TV stations. Alina Cho from ABC, Joe Johns from NBC, and Ed Henry, from Washington's Roll Call magazine, have also joined. More recently, CNN hired four new journalists for its San Francisco, Los Angeles and Chicago bureaus to increase newsgathering efforts in those areas. Hair's main effect so far, according to insiders, has been to better integrate CNN's newsgathering and on-air operations.—A.F.John Moody, Fox NewsJohn Moody, Fox News senior vp, news editorial, was hired by Fox chief Roger Ailes in 1996 as a founding member of the fledgling news network's staff. He is a former Time reporter and bureau chief who was once stationed in Nicaragua. At the time of his hiring, he lamented how his magazine colleagues were "drawn ideologically, romantically, theoretically, to the side of the Sandinistas. I always was able to hold my enthusiasm." Each morning, Moody delivers a news memo to Ailes with a list of suggested stories for the day. That memo recently got attention in journalistic circles after a former Fox News producer, Charlie Reina, posted a note on Jim Romanesko's Poyntner Institute-sponsored Web column claiming Fox's coverage was anything but "fair and balanced." According to Reina, "the roots of [Fox's] day-to-day on-air bias are actual and direct. They come in the form of an executive memo" written by John Moody, and "distributed electronically each morning, addressing what stories will be covered and, often, suggesting how they should be covered. To the newsroom personnel responsible for the channel's daytime programming, The Memo is the bible." Regardless of The Memo's influence, Moody knows what Fox News viewers want.—A.F.

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Cable '04: Hearts and Minds

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