Why Not a Libertarian CNN?
As long as we're beating (beatoing?) on CNN, why not suggest that the original cable news behemoth turn its ratings slide around by going libertarian? To wit, Scott Jensen's web manifesto (webifesto?):
The Cable News Network (CNN) is now in third place among the three cable news networks and its viewership continues to fall. It is the grand-daddy of cable news networks … and that's what the public views it as. An old fossil. What CNN needs is a new direction and there's no better way to get a new direction than getting a new boss….
I would like to put my name forward to be the new CEO of CNN. My name is Scott Jensen, I'm a 45-year-old marketer, author of the 2003 white paper "P2P Revolution" (http://www.nonesuch.org/p2prevolution.pdf) that focused on peer-to-peer networks' potential impact on the entertainment industry, and the following is my vision for a new CNN….
As this last presidential election has proven beyond doubt, there is no impartial news media. But the truth of the matter is that there never was an impartial news media. Read history. Shortly after the United States of America was born, newspapers were either republican (what Thomas Jefferson represented) or federalist (what Alexander Hamilton represented). And today the press is just as biased. Today, Fox caters to conservatives and CNN and MSNBC cater to liberals…
Libertarianism is where young adults live and breathe and thus I, as CNN's new CEO, would better position CNN to go after advertisers' most sought-after demographic group. Libertarianism's "Do as you like as long as you physically harm no one" is something young adults can readily understand and fully agree with. Fiscally conservative and socially liberal is another way of putting libertarianism. Personal freedom and personal accountability is still another way of putting it….
More, including digs at Larry King and an email address for Time Warner's CEO, here.