Geoffrey

Seems unfair to turn this ugly incident into a referendum on the woman being slurred here. I think we can do better.

This is a town hall for the Republican primary. CNN said the audience was full of Republican or uncommitted/independent voters. It was not meant to be representative of New Hampshire or America as a whole. These large panels are designed to get many different points of view, instead of hearing the same few people making the same few points.

I thought Kaitlan did an excellent job maintaining her composure while fact-checking lies in real time and asking important follow-ups. It was a tough assignment and I feel gross for having watched it, but she probably told some Republicans watching it some facts that they had never before even heard. And yes, she was the White House reporter for The Daily Caller, but if you watch her, you know she has always been tough and fair on the former guy. She was fresh out of college and got a job there. Don't hold it against her. Look at her work. She's excellent. (Yes, I am a fan.)

Why use a CBS News Chicago "tab" on top of the lower-third if there's already a bug saying CBS 2 CBS News Chicago? And why isn't the text aligned? This look has some promise but the execution has been incredibly sloppy across the board.

Good catch! Meanwhile, WCBS often incorrectly used the WBBM 2 in the previous look. Very similar but not the same!

New CNN graphics are expected in June. The article is paywalled but here's the beginning of it: https://www.businessinsider.com/cnn-chris-licht-brand-refresh-ad-campaign-warner-bros-discovery-2023-5?utmSource=twitter&utmContent=referral&utmTerm=topbar&referrer=twitter Elegant. Hmm.

It's just the nature of the way everything began changing in 2015. Politics became so absurd and dominated discussions of everyday people. It would have been impossible for comedians to avoid it. Plus, comedy and satire are often the best ways to expose hypocrisy, and there has been a dramatic increase of that in American life. Ignoring politics when doing a daily monologue would seem pretty out-of-touch with reality.

Very interesting move! Inside Politics might be my favorite CNN broadcast because it features a diverse group of reporters sharing their reporting and analyzing the news. There are no interviews with partisan newsmakers (which definitely are important to do as well, but they can often be so predictable and the person being interviewed is only interested in promoting one side) or strategists. No raised voices or arguing. Just smart discussions with people who know what they're talking about. Of course Dana and John are divorced and have a son together. For a while after they split up, they were never on the screen at the same time, but are clearly doing much better and now even sometimes sit next to each other on the set. I will miss John's calm and sober anchoring but Dana is an excellent replacement and I am excited for her.

CNN This Morning is instantly more watchable.

I don't think what you explained that counts as editorializing.

One cancer down, countless more to go.

Can you show/explain an example or two?

Not necessarily. CNN is trying new things on Friday with the Bill Maher "Overtime" and now Chris Wallace. Not sure it'll be successful but I think they want it to be.

According to Brian Stelter in Variety: Pretty gross, really. If you have cable or any kind of live TV service, you're going to be paying Fox more to lie to you, even if you never turn on their channel. And your increased payments will help them continue to poison the information well for America.

Very disappointed by this. I was looking forward to Fox being further exposed, but I guess money talks. Fox has gotten away with many large settlements over the years to sweep bad behavior under the rug but $767,500,000 is definitely a lot. They probably learned their lesson: Don't smear companies, but lying about people is still good for ratings and the bottom line. Remember when Rupert's News of the World was caught hacking into a murdered girl's voicemail and they closed shop a few days later? I was hoping for that kind of solution here. Fox is not news, but their viewers think it is.

I'm not sure if you're suggesting that CNN is using a virtual set, but they are not. The only "virtual" part is that they're using graphics on the video wall to give the appearance of multiple smaller monitors and depth.

CNN's 1-4pm ET version of CNN News Central debuted today. The open is updated to include DC landmarks and it seems Wolf has lost his studio? (The Situation Room used a flash cam again today. I was wondering if they'd go back to using the studio once rehearsals were done.) Interested to see what they do on election/primary days when they are setting up the studio and rehearsing for the evening election coverage.

New 7-day at 5:00. Guess they slotted in the wrong slide at noon. Overall, the new weather graphics are a big improvement over the previous look, but that's not saying much. I like seeing more white being used as it makes it feel fresher. (The old look used a lot of black boxes and it just never looked good.) It seems like they really want to use all caps everywhere, except in one graphic. The | symbol seems like unnecessary clutter. And in the 7-day, it's weird to me how the temperatures split up the icon and the description (aren't they related and should be together?). Of course the usual sloppiness that we've come to expect from this station is present in terms of badly aligned text and squished logos. Maybe they'll get around to adjusting those pixels some day (though they're STILL using the sports graphic that repeatedly says CBS NEWS LOS ANGELES, so maybe not). At least the weather graphics match the rest of the graphics for the first time in many years. Will they ever fix this?

CBS 2 CBS News New York is finally using the new weather graphics as of noon. Except they're using the old 7-day.

Seems uncommon to announce your next job a month and a half before leaving your current job, especially when you're not staying within the overall company, no?

I generally have not been a fan of Don's for a while. He definitely seems to crave the spotlight in a way that is really irritating to me. I was shocked that he was tapped to headline the new morning show, especially over signs the network was trying to appease Republicans while also cutting back on drama. Don seems tired in the morning and just seems even less sharp than he was in primetime and adds little substance to any conversation. He is easily outshined by Poppy and Kaitlan. Don may be, dare I say it?, past his prime. I do want to correct something Variety twice claimed in the article, including here: When CNN hired Alisyn Camerota but didn't know where to put her at first, she was paired with Don for a time on CNN Tonight. It might have only lasted a few weeks or months but it was permanent enough for both anchors' names to have been on the show's logo. (Alisyn would go on to bump Kate Bolduan as Chris Cuomo's New Day co-anchor.)

Sunday morning baseball?

How is the show and how does it fit into the right-leaning vibe the network has been giving off?

I'm not sure what I think of the new format. I like the use of graphics on the studio screens that give flat walls an appearance of depth. I like the new music (or at least the retro CNN signature -- the rest felt like generic production music). I'm not a fan of the lack of anchor interaction. There are three anchors but they almost never acknowledge each other. They're all pretty much presenting stories individually. Toward the end, John and Kate discussed March Madness with sports contributor Christine Brennan, but that was it. What's the point of three anchors other than to satisfy previous contractual agreements? John and Kate have worked together in the past (used to co-anchor At This Hour before John went to 9-11am Newsroom, before going to New Day) and have great, sarcastic chemistry, but none of that was seen today. It felt "heavily produced" which I actually don't like, especially for a daytime newscast. I wonder how well equipped they will be at handling unexpected stories if they don't have maps, graphics and camera shots planned in advance. Will they be slower? Also felt like fewer panels or discussions with experts with a greater focus on live reporters in the field. More reporting is good but I think cable news viewers have become accustomed to panels/debates. The whole broadcast overall felt kind of lifeless, and I'm a fan of these three anchors.

Initial impressions from just the first few minutes: I love the famous CNN signature being used in the theme. The use of the studio (the screens and RSS feeds) reminds me of the original The Situation Room.