Paula Zahn resigns from CNN…
TVNewser scoops that Paula Zahn resigned from CNN effective August 2nd.
Resigned? I guess that’s one way of putting it. Resigned…quit, jumped ship, was forced out, saw the writing on the wall, was fired but allowed the dignity of PR spin to call it resigned…it doesn’t matter. It all boils down to the same thing; CNN didn’t want her or her show on the air anymore.
UPDATE: Say what you will about her show but you have to admit two things regarding the whole Paula Zahn era at CNN.
1) CNN didn’t know what to do with her in Primetime. She never should have been taken off of American Morning. She did well on that show. She was ill suited for a primetime show of that format at that hour but got bumped to it to make room for Soledad O’Brien, who herself got bumped to make room for Kiran Chetry. Pay attention Campbell. This could happen to you.
2) Regardless of how “shabbily” CNN treated Zahn and her show, we never heard any disgruntled stories seeping out of the Time Warner center in New York. Zahn lost her 1 am repeat, and we didn’t hear a word. Zahn was frozen out of most of CNN’s politics coverage including the 2004 Conventions, and we didn’t hear a word. Zahn had her program regularly pre-empted, and we didn’t hear a word. Zahn lost Friday nights and we didn’t hear a word. Not one word. Not from her or “associates” or “colleagues”. Nobody.
That means one of two things; either CNN runs a very tight ship where bad things don’t leak out, unlike say CBS and Katie Couric, or Zahn was a team player and bit her lip and took one for the CNN team. I’ll leave it up to you to decide which is the more likely explanation.
Wow I feel very bad for her. Whether you like her or not, people have to agree that over the past few months (or even years) CNN has treated her very, very poorly. They didn’t even let her host her own show on Friday’s anymore, never really got her involved in big stories, political debates etc., and overall they just treated her like an after thought at that network. I know I’m definitely in the minority, but I will REALLY miss watching her every night. Wonder what she’ll be doing next…
Comment by Anonymous — July 24, 2007 @ 3:31 pm
Good Riddance!
Comment by Terance — July 24, 2007 @ 3:37 pm
Hope she goes back to Fox, she could have a nice little show on Weekend Primetime?
Although i doubt it…
CNN should have done more to keep her, the dont have enough stars. If i was pulling the strings i would have gave her a 1PM - 3PM slot… pitting her against Jane Skinner and The Live Desk. That way she would have had more of a chance of getting good ratings, she was out of her league at 8
I do feel bad for her. She should have been in talks with other networks and seen this coming?
Comment by craig gordon — July 24, 2007 @ 3:38 pm
Maybe Paula can replace Brown on Weekend Today. Hee Hee
What will Paula do next?
Comment by JMK24 — July 24, 2007 @ 3:40 pm
Yeah. CNN treated her poorly. Campbell Brown has no idea what she’s gotten herself into. If she gets 8pm it’ll be PZN all over again…
Comment by Spud — July 24, 2007 @ 3:43 pm
The somewhat odd thing is that CNN is still running promos for Paula’s show…just saw one at 3:45. Maybe she’ll be on for this week or something? Or they just forgot to pull the ads? Regardless, I wonder how they’ll be plugging this hole for the next few months before snoozefest Campbell jumps on board…
Comment by Anonymous — July 24, 2007 @ 3:47 pm
Ailes doesn’t want PZ back. Actually if I was Ailes I’ll hire her and let her do those early in the morning updates lol.
Comment by Lurker — July 24, 2007 @ 3:47 pm
“Ailes doesn’t want PZ back. Actually if I was Ailes I’ll hire her and let her do those early in the morning updates lol.”
Well if i was Ailes i would want her. Id give her a show and make it a success and get one over CNN. Bring back somthing like Dayside with her the host.
Comment by craig gordon — July 24, 2007 @ 3:51 pm
Spud, do you think PZ was “suited for prime time” when she was hosting on FNC?
Comment by Terance — July 24, 2007 @ 3:57 pm
That was a different era. It was before FNC started cleaning CNN’s clock and angry pundit primetime took hold of cable news. That said I’m not sure it would make too much of a difference. Connie Chung got canned to bring Paula over and Chung’s show was an interview show as well. That’s one reason I’m not sure that Brown’s show, as it has been roughly sketched out, will fly…
I actually liked Paula’s FNC show…
Comment by Spud — July 24, 2007 @ 4:02 pm
The problem with the primetime shows was that it had no identity and changed formats multiple times. When it began it was decent counter programming to O’Reilly’s shout fest, it was more of a newsy show. Then it switched to a almost canned newsmagazine type show, then it changed again and then again. At the end it was clear it couldn’t compete, but that wasn’t the case at the beginning.
Comment by Steve — July 24, 2007 @ 4:03 pm
FNC will never take her back. They’ve spent too many years teasing her and trashing her.
At least she lasted longer on CNN than Connie Chung. That’s admirable… And really, how could this NOT be a forced resignation? The ratings were low, there were talks of a replacement for months, she kept getting bumped off the air… Maybe she can now join Dan Rather on HDNet or something.
