As Aaron Brown finds his end to a contract with CNN that has made him invisible for two years there is an odd resurgence of interest. One of the aspects of Aaron's temporary sidelining is the fact he would detract from Cooper's draw. Anderson Cooper 360 lost many of Aaron's viewers when he no longer anchored the show.
This article has been bounced around the net for several weeks now. It appears sometimes twice a week.
CNN Ousts Aaron Brown and Gives Slot to Anderson Cooper (click here)
By BILL CARTER
Published: November 2, 2005
CNN ousted its longtime prime-time anchor, Aaron Brown, today in favor of Anderson Cooper, who has received extensive media attention in the wake of his widely publicized coverage of Hurricane Katrina.
Jonathan Klein, the president of CNN/U.S., said today that he and Mr. Brown had mutually agreed that Mr. Brown would leave the cable news network because the new CNN lineup left "no options" for a program that would include Mr. Brown. "It is, unfortunately, a zero-sum game," Mr. Klein said.
The realigned CNN lineup will place Mr. Cooper's program "360," which had previously run at 7 p.m. Eastern time weeknights, in the 10 p.m. time period that had been occupied for the last four years by Mr. Brown's program, "Newsnight." Mr. Cooper's program will also expand to two hours, from 10 until midnight. CNN has experimented with that two-hour format over the past month, with Mr. Cooper joining Mr. Brown to serve as co-anchor of the program.
The audience levels for that program have increased markedly in the last month, a development that CNN attributed to Mr. Cooper's presence. In the 7 p.m. hour, where Mr. Cooper had previously worked, CNN will insert the final hour of its three-hour-long "Situation Room" program with Wolf Blitzer. That program has been running from 3 to 6 p.m. Eastern time each weekday. Now it will run from 4 to 6 p.m., leading into an hourlong newscast anchored by Lou Dobbs, with Mr. Blitzer coming back at 7 p.m. for one more hour.
Paula Zahn's program will continue to run from 8 to 9 p.m. and Larry King's show will remain from 9 to 10 p.m.
Mr. Klein said the moves were made chiefly to elevate the profiles of the two news figures that he said have been growing in popularity at CNN, Mr. Cooper and Mr. Blitzer.
"We want to expose Anderson and Wolf to more people," Mr. Klein said.
He said that Mr. Cooper, who is 38, had so stood out for his "passion and enthusiasm" - especially during the coverage of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and its impact on New Orleans and the Gulf Coast - that "his name has been on the tip of everyone's tongue."
Mr. Klein also complimented Mr. Brown, who is 56, saying "he is a first-class news talent, no question." But he repeated that CNN simply had no program to offer Mr. Brown.
Mr. Brown did not respond to telephone calls and e-mails requesting comment. A CNN spokeswoman said Mr. Cooper was on vacation and unavailable for comment.
What is also being noted on some blogs is that the undertones to the displacement of Aaron Brown eliminated segments that dedicated time to listing The Fallen's names on a daily basis. As a matter of fact, "NewsNight with Aaron Brown" was the first to do such a thing. Then after some time, CBS dedicated an entire hour to the names of the soldiers that died in Iraq that was backed up by a mosaic that is found on Michael Moore's website daily which The Washington Post designed and there is a similar electronic edition at The New York Times which is more extensive in it's tribute in that it is the face of the actual soldier that appears in mosaic with each touch of the pointer.
Example:
Times-Standard wimps out (click here)
...Opposition to the war was stifled in many cases and simply not reported by the media in others. For an example, MSNBC, owned by General Electric, fired talk-show host, Phil Donahue, when he hosted guests like former United States Attorney General, Ramsey Clark, who denounced the Iraq invasion. Since Ramsey’s appearance on Donahue, 867,647 people have signedClark’s petition to impeach President Bush.
During the beginning of “Shock and Awe,” Connie Chung was pulled from CNN for no apparent reason, and I could not find any information about it on CNN’s website. CNN later fired Aaron Brown. On his show Newsnight with Aaron Brown, Aaron would run a segment honoring the names of the fallen soldiers. Also, numerous political cartoonists had been given the pink-slip for criticizing the Iraq invasion....
All that stopped when Aaron was replaced by an embellished edition of Anderson Cooper 360. People feel less cared for and feel there were politics that took over CNN. At CNN when David Bohrman produced "NewsNight with Aaron Brown" he did a lot of wonderful things for people. He greatly personalized the program including a tribute to those designs of the new site at 'Ground Zero' in Lower Manhattan. The news team of that program was highly regarded by many people, amounting to over one million viewers per night. The program was syndicated under Bohrman's direction.
As a side note and not read on any other blog but to validate the issue of political decisions at CNN rather than viewer preference; it was recently noted on an NPR news segment that USA Postal Rate Hikes are adverse to many small magazines and newspapers, such as "The Nation." The entity that is causing issues with 'Freedom of Speech' by colluding with the Bush administration is Time Warner.
Cost of First-Class Stamp Increases to 41 Cents (click here)
Day to Day, May 8, 2007 · Sending a card or letter is about to get more expensive. The U.S. Postal Service is raising the cost of a first-class stamp to 41 cents next week. Day to Day personal finance contributor Michelle Singletary talks to Madeleine Brand about the new stamp and other changes in postal rates and packaging.
It is highly notable that CNN has been promoting 'The Forever Stamp' for months and months now. Evidently, the Postal Rate Commission was circumvented as was any public input by the Bush White House regarding these rate changes.
New Stamp Wouldn't Need a Rate Upgrade (click here)
All Things Considered, May 4, 2006 · A proposal being considered by the U.S. Postal Service would create a new "forever stamp." The product would allow customers to buy a first class stamp that would suffice for postage -- no matter what rate increases come along. Michele Norris talks with Stephen Kearney, vice president of pricing at the U.S. Postal Service.
Under the plan, no matter how many more pennies might be added to the price of a stamp, the original purchase price would be enough to get mail delivered. Planners say postal service customers would welcome the chance to avoid adding 2- and 3-cent stamps to adjust for rate increases. The "forever" stamps would always sell at the going rate for an ounce of first-class mail.
The Postal Rate Commission is reviewing the plan.
It's called corruption and Aaron Brown and David Bohrman resisted it to benefit their viewers and fell victim to it like so many Americans including our soldiers have.
