Opinion: The Banfield/Cooper comparison…
Interesting what popped up on TVNewser today from a “CNN employee”….
Anderson Cooper did not just have a good run reporting from the field on one story and get his own show like Ashleigh Banfield. Cooper has anchored a weekday program for over a year and weekends for a year before that. He has delivered real ratings and has a real following…not something imagined or speculated about as in the MSNBC case. The comparison is a sham and should be off the website.
Keep in mind Anderson has not just been a show anchor — he anchored WEEKS of War Coverage during the breaking news overnight period when ALL the news was unfolding from the field and he was virtually flawless. There is no tougher anchor role than that. That was when he earned his stripes and got his own weekday program. Since then he’s not only risen as an anchor but in subsequent stories from the Tsunami, to Schiavo, to the Pope’s death, to the Iraqi elections, to the famine in Niger, to the hurricanes. He dwarfs Banfield in every way…even longevity ALREADY
I quote this in full because it deserves examination. Clearly the sudden Banfied references being applied to Cooper in two different columns on both coasts of the U.S. simultaneously, which were subequently picked up on by all the sites, is a monkey wrench that CNN had neither anticipated nor wanted thrown into their carefully coreographed rollout of the the new CNN primetime lineup. One wonders how high up in the CNN chain this comment came from.
One can understand why the “Banfield comparison” would sound alarms at CNN. Banfield’s rise at MSNBC and NBC was meteoric. Her fall was nearly as fast, though ineptitude and mismanagement on MSNBC’s and NBC’s part played a significant role in her downfall. CNN doesn’t want the word “Banfield” being applied to Cooper because of the implied meaning it carries. But is it totally unjustified as the emailer posits? Let’s take a closer look….
Keep in mind Anderson has not just been a show anchor — he anchored WEEKS of War Coverage during the breaking news overnight period when ALL the news was unfolding from the field and he was virtually flawless. There is no tougher anchor role than that. That was when he earned his stripes and got his own weekday program.
Banfield started out anchoring an MSNBC knockoff of The View which didn’t last. But she was subsequently paired with Lester Holt on MSNBC’s flaghship news program. Then 9/11 hit and Banfield covered the story as it happened from the street. She went to Afghanistan and covered the invasion and the war there, dying her hair so that she wouldn’t stick out like a sore thumb to any perspective snipers. Her coverage was excellent and that is what got NBC News’ attention. That was how she earned her stripes and got her own weekday program. The paralell to Cooper’s start is so similar to suggest otherwise would be to ignore the truth….
Since then he’s not only risen as an anchor but in subsequent stories from the Tsunami, to Schiavo, to the Pope’s death, to the Iraqi elections, to the famine in Niger, to the hurricanes.
Here it is harder to make a fair comparison between the two because there were reasons why Cooper continued to excel and Banfield stumbled. But most of the reasons Banfield stumbled had to do with MSNBC (and by extension NBC) not knowing what to do with her once they put her front and center. MSNBC created an “Ashleigh Across America” program which wasn’t that good. And it got cancelled. Who is to say how things would have turned out if MSNBC had an audience and Banfield had a better program? MSNBC was in a state of dissaray during this period with Erik Sorenson at the helm. Cooper never had this kind of problem. You can have an arguement about whether CNN is in dissaray but you can’t argue that CNN isn’t making the most of the talent it does have. You couldn’t make that argument about MSNBC during that period.
Also there is this comment that bears examination…
He has delivered real ratings and has a real following…not something imagined or speculated about as in the MSNBC case
It’s true that CNN has had better luck with Cooper in the ratings than MSNBC did with Banfield. But there is no speculation about the fans Banfield has. They’re real. And they’re fanatical. I’ve had numerous run ins with them on the internet in the past and their blind loyalty to Banfield is unquestionable.
So are direct comparisons between Banfield and Cooper relevent? I think the answer is yes. But only up to the point in time that they got their own show. After that point, comparisons aren’t valid because CNN had a plan for Cooper. Whether you agree with that plan or not is beside the point. But MSNBC did not.
The comparisons to Banfield really are ridiculous. Her career collapsed precisely because she couldnt carry a show, not because she was a known quantity who switched timeslots. And thats what Andersongate ammounts to .. a timeslot shift. Aaron Brown had the cushiest timeslot on CNN, and his inability to keep a decent amount of LKL’s lead in audience is reflected in his ratings. AC360 and Newsnight generally did identical numbers, with the difference being that Anderson generated his own numbers, Aaron inherited his from Larry.
Comment by spud_jr — November 7, 2005 @ 9:16 pm
Great read as usual, Spud. I don’t think the comparison is fair because (what it means to me is) people think AC360 will fail like Banfield did and get canned. I think the comparison is a ploy used to tear AC360 down because people are blaming him for AB getting the boot. Once again i’ll say AC360 did NOT replace AB and start hosting Newsnight….AC360 simply had a time slot change.
