CNN: The comedy information community?

“The information is the star.” 

That was Ted Turner’s mantra upon launching CNN in 1980. The assertion wasn’t controversial on the time. Journalists shouldn’t be the primary cause viewers tune right into a newscast. Positive, credibility, accuracy and likability matter too, however, in the long run, the information was the star, with these presenting it largely a distant second. 

“After you begin studying your opinions, you run the danger of believing you’re essential,” then-CNN chief anchor Bernard Shaw told the Washington Post in 1991 following rave opinions for his unmatched Gulf Conflict protection. “That may create distortions in your perceptions, in your honesty. It will possibly colour your judgment.”

Quick ahead greater than three a long time and issues are decidedly totally different at CNN. Through the Trump years, the information particular person was the star. The community’s prime anchors and correspondents appeared as late-night guests on Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Kimmel, primarily to bash Donald Trump or the Republican Get together, or each. They grew to become cowl tales and authors. And the extra provocative the opinion, particularly these crucial of conservatives and the president, the more the spotlight shined on them. 

So, when information broke this week in a Semafor report that CNN was contemplating giving a comic two hours of primetime actual property from 9:00 to 11:00 p.m., it was hardly stunning. Below new management (Discovery) and CNN president Chris Licht, the adjustments on the community have included shifting former “CNN Tonight” anchor Don Lemon to mornings and giving him another hour of airtime, whereas extending former White Home Correspondent Jim Acosta’s airtime anchoring“CNN Newsroom” an hour. 

Some longtime partisan hosts and correspondents have additionally been let go (Brian Stelter, Jeffrey Toobin, John Harwood, to call just a few). However total, the community seems to be principally the identical because it did the day Licht took over. No main signings have occurred, with some current chess items merely moved across the board.

And therein lies the rub: When Licht took over in Could 2022, CNN was third in overall viewers among the many three main cable information networks. Since then, the community has drifted even additional again whereas struggling to draw a mean of 600,000 viewers. 

For context, CNN attracted a mean of 1.9 million viewers two years in the past this month, or greater than 300 % extra. In primetime, the common viewership was 2.6 million in January 2021. However in 2023, no program in primetime eclipses even 700,000 viewers.

So Licht (a former government producer of Colbert’s CBS present), maybe seeing he might not have the sort of expertise internally to jumpstart his primetime lineup into one thing aggressive, reportedly is seeking to names corresponding to former “Day by day Present” hosts Jon Stewart and Trevor Noah and “Actual Time” host Invoice Maher.

On paper, Stewart is essentially the most interesting from a rankings perspective given his observe file at Comedy Central. Ten years in the past, throughout a ho-hum off-election 12 months in political information, Stewart averaged 2.5 million viewers. His interviews and monologues went viral seemingly on an almost-daily basis. His reported wage was approximately $30 million yearly. 

Stewart signed a multiyear cope with Apple through the pandemic however has did not seize the identical buzz. When his present, “The Drawback with Jon Stewart,”debuted in October of that 12 months, the primary episode was seen in 180,000 houses, in accordance with measurement agency Samba TV.  

However by March 2022, practically 80 % of the viewers had vanished, with simply 40,000 folks tuning in. So, can Stewart generate the identical response he as soon as did? And precisely what sort of wage are we speaking about right here?

All of that mentioned, that makes Trevor Noah a non-starter. In 2022, Noah had issue bringing in additional than 400,000 viewers per evening, or greater than 2 million fewer than Stewart. His monologues and interviews hardly ever went viral. If improved numbers are CNN’s aim, Noah has proven he merely can’t convey eyeballs or a lot buzz regardless of being handed a extremely profitable present. 

Which brings us to Invoice Maher, who could also be the most effective match given his present house at HBO falls underneath the Discovery/CNN umbrella. Maher’s viewership numbers are stable, and he nonetheless is aware of generate on-line chatter and debate as a result of his unpredictability and sometimes not towing the woke-liberal line. 

However Maher does a weekly present. His visitor record is relatively diverse. And a two-hour grind on weeknights is simply that. The 67-year-old Maher is probably not eager about hitching his wagon to CNN on a nightly foundation and watering down his personal model within the course of. CNN would in all probability additionally must enter the eight-figure vary simply to match his present $10 million wage from HBO. 

After which there’s the difficulty of notion in terms of ideology: All three prospects are profoundly liberal at a time when CNN reportedly desires to maneuver again to the middle. It’s extremely unlikely Stewart or Noah or Maher would entertain supporting a GOP presidential nominee.

With the 2024 marketing campaign season set to enter excessive gear within the spring, such a comedic providing would doubtless include precisely what CNN had grow to be through the Zucker period: one other model of MSNBC-meets-“The View” and a pariah to anybody proper of heart.

CNN has a giant downside in primetime and throughout the community typically. To most conservatives, it’s not a information community, it’s an adversary. Some liberals resent that it’s courting Republican lawmakers to return again on the community once more. 

Comedy can work on cable information. Simply ask Fox Information’s Greg Gutfeld, who’s trouncing late evening hosts like ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel and NBC’s Jimmy Fallon whereas topping CBS’s Stephen Colbert on many nights. 

However can CNN achieve the identical style by doing comedy that alienates greater than half its potential viewers proper out of the gate? 

Time will inform, however the cons seem to outweigh the professionals. 

Joe Concha is a media and politics columnist and a Fox Information contributor.