CNN needs to bring new viewers; is held to a higher standard: Zucker

Submitted by ITV Production on Jun 01
indiantelevision.com Team

MUMBAI: "News is how you define it; we define it broadly as news and information. We?re expanding the audience that is watching CNN. In order to be successful, we need to bring new viewers." These remarks were made by news broadcaster CNN Worldwide president Jeff Zucker this week at the AllThingsD conference.

He noted that CNN is held to a higher standard. He also feels that CNN needs to focus more on content that one normally finds on channels like Discovery. This way new viewers will come in and he gave the example of ?Anthony Bourdain?s Parts Unknown? to make his point.

He said that Fox News and MSNBC have become political news channels, not news in general. And other channels are so focused on Washington and politics that they haven?t covered the many big non-political news events well over the past two months, which is why CNN has gained audience in that period. "While they are covering events in Washington from a political point of view that leaves the news for us to cover. That doesn?t mean we can?t cover politics, but politics is just one part of the news. We are covering politics and much more, and I think that is the opening for us."

He also defended the news broadcaster from charges that it did not correct its report on the boston Marathon bombings soon enough. "We made a mistake in Boston where we reported there had been an arrest. In fact, we corrected that mistake with 45 minutes," Zucker added.