The New York Times‘ David Carr sat down with Jeff Bewkes at The Paley Center in New York City for a live streaming web cast yesterday. After Carr brings up the success of Fox News, with 7 million viewers on election night, the writer suggests “maybe you need a tilt, right or left, to be a big business.”
Bewkes immediately answered with a resounding “no” pointing out the success of broadcasts like ABC, CBS, and NBC.
After Bewkes talks about the success of CNN’s centrist point of view, Carr asked “if you were so happy with the way things were going, then why did you replace the guy that was running it?”
“I think we have to do a better job at programming the news,” the CEO responded saying that covering the news from a non-partisan perspective is important but “you have to do it in an accessible, understandable, and interesting way.”
While responding to Carr’s question about CNN’s ratings, Bewkes says “They tune in to get the news, and when they’ve got it, they go…or we bore the hell out of them when they come. That would be our fault.”
Bewkes admitted to watching FOX’s “Family Guy” calling it “a pretty funny show” that he watches with his 13-year-old, saying that it also runs on TBS.