After Aaron Brown being sacked, will Keith Olbermann be the next one?

[Ignacio Upton]

While I'm not a fan of Aaron Brown in every case (he's case nasty email responses to DUers before and was part of the MSM that trumpted the run up to the War in iraq) he has been consistent in not reading the talking points 100% of the time. He has called out people in both parties before, and he has been fair to Democrats compared to Blitzer and Crowley. But why is Brown leaving? Is he not conforming to CNN's mold of kissing Bush's ass? The reason why I fear Keith will be next is because they have things in common: they are both intellectual reporters (the glases in both cases add to this) and they are not afraid of their critics nor producers.

[Wetzelbill]

1. KO is the shit, I hope not nt

[sasquatch]

2. Maybe he's just getting to be too old?

Olbermann is too hip to get the axe IMHO.

[Ignacio Upton]

3. Don't think that's it

Then again Keith Olbermann has a grassroots contingent willing to protest to keep him. It's us.

[NYCGirl]

6. I agree that's the reason they sacked Brown. NT

[Eric J in MN]

32. Aaron Brown is a lot younger than Larry King (nt)

nt

[Andromeda]

35. Too old my ass...

Larry King is a gazillion years old and he's still on CNN. Bill Schneider is probably in his seventies and Bob Franken ain't no spring chicken either.

Mike Wallace isn't on CNN but he's in his eighties and Helen Thomas is, at least close to, 90 yrs.

[sasquatch]

36. Good point

I think Larry King has a deal with the devil though that allows him to keep working.

[Wordie]

38. I think there are still a lot of people for whom Larry King IS CNN. n/t

Not here at DU, admittedly, but they are out there.

[Grateful for Hope]

39. If he's old

What does that make Larry King?

[jim3775]

4. Donahue had the highest ratings on MSNBC and they canned him

So i suppose you don't have any job security in cable news if you aren't a solid republican or a blonde airhead who only talks about missing teens.

[Ignacio Upton]

9. But overall for primetime he had lousy ratings

But they did use that as an excuse to get rid of him before we went in.

[jim3775]

Overall, cable news always gets lousy ratings

what does O'liely get? A 2.5? The worst show on NBC gets more than that.

[NYCGirl]

5. If MSNBC doesn't want Keith (and that's not proven), the new president of

CBS is a big fan:

New CBS News Prez: Likes Countdown, Hardball, H&C; Misses Capital Report; Avoids Natalee
Stephen Battaglio's revealing Q&A with incoming CBS News president Sean McManus includes a question about his news-viewing habits. His answer is excerpt-worthy:

"Since I had my first discussion with (CBS chairman) Leslie Moonves a month ago, I watch all three of the evening newscasts very carefully every night.... But I will almost always watch parts of Keith Olbermann's show, Countdown. I love Hardball with Chris Matthews. I watch Hannity & Colmes because of the diversity of political opinion expressed there. I will see who Larry King has on. I will always check what Greta Van Susteren has on, and if it's a story on Natalee Holloway I immediately turn it off. I used to love Capital Report. I really enjoy watching news and the different ways they cover news events -- just as I try to watch everything that ABC Sports, NBC Sports and Fox Sports does. I'm going to watch a lot of our competition and try to learn from them."

http://www.mediabistro.com/tvnewser/

[Ignacio Upton]

8. If CBS hires Keith, then the same Right Wing Blogosphere

that took out Rather will give Moonves even more threats.

[11 Bravo]

20. I hope you're right, but I wouldn't read too much into it.

Hell, it sounds like Battaglio claims to watch everything except the Food Channel.

[louis-t]

7. Remember this folks...

It's all about ratings. If KO has the ratings, he will stay. Period.

[stray cat]

10. Give Aaron a good send off.

E-mail CNN http://www.cnn.com/feedback/forms/form4.html?3

CNN needs to know they let a good person go.

[mod mom]

15. gladly done.

[Liberty Belle]

23. Done. Kicking.

[Vadem]

40. Done and Done! Goodbye, Assholes, Cnn!!!! n/t

[spooky3]

11. the story on Yahoo! indicated Brown's ratings had dropped alot

edited to add link and clarify the pronoun

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051102/ap_en_tv/tv_cnn_brown

[Ignacio Upton]

13. Brown's or Keith's???????

If it's Keith, then watch for the ax to come down, and for us to get two hours of Chris Matthews/

[Botany]

12. MSNBC should sack Rita Cosby and give that time to Brown.

CNN dropped Brown because he was not a bush toady like
Wolf.

[sallyseven]

17. Keith is the only one worth

watching. I cannot stand Scarborough, Carlson and Rita most of th time. I watch tweety for comic relief. He is so stupid he is funny.

