THIS IS CNN: Don Lemon goes berserker on Kaitlan Collins

One of the unsung skills in broadcasting (and elsewhere) is knowing exactly where you stand with management - and your precise dollar value to the company - at any given moment.

 

Good example here.

https://www.nj.com/sports/2023/04/e...sive-pay-cuts-as-layoffs-begin-this-week.html

 

Tucker Carlson is a curious case because he had the prime slot. 8 ET. O’Reilly dominated that for more than a decade. Then he rode the coattails.

FNC could put anyone in that chair and get decent ratings. If they hit Jesse Watters in there and it does well, that proves one doesn’t need any actual broadcasting talent to succeed.

There are very, very few people in cable news or analysis/local news that viewers will follow. Don Lemon wasn’t one. Neither was Megan Kelly, Chris Cuomo, Greta Van Susteren or a bevy of others who left those platforms.

Also, the difference between what people say they like and what they actually watch is a wide gap. Anderson Cooper has near-unanimous approval but no one ever watches his shows.

It’s like the podcast world. Once you find one you like, it’s hard to move off the pattern or habit. Simmons, Rusillo, VSIN, Jordan Harbinger and a few betting podcasts. It’s really hard for me to want to search for something new.

 

The rare Monday morning news dump!

 

Lemon was on this morning
The first time all three had been together for a while

 

In the same way tech executives use other company's layoffs as cover for their own, presumably the brain trust at CNN saw the news about the Carlson firing and used it as cover to get rid of Lemon.

It's certainly not getting the same kind of attention.

 

I have no idea how Warner Bros Discovery's code of standards may differ than it did under Turner but I'm stunned Lemon lasted this long. Everybody signs a company policy statement during orientation. You also get to sit through numerous PR videos on workplace safety, discrimination, handling corportate secrets and the like.

It's very difficult to get fired from CNN because you suck at your job. However, I know of several people who were axed immediately for violating company policy. I got a letter of reprimand placed in my file for an incident that involved an off-color joke that would have been ignored in any newspaper deadline situation. Bad timing, wrong audience. I got the message.

Lemon can point all he wants to his "value" to the company but WBD has obviously built a solid case for dismissal with cause.

Plus, May sweeps start in a week (and it could be that Lemon's current contract ends as well) so it's a perfect time to cut ties and move on.

 

Poppy be like ...

 

Poppy has done this long enough - and done it well long enough - to know when there's a tire fire next to you and you don't want it around you... let it burn itself out.

 

SowhatImiss?

 

Don's not wrong - obviously the point being made by the guest is grade-A antihistorical reactionary fiction - but you can't make it personal.

If you know what the guest is there to say - and you do, because it's on the rundown and you talked about it in the meeting yesterday and in the meeting this morning and it's on the blue cards right in front you - have a couple facts in your pocket to punch him in the nose with.

That's bad prep and bad practice.

"I can't think with you guys in my ear"?

That's the job.

That's the whole fucking job.