CNN Needs To “Stand Out As Unique Again”

In Monday’s Los Angeles Times, Matea Gold begins the parade of CNN 25th anniversary stories. “This is CNN … still settling on its voice,” the headline says. I think the story is a bit too negative…

> Former CNN correspondent Charles Bierbauer says “the challenge is to get back to the things they have learned to do so well and in some way distance themselves from what Fox and other followers are doing. They need to stand out as unique again.”

> Another former correspondent, Deborah Potter, says CNN seems to be “casting about.” Gold references Survivor Stories week: “On ‘Anderson Cooper 360,’ correspondent Rick Sanchez sought to demonstrate survival techniques for viewers, allowing himself to be submerged underwater in a car, dumped out at sea with only a life vest and trapped in a smoke-filled room.” A spokesperson noted that the stories made up a small portion of the week’s programming.