Comment by Charles — July 24, 2007 @ 4:05 pm
Ok.. I also watched PZ all the time on FNC. And think if CNN would’ve just kept the same format/interview style, things might of turned out different.
Comment by Terance — July 24, 2007 @ 4:07 pm
Remember her FNC show was also on at a different hour. At 10pm viewers are ready for a more laid back format (as opposed to shouting talking head matches like O’Reilly, Olbermann, Grace, etc…).
Comment by Spud — July 24, 2007 @ 4:10 pm
To add,
Much in the same way as MSNBC does, CNN has to decide what it wants to be. It seems to try hard to straddle the line between being a news channel with a little bit on entertainment and and a entertainment channel with a lot of news. The various incarnations of Zahn’s show are an example of this pulling back and forth between the two. Sadly, as the coverage of Anna Nicole Smith and Paris Hilton will tell you the latter seems to be winning.
Comment by Steve — July 24, 2007 @ 4:10 pm
Well at least we’ll get to enjoy Paula for another few weeks…Aug 2nd is her last day.
Comment by Anonymous — July 24, 2007 @ 4:14 pm
Good riddance, but I don’t see Campbell Brown being much better.
Comment by spiffo — July 24, 2007 @ 4:20 pm
Do viewers really want shouting at eight PM and cozy chat at 10 PM, Spud? I’m not saying you’re wrong - I’ve just never heard this before.
Comment by Arthur — July 24, 2007 @ 4:20 pm
I don’t really agree with your assessment Spud (#17)…for example, you probably noticed that Nancy’s 10pm numbers are equal to, if not higher than her 8pm numbers. Plus 10pm on the east = 7pm on the west…I don’t think people on the west coast are particularly bothered by “shouting” at 7pm, right after dinner.
Comment by Anonymous — July 24, 2007 @ 4:25 pm
Well, didn’t we expect her to be replaced by Campbell Brown? So, she knew she was going out one way or another. She choose this way.
Comment by Noelle — July 24, 2007 @ 4:45 pm
msnbc just happens to have a void in primetime, and is running two hardballs a night.. certainly they could find room to put paula on somewhere.. thats her only option as far as I can tell.
Comment by Chris (My Two Sense) — July 24, 2007 @ 4:48 pm
Ewww…Paula on MSNBC? I don’t think so LOL
I read this interesting quote Paula gave today to the NY Times after she announced her resignation:
“We worked so hard to maintain a high quality of objective reporting on the air,” she said of her show, which recently featured a series of special reports about intolerance, including racial bias. “Yet what has become clear when you look at the landscape, particularly in the 8 o’clock hour, it seems pretty obvious the audience is drawn to opinion-driven shows. That is not what I do.”
I guess CNN brass must have initially wanted to turn Paula’s spot into more of an opinion-based hour, Zahn refused, and that’s when she began to get the “cold shoulder” as CNN hunted for her replacement.
Comment by Anonymous — July 24, 2007 @ 4:53 pm
“I guess CNN brass must have initially wanted to turn Paula’s spot into more of an opinion-based hour, Zahn refused, and that’s when she began to get the “cold shoulder” as CNN hunted for her replacement.”
Or conversely wanted to move her off the 8PM hour where she couldn’t compete and she refused to give up primetime.
Comment by Arthur — July 24, 2007 @ 5:04 pm
“high quality of objective reporting”
In whose opinion? She is as biased to the left as most of the msm. Fox would never take her back - she is damaged goods.
Comment by PF — July 24, 2007 @ 5:04 pm
I don’t really agree with your assessment Spud (#17)…for example, you probably noticed that Nancy’s 10pm numbers are equal to, if not higher than her 8pm numbers. Plus 10pm on the east = 7pm on the west…I don’t think people on the west coast are particularly bothered by “shouting” at 7pm, right after dinner.
Like I said to Terrance, it was a different era back then from 1999-2001. There was no Nancy Grace at 10pm. You had Newsnight on CNN. You had Paula Zahn’s interview show in FNC. I forget what was on MSNBC. Tape?
It’s different now. Now you can do the shoutfests at 10 to a certain degree. I don’t agree however that Grace’s 10pm repeat equals or beats her 8pm show. That does not happen all that often. Usually the 8pm show is much much stronger than the 10pm repeat.
Comment by Spud — July 24, 2007 @ 5:11 pm
Spud & Terance: Perhaps sadly, I think that famous “dead raccoon” comment about Zahn by Roger Ailes when she left Fox may have again been proven true.
Comment by Ira — July 24, 2007 @ 7:55 pm
My favorite time for PZ was when she was on the morning news with Harry Smith. Now there is something about her delivery that unsettles me…I think it is the way she clenches her teeth…makes me feel she is angry.
If CNN really wanted to beat FOX at their own game, they would put Jack Cafferty on at that hour and let Jack be Jack.
Comment by newsfan — July 24, 2007 @ 8:10 pm
I agree she was great on American Morning. That was the only time I watched it or her. What they had was working, but they needed help at 8pm. Once they moved her, they never figured out the mornings and she didn’t do well at night.
Comment by Renee — July 24, 2007 @ 11:20 pm