The upstart network founded in 1980 as the first 24 hour cable news station swept the U.S. and by 1982 was in Canada along with its sister station CNN Headline News. It would be a mistake to think the networks took a cable news newcomer sitting down. From 1981 to 1983, ABC, NBC and CBS would all install what was likely the most powerful anchors and news teams ever assembled. Peter Jennings at ABC, Tom Brokaw at NBC and Dan Rather at CBS would command their network programming and put time in coverage that rivalled CNN for marathon hours.
The 1980s were an embarrassment of riches for news in print, radio and television. But it also drew attention to how the media could be manipulated and fed misinformation by the sources and sometimes by their own news teams. Questions about ownership and direction of the news rooms and and cost cutting as a result of mergers began to occur more often. Bernard Kalb was one such man. Going from journalism to a position within the Regan Administration, he quit over the disinformation campaign against Libya's leader Gadhafi. He returned to journalism and later was the perfect host for when Reliable Sources began in 1993.
CNN had established its immediacy during the Gulf War in 1991 when Bernard Shaw, former ABC correspondent and his team John Holliman and Peter Arnett covering the start of bombardment in Baghdad by American missiles. The network also showed a bit earlier too that it could be controversial when Shaw as questioner in the 1988 debate asked Michael Dukakis if he would still support the death penalty if his wife Kitty was raped and murdered. Some people believe that Dukaksis did not show enough outrage to the question and answered it with logic and thereby missed the point of the question. CNN did what other journalist did not want to do: Be provocative and perhaps inflammatory to get an emotional response. Or more accurately, a human response.
The above examples and how news teams do their reporting and where they get it from was and has been ripe for examination. Even for good journalism can be manipulated from within and from without. Bernard Kalb was good at introducing the discussion. Other media followed suit and there was a more fulsome discussion of how the sausage was made. Kalb retired in 1998 and is 100 years old this year.
One company that was cutting edge on media reporting was the Washington Post who had Howard Kurtz covering that area among other assignments. It became a natural thought to assume he might be the person to replace Kalb. He had the job from 1998 to 2013 and I found it was instructive on standards and performance of media including CNN.
It was around 2010 that Kurtz left the Washington Post and then was working both at the Daily Beast and Reliable Sources. So much money was involved back then, Huge sums. And a whole bunch of start-ups like Politico were luring reporters away from other media. It was around 2013 that Kurtz became the source of controversy as a result of a NBA player coming out. Another incident where a source was incorrectly identified led to Kurtz leaving the Daily Beast and CNN as well. He went to FOX and began Media Buzz which was put up in competition against Reliable Sources.
I personally did not note Reliable Sources being anything but instructive during Kurtz's helming. I only learned years after the pull of big money to capture the online news world and how it could lead to cutthroat and mercenary behaviour on the part of far too many people. And a lot of that was not known or revealed with near enough candour.
The third and final host of Reliable Sources emerged from the New York Times but his coverage of media started even earlier than that in high school with a blog on media that became an industry must for following. Brian Stelter came to host in 2013 and was probably the first to come to the job specifically tied to media journalism. That is to say that he didn't work at other journalist assignments like Kalb and Kurtz had over decades.
To be clear I found Reliable Sources to be a professional show at all times. Most viewers interested in media would value the insight. I know I did. Over the many years, Sunday was a day to reflect on issues, politics and media for American TV. Meet the Press, This Week, Reliable Sources, FOX Sunday and Face the Nation have all been around decades.
In Canada, the Sunday political show Question Period has been a mainstay since 1967 and has had many good hosts. Global has had the West Block since 2011. CBC has had a few things mostly confined to their news network such as Sunday Scrum but also The Weekly with Wendy Mesley from 2018 to 2020. Now they have Rosemary Barton Live. If there is a weak performer here, it is CBC. They should have had an analytical show on Sunday for decades but they never seem to have the commitment.
The battle in the U.S. among networks reflected the polarized politics in the United States. Cable networks staked out places on the spectrum and more opinion shows emerged. News divisions that such reported the days event were squeezed by political shows back to back. Such huge sums of money were being made and provocative disinformation was rampant. Stelter focused a lot on the lies which raised the ire of the FOX network. It made for great ratings for both networks to take potshots at one another. Stelter lived very publicly which generated hostility from some, especially in Republican circles. They wanted him gone. Or at least said so. The culture wars make for good ratings. But it can be fickle as witnessed by how the ratings sag when the message can't be sustained.
I'll miss Reliable Sources because we need more media analysts. It will be curious to see where CNN will go next. I think we will see less wall to wall political coverage. Even FOX is not showing every speech Trump makes now. In the past, it was all cable news companies showing Trump's plane coming in and waiting hours for the speech. It consumes a lot of time but is the wait newsworthy? There are certainly times like 9/11 or a Hurricane Katrina where cable news networks have the immediacy to inform and offer insight.
If CNN decides to beef up news coverage across the U.S. and the world, it could change the dynamic considerably. For example, more bureau reports from around the U.S. is something that can be newsworthy instead for three hours blocks of time devoted to politics every day. I'm always amazed that network news in the U.S. are able to put such high quality into a 30 minute newscast.
Let's not forget that CNN has done a lot in lifestyle reporting too with shows like Anthony Bourdain that were widely popular. FOX has no easy counter for that. CNN Films can do historical look backs at culture, politics and people to great effect. There is still room for political shows but put people in a room together. It is a little harder to insult a person over and over in a studio where they are sitting opposite you versus talking in a monologue with only you in the studio with no consequences of someone calling you out.
Freedom of the Press is required for a functioning democracy. I hope I have not seen the last of it and good programming that analyzes the world around us.
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