bspiegel
October 9th, 2009, 03:24 PM
A year ago or so, Uncle Stevie extolled the excellence of what was then known as CNN Headline News and its Morning Express program.
The EW column came not too long before the channel was rebranded HLN -- perhaps to bury the implied purpose as a short-term option for television news viewers? -- and it provided some nice juice for the program.
I thought the same thing as Uncle Steve at the time. Meade's pleasant demeanor was supported by solid reporting from Richard Lui, business news from Jennifer Westhoven and even informational weather and travel news from Bob Van Dillen. Only the barely-seen sports was substandard.
Not any longer.
In the last year or so, the station has become a self-promoting arm for itself and CNN, often at the expense of their actual purpose -- to report the news.
Of late, HLN is invading other platforms. Meade, a former beauty pageant contestant, has written a book explaining how to build and leverage self-confidence. I know this because she talks about it endlessly on her program, often noting the book's placement on the NY Times best sellers list.
This week, however, Meade went further. An interview with Jane Velez-Mitchell, who hosts an evening program on HLN and has recently published a book describing her long fall to -- and subsequent rise from -- addictions of various kinds, as well as advice for others on the same topics.
The interview, run during this morning drive-time program, ran through three segments of the program. Velez-Mitchell can be an interesting speaker -- more so when, as is often the case on her evening program, she isn't screaming. But even she cannot hold the interest of a television audience for fifteen minutes.
The president should be so lucky. He rarely gets more than a passing mention on Morning Express.
What is wrong with HLN and its staff? These folks used to toil in quiet, simply delivering a solid product. Now they are simply shills.
What do you think?
The EW column came not too long before the channel was rebranded HLN -- perhaps to bury the implied purpose as a short-term option for television news viewers? -- and it provided some nice juice for the program.
I thought the same thing as Uncle Steve at the time. Meade's pleasant demeanor was supported by solid reporting from Richard Lui, business news from Jennifer Westhoven and even informational weather and travel news from Bob Van Dillen. Only the barely-seen sports was substandard.
Not any longer.
In the last year or so, the station has become a self-promoting arm for itself and CNN, often at the expense of their actual purpose -- to report the news.
Of late, HLN is invading other platforms. Meade, a former beauty pageant contestant, has written a book explaining how to build and leverage self-confidence. I know this because she talks about it endlessly on her program, often noting the book's placement on the NY Times best sellers list.
This week, however, Meade went further. An interview with Jane Velez-Mitchell, who hosts an evening program on HLN and has recently published a book describing her long fall to -- and subsequent rise from -- addictions of various kinds, as well as advice for others on the same topics.
The interview, run during this morning drive-time program, ran through three segments of the program. Velez-Mitchell can be an interesting speaker -- more so when, as is often the case on her evening program, she isn't screaming. But even she cannot hold the interest of a television audience for fifteen minutes.
The president should be so lucky. He rarely gets more than a passing mention on Morning Express.
What is wrong with HLN and its staff? These folks used to toil in quiet, simply delivering a solid product. Now they are simply shills.
What do you think?