Zahn coming to CNN

I have had an ongoing fascination with the Fox News Channel for quite a long time -- not because of their transparently conservative editorial agenda, but because they constantly promote themselves as the "fair and balanced" news channel when they're obviously anything but. They're nothing more than a cheerleader for Bush, defending his every action, and brushing any criticism of the President off onto good ol' Clinton.

Fox's competitor, CNN, has traditionally been the cable news leader for many years, until now. Caught off guard during the big AOL / Time Warner merger (parent company of CNN) CNN has floundered in the ratings, dropping like a rock while Fox and its boisterous, tabloid style of editorialized news has quickly stolen their eyeballs.

Not surprisingly, rumor has it that moral at CNN has dropped to dangerously low levels (be sure to check out Ted's Turnovers for the nitty gritty).

So what's the point of all this? As someone who lives and works in Atlanta (the home base for CNN), the hiring (or nabbing) of Zahn away from the Fox News Channel smells like trouble. [Washington Post Article] Zahn will be pulling down around two million a year to host a completely new morning show for CNN. But no, she's not coming to Atlanta. The show will be broadcasted from the new AOL / Time Warner building in New York (click here for photos).

Sure, CNN has remote broadcasting facilities, including their well used "Washington Bureau" for Wolf Blitzer and all their beltway reporters, but the Zahn situation is different. This will be a full fledged morning show, similar to what you would see on, say, the Today show. New set, new style, everything.

How long can CNN possibly stay in Atlanta? Can you imagine how odd it will look to go from Zahn's glossy set in New York, back down to the low-ceilings and cramped spaces of the Atlanta news desk? With the merger of AOL / Time Warner, Turner has lost a great deal of his control over the network. In my eyes, it would appear that the Zahn move will be a testing ground for what may be coming -- the eventual move of CNN, lock stock and barrel, to the Big Apple.

Atlanta is known, like it or not, throughout the globe for a handful of things >> our airport, Gone With The Wind, the Olympics, and CNN. If the aforementioned does come true, it would be a big blow to Atlanta's image.

But who can blame them? Part of the problem with CNN being located in Atlanta is that the city is nowhere near the entertainment and news capital that New York is. In New York, celebrities and stock market analysts hardly break a sweat showing up, in person, on the sets of Fox, NBC, or anyone else. In Atlanta, everything is done via live remotes, which in the oncoming age of immediately accessible news, just doesn't fly anymore.

CNN needs to be in the thick of the action, and unless another war breaks out in the Iraq (which CNN undoubtedly hopes for, in a twisted, nostalgic way), things may only be getting worse.

One thing is for sure, I'll be tuning in. Wonder if she'll have to wear the short skirts and layers of lip gloss that she (and all the other ladies) at Fox News are dolled up in.