Background Story [Source]:
As on-demand streaming services such as Netflix, Hulu, and Disney Plus have become more popular in recent years, it has taken a lot of the younger viewers away from traditional cable TVs. As a result, cable news companies are growing increasingly wary of this trend. Therefore, a few of these cable news networks, such as Fox News, have begun to experiment with their own subscription services. Initially, Fox New’s Fox Nation had failed to garner enough audiences to subscribe because its programming contents were not widely perceived as centric or moderate enough to a significant portion of their potential audiences, in particular, millennials. And it was not until they altered their programming to include a more diverse range of opinions on their platform that it saw its first initial growth since its inception in 2018. CNN, on the other hand, also saw this trend away from cable news and has vowed to compete with Fox News in this subscription service market by establishing its very own CNN+ service. CNN officially launched the subscription service on March 29th of this year. Now, two weeks have passed since its launch, and there were a lot of reports coming out stating that CNN has struggled to attract users to its new platform as they were only able to draw in about 10,000 daily active users. This number might seem like a lot at first, but if we put it in a comparative context, it tells a very different story. For example, on the YouTube platform, they were able to attract and garner, on average, about 200,000 viewers per video. This figure means, from a broader perspective, CNN+ is performing about 95% worse than the videos it posts on its corporate-owned YouTube channel.
Question #1: Given what you have read from the excerpt above and with our assigned readings this week. What do you suppose are the main reasons behind the poor performance numbers of CNN+? Why or why not?
Interesting History for the Background Story [Source]:
Some of you might be surprised to know that CNN was considered one of the oldest and first 24-hour cable news channels in our country. They were also widely regarded as one of the many pioneers in the news industry who have shaped our modern-day reporting of wars. The sole reason was because of its integrity and swiftness of reporting on the Gulf War. Not only was it quick to report, CNN even went as far as sending its in-house correspondents and reporters over to the frontline war zones covering the war in a real-time live broadcasting format. Because of this courageousness, bravery, and the self-sacrificing nature of this bold action, CNN was, for the best part of the 20th century, regarded as the premium “gas” in the news industry and a stellar example for the news agency coming into the 21st century.
Question #2: What do you believe is the root cause that led to its demise of prominence and the erosion of its exemplary status in the cable news industry and the news industry as a whole? Why or why not?
Last but not least, I want to conclude this discussion forum with an excerpt of the preamble from the Society of Professional Journalists Code of Ethics. Their publications, although not legally binding, it serves as a golden standard in the realm of journalistic integrity. If you are majoring in communications and/or journalism, you will likely stumble across this in your future course materials.
“…public enlightenment is the forerunner of justice and the foundation of democracy. Ethical journalism strives to ensure the free exchange of information that is accurate, fair and thorough. An ethical journalist acts with integrity…” – SPJ Code of Ethics (Source)
Opinionated Background:
Our battle in controlling and mitigating COVID-19 is on its way for a full three years now. We, the human species, have benefited so much in the past couple of decades from the advancements in science. However, as we have also witnessed in the last couple of years, the lack of transparency in the scientific world has also made us extremely susceptible and vulnerable to deadly pandemic pathogens. As we move forwards in the years ahead to a full recovery, there will be stumbling blocks. However, the biggest takeaway from all of this ordeal is for us humans to learn from history and not repeat our mistakes. Unfortunately, as James Madison and the framers put it, human nature is an inescapable force of void. And therefore, everyone will fall into temptations when given just the right dose of temptations. For this very reason, I would argue that it is also just human nature that we, humans will never learn from history. Nonetheless, we must not stop our effort in trying to find the root cause of this deadly pandemic that has taken the lives of more than 6 million people around the globe. The COVID laboratory leak origin theory was, for the entirety of the Trump presidency and for the majority of 2020 and 2021, categorized as a mere conspiracy theory and hence, does not warrant further discussion. Mainstream media and social media networks actively suppressed any mentions of this hypothesis which turned out to be more credible than the natural origin theory. Amid the mounting evidence in recent months, it is now finally available for open discussion without censorship.
Question 3: In your opinion, do you believe this suppression of information is justified? Why or why not?
This is an excerpt from Stephen Colbert’s late-night comedy show. I will let Jon Stwart, the legend, speak for himself. [0:36 to 1:46]
Just for Fun: Do you agree with Jon Stewart? Why or why not?
Clover's Tree Hollow 