Jon Klein To Marianne Paskowski: “Hate To Have The Facts Spoil Your Rant, But…”

In the latest issue of TV Week, CNN/U.S. president Jon Klein responds to last week’s column by Marianne Paskowski:

“In ‘CNN Clueless in Hunt for Young Demos’ (TelevisionWeek, Jan. 16), Marianne Paskowski says, “If you think you’re going to get younger demographics with Anderson Cooper in that role, forget it.” Hate to have the facts spoil your rant, Ms. Paskowski, but Anderson Cooper is up more than 50 percent in the younger demo of 18- to 34-year-olds, up 30 percent in 18- to 49-year-olds, and up 24 percent in the 25 to 54 demo since his show launched Nov. 7. It is astounding that a respected industry publication like TVWeek would dedicate an entire column to an erroneous premise. The readers of TVWeek deserve the courtesy of basic fact-checking.

Perhaps Ms. Paskowski accidentally read the Nielsen ratings from Fox News from 10 p.m. to midnight and saw that Fox News has declined 49 percent among 18- to 34-year-olds and declined more than 30 percent in the 18 to 49 and 25 to 54 demos since Anderson Cooper launched in that time slot.

We may never know how one could jump to such a false conclusion, but we can at least take some relief in knowing that the world of young adults Ms. Paskowski describes (where news is punishment) is not the real world.”