Comment by Terance — November 7, 2005 @ 9:25 pm
Just because you run into a few nut cases on the internet doesn’t mean she has some huge fan base. Rudi Bahkitar or whatever her name is another example a this. Otherwise, why wouldn’t networks capitalize on these so called fan bases. I think they know more about who is liked and who isn’t than we do.
Comment by bravesfan — November 7, 2005 @ 10:05 pm
I should add usually they know who is liked and who isn’t. I could name a few people at the cable and network level that some executives are in love with for no logical reason.
Comment by bravesfan — November 7, 2005 @ 10:07 pm
“Just because you run into a few nut cases on the internet doesn’t mean she has some huge fan base.”
Agreed. You’re blowing this way out of proportion (as usual)…Banfield didn’t have a solid fan base at all. Just another flavor of the month.
Comment by Anonymous — November 7, 2005 @ 10:22 pm
Know one thing, if that e-mail is REAL, it didn’t come from anyone higher than a staff member of secretary. CNN and all executives have shut off any communication with TVNewser. He himself admitted he couldn’t get Jon Klein to answer his calls or e-mails for comment on AB/NN/AC situation.
I too agree the comparison is silly, a better one is Geraldo amd Cooper!!
Comment by anonymous — November 7, 2005 @ 10:32 pm
I agree with Spud. CNN didn’t anticipate the Banfield comparison, which I agree with. She was more than just the flavor of the month. She anchored weekends. She worked her way up. She traveled the world reporting and that was after doing solid weeks of reporting durig the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks. They are one in the same - heck, they even were Power Celebrity Jeopardy guests during the same week.
Comment by Staycee — November 7, 2005 @ 10:38 pm
Cooper delivers “real” ratings. That shows you that it’s not from just a staffer. Everyone at CNN knows that he doesn’t get good ratings. He can’t even break a million viewers. I bet that e-mail came from Klein himself. If he lies to viewers about the category of a hurricane to get more viewers, I wouldn’t put it past him to get somebody to send a carefully worded e-mail to a blog.
Comment by Gregg — November 7, 2005 @ 10:43 pm
Spud is totally right. The only reason Banfield stumbled earlier than when Cooper will go down is becasue of MSNBC and their inability to know what to do with her. But don’t let that get in the way. Banfield and Cooper are one in the same. Down to the core.
Comment by anonymous — November 7, 2005 @ 10:48 pm
If you take the difference between CNN and MSNBC and put that into the ratings equation, their ratings really aren’t that different cause Anderson averaged only 700,000 viewers so far for the year and that’s really not a lot. It’s not even close to a millino. And if he did have such following, why did the numbers at 10 PM fall back to normal once the hurricanes went away. He’s going to stumble pretty soon becasue without hurricane season, his ratings won’t be there.
Comment by NGS — November 7, 2005 @ 10:58 pm
Cooper, Banfield and Geraldo. They’re all the same.
Comment by JMW — November 7, 2005 @ 11:02 pm
“CNN and all executives have shut off any communication with TVNewser. He himself admitted he couldn’t get Jon Klein to answer his calls or e-mails for comment on AB/NN/AC situation”
Don’t be too sure. Just because Newser got (apparently) punished over the Cooper announcement, does not mean that CNN has broken off all contact with him.
Comment by Spud — November 7, 2005 @ 11:42 pm
The ratings dropped off for NN (with AB & AC) because Cooper’s fans couldn’t deal with AB. Simple as that!
Comment by Terance — November 8, 2005 @ 12:06 am
spud; i respect your work and words but i know what i’m talking about so i’ll be as sure as i feel comfortable being.
Comment by anonymous — November 8, 2005 @ 1:17 am
Terance do you want to report some findings to prove that? The only thing I see is a drop in ratings once Cooper joined the show. So it’s pretty obvious AB’s fans couldn’t stand Cooper.
Comment by AnonymousHere — November 8, 2005 @ 3:19 am
I didn’t think about that! It makes sense, people that watch AC or AB would probably not like both. I used to follow the ratings everyday when they were available. I don’t have any off hand besides TVN’s program rankers. (which are monthly I believe). I think the question that remains is how much of LKL’s lead in will AC keep? I doubt he’ll drop half like AB did.
Comment by Terance — November 8, 2005 @ 8:38 am
There were times that Cooper hosted the show alone without Brown and the rating still went down. If Cooper is more than a Klein appointed “it” boy, his ratings over the past year would have backed that up, and they don’t. Quite frankly, I’m more interested in what Ashleigh Banfield is up to.
Comment by ITK — November 8, 2005 @ 11:05 am