Headline News: More Info For rime Warriors'

Cable World, July 16, 2001 by T.L. Stanley

Revamped network dishes up tidbits for busy boomers

CNN last week provided a peek beneath the bandages at Headline News, the cable network undergoing its first face lift in years. And like most patients who have gone under the knife, it's straining to look younger.

The new tagline--"Real news. Real fast"--is being used to describe the revamp of the channel that, come August, will have jazzy new graphics, some happy chatter that links stories together, a circular anchor desk, and former NYPD Blue actress Andrea Thompson as a lead talking head.

"We're changing everything but the name," say promo spots that started airing last week, and dishing up news "at the speed of life."

A vertigo-inducing presentation at the Television Critics Association press tour in Pasadena, Calif., included the debut of a multi-element screen that had five separate streams of information beaming out at once. Anchors appear on the top right, giving the news, a block beside them gives Pop-Up Video-style tidbits on the same story, and, across the bottom half of the screen, stock market info, sports scores and a weather map. The intention is to serve up more info for "time warriors," a CNN-coined term for busy boomers, the channel's new target audience.

"Younger people who are very involved in the computer today are so used to seeing lots of information on the screen," said Jamie Kellner, chairman and CEO of Turner Broadcasting System, who oversees CNN. "Focus testing comes back off the charts. If you get older people, then some confusion comes in. But the core you want for this -18-49, 25-54--we've had great response."

"To us, it looks great and very readable," said Teya Ryan, EVP and general manager of Headline News, which has 77.9 million subscribers. "We're trying to give our audience relevant news very quickly."

The graphics are accompanied by a cacophony of music that's been created specifically for the network. Ryan described it as a mix of "world and voice and French horn."

During a video clip, the camera spun from one anchor to another at the "in-the-round studio" so quickly that reporters started laughing out loud by the time the fourth host's face flashed on screen for another seconds-long sound bite. Executives said the televised version won't go that fast, even though the live news cycles will repeat each 15 minutes.

Along with adopting a new tagline, and some show-bizzy elements, executives seem to have scrapped the motto of CNN founder Ted Turner--"The news is the star."

"It's a personality medium," Kellner said. "Attracting new, exciting personalities to the medium is another way to attract an audience."

Walter Isaacson, the newly installed chairman and CEO of CNN News Group, said it's a fine line to tread, but he's not resistant to certain Hollywood-style elements, as long as strong journalists are at the core of the channel.

"If you do it honestly, and you bring a certain credibility, it doesn't have to be boring," Isaacson said. "It can be fast-paced, have interesting personalities, be written with a certain esprit. The people doing it can be having fun. That helps the communication process."

Thompson, whose hiring has rankled many journalism traditionalists, will have plenty of time to become more experienced. She will be one of three or four anchors on set at all times, logging at least three hours a day in the anchor chair.

Thompson seems well aware that her TV stardom had more to do with getting hired than having journalistic chops--she put in one year at a small local market station before joining CNN in the spring. "I'm certainly not a seasoned journalist, but I am a promising journalist," said Thompson, who adds she's earning her stripes by showing how hard she's willing to work. "If my past, or my stardom had something to do with me getting the job, then I say, use me, baby."

Before unveiling the new Headline News, Kellner told reporters that a formal merger of CNN with a broadcast partner such as CBS or ABC was not happening. But some kind of sharing of newsgathering operations was still under consideration. CNN executives have discussed the possibility of a partnership has been discussed with the news divisions of both networks in recent months, but more serious talks have taken place with CBS.

"There's a possibility that we would do news gathering for other networks and provide services, as we do for over 600 television stations," Kellner said. "Those could create some wonderful opportunities to save money for other networks. But it would be totally separate from CNN. It wouldn't be any type of merger. It would be us licensing material to their specifications to a third party."