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SHAME ON CNN

WHO on Earth would call at a time like this to talk about the ratings?

Publicists in the TV news business, that's who.

Thousands upon thousands of people are likely dead beneath the rubble of what used to be the World Trade Center and some publicists were phoning us here at The Post yesterday to make sure we knew how many people watched their network's coverage on TV on Tuesday.

And lest anyone think I'm painting the entire industry with the same brush, let me come right out and identify who the culprits were. It was the publicity department at CNN in New York.

They were the only flacks who called to make promotional hay of this unspeakable, unfathomable and incomprehensible tragedy.

They not only phoned in the morning to let us know that they would be providing us with ratings via e-mail in mid-afternoon, they pitched interview opportunities with two of their anchors, Aaron Brown, formerly of ABC, and Paula Zahn, recently lured from Fox News Channel - each of whom saw their first day of duty on CNN Tuesday.

Excuse me? Aaron Brown? What did he do except face a camera that had been set up on the roof of the building at 34th Street and Eighth Avenue where CNN rents office space? He wasn't anywhere near the scene of the tragedy.

As for Paula, I hardly think it's news-worthy - given everything that's happened in the last few days - that she anchored her first airshift Tuesday evening. Isn't that why she was hired in the first place - as a news anchor?

And the ratings the publicists were peddling were essentially meaningless.

Here's all you need to know about the viewership on Tuesday: Everybody with a TV set was watching TV.

It matters not one bit which network drew the biggest audience. Moreover, I doubt if the Nielsens could even provide an accurate picture of viewership, since at various points during the day on Tuesday, the coverage could be seen in one form or another on as many as 35 channels.

With that many outlets available for news, who gives a hang who watched what?

The only thing the average viewer should be concerned with at such times is the quality of the coverage. And in that regard, the nation's TV news organizations - including CNN - did their jobs beautifully

-- Anonymous, September 14, 2001

Answers

well, we can pull peter from that...

LOL

-- Anonymous, September 14, 2001

I was just recently commenting that CNN just isn't the same news source as it was when Ted Turner still called the shots. There is a local cable channel here that has been running the BBC reporting on the terrorist story. Have to say that I get more information from the BBC in 10 minutes than I get from our own sources in 30 minutes. *And* the BBC includes world reactions and world markets in the mix.

-- Anonymous, September 14, 2001