One cable insider wondered today whether or Jon Klein is really living up to CNN’s “brand promise” when Aaron Brown leads Newsnight with the Michael Jackson case. “Brown already seems to be contradicting the CNN president’s marching orders, and once again Jon Klein is contradicting himself,” the insider said.
“The bar will be to not blend in with the background noise surrounding the case,” Klein told USA Today. “If we’ve got something unique that takes us beyond the headlines, we’ll do it.”
But “Brown’s rendering of Michael Jackson headlines last night were hardly ‘beyond the headlines’ material,” the insider said, referring to this transcript. More after the jump…
“We begin tonight with this. Forty-five million albums sold, seven top ten hits, 37 weeks at the top of the charts. If you were designing a PowerPoint presentation for total planetary fame, those alone would be the bullet points all you would need,” Aaron began last night.
> Jan. 12: “We killed our Amber Frey interview,” CNN’s Klein says — but it came alive the next day”