[SCRUBDASHRUB]

18. One story I read had a headline that he quit; the other said he

was fired.

[NYCGirl]

19. Cosby gets the highest ratings on MSNBC, followed by Keith. NT

[sickinohio]

22. I agree with you

whole heartedly!! Get rid of Rita and bring in Brown! Geez - I can't stand that woman's voice, even for a minute!

[RedOnce]

37. Yes, her voice is very irritating!

It makes it hard to watch her. I'd trade in a second for Aaron.

[okieinpain]

25. I like rita, she's sexy. hmmmmmmm..

[VolcanoJen]

14. Naw. This is all about ratings, and Keith's have been on an upward...

... swing. It's been a few weeks since I've seen "Countdown" ratings, but he's got MSNBC's second most popular show, right after "Hardball." As long as Keith stays hot, he gets to keep his show.

Anderson Cooper is the Hot Newsguy of the Moment, and during his stint sharing Aaron Brown's show, he had a positive effect on ratings. That's the experiment CNN tried, the results were what they expected, and Brown is on the outs.

Here's a good summary from TVNewser:

Aaron-Anderson: The Ratings
Gail Shister explains the numbers behind CNN's impending decision to change the primetime lineup.

"Ratings-wise, all the numbers are on" Anderson Cooper's side, she says. "Clearly, he's got the Big Mo."

In October, the hours that Cooper anchored -- 7, 10 and 11 p.m. -- showed major increases from a year earlier, particularly among the 25- to 54-year-olds advertisers covet.

Let us count the ways.

At 7 p.m., Cooper's 360 averaged 811,000 total viewers, up 36 percent over October '04, says Nielsen Media Research. (Still, he was far behind Fox News Channel's Shepard Smith.)

At 10 p.m., the Cooper-Brown NewsNight clocked 813,000 viewers -- a 4 percent spike compared with Brown's solo performance a year before. And at 11, NewsNight averaged 570,000 viewers, up 27 percent."

[jobycom]

16. Aaron Brown is almost unwatchable to me

It's not about his spin, it's about his ability. He seems detached, and the few times I've watched him (mostly around Katrina) he seemed unprepared, banal, and annoying.

That's why he's being let go, if you ask me. Obermiller doesn't suffer from any of that, and he'd get a job quickly if he was let go.

[mikelewis]

21. Jon Stewart said it best, "Lying is hard"

[Lannes]

24. Did Brown get "Norvilled" by Anderson Cooper?

NT

[NoAmericanTaliban]

26. Novak is the one that needs to go

Can't believe that CNN still has that troll-like traitor on their staff & even after he had that meltdown & cursed on national TV. CNN has progressively become more & more right wing.

[NYCGirl]

29. I don't think he's there anymore. But then I haven't watched CNN in a

couple of years.

[brmdp3123]

27. The guy was dull as rust-he put me to sleep.

[TheWebHead]

28. I suspect it had a lot to do with Aaron refusing to get out of the studio

I suspect that's why they brought Cooper in, they couldn't get Brown to go anywhere on assignment. And when news broke when he was on vacation, he'd refuse to go back in to work -- notably after the Columbia disaster he wouldn't cut short his celebrity golf tournament trip.

[Generic Other]

30. What troll is waiting in the wings to take his place?

I read the Yahoo article. Sounds like he got canned for not being young and perky.

[Eric J in MN]

33. They're putting on Anderson Cooper in his time-slot (nt)

nt

[PA Democrat]

31. I had an e-mail exchange with Brown

I was critical of his lack of coverage of anti-war voices in the cheer leading lead-up to the Iraq war. I found Mr. Brown to be quite arrogant in his responses (yes, there was more than one) to my criticism. I am sad that my anger over his failure to ask the tough questions that the media should have been asking pre-invasion has been vindicated.

I wish I had been wrong in my feelings that the MSM was nothing but a mouthpiece for the warmongers in the White House. In retrospect, I wonder if Brown felt guilty about his lack of diligence in reporting on the march to an unnecessary war. It would explain, perhaps , his need to attack and insult his critics.

Will Pitt has also had an interesting run-in with Aaron Brown.

[Generic Other]

34. He was a great loose cannon that way, especially if a little soused

I remember he was so mad at Will Pitt, he emailed and called him to drunkenly chew him out. Said something like "You'll never work in this townm again, Mr. Pitt."

Maybe Aaron can apply at Truth-Out. I'm sure he can use Will as a character reference.

[banana republican]

41. My guess is he is taking Rather's Place..... n/t

on edit spelling

[tlsmith1963]

42. I Read Something in the Paper Today

It said that CNN is really wanting to promote Anderson Cooper now. Maybe this is why Brown is leaving. CNN wants to go with Cooper.

Tammy