Citing low viewership, Campbell Brown announced today that she will no longer anchor her own show for CNN. “I knew on the day that I accepted my job at CNN that a ratings victory at 8 pm was going to be a formidable challenge,” she said in a statement. “As I have been told over and over, this is the toughest timeslot in cable news. That is obviously due to the incredible talents of my 8 pm competitors. I have also always marveled whenever a television anchor says that he or she pays no attention to ratings. I’m pretty sure the last time any anchor could honestly ignore ratings was well before I was born. Of course I pay attention to ratings. And simply put, the ratings for my program are not where I would like them to be. It is largely for this reason that I am stepping down as anchor of CNN’s Campbell Brown.
“To be clear: this is my decision, and one that I have been thinking about for some time,” Brown continued. “As for why, I could have said, that I am stepping down to spend more time with my children (which I truly want to do). Or that I am leaving to pursue other opportunities (which I also truly want to do). But I have never had much tolerance for others’ spin, so I can’t imagine trying to stomach my own. The simple fact is that not enough people want to watch my program, and I owe it to myself and to CNN to get out of the way so that CNN can try something else. CNN will have to figure out what that is. The 8pm hour in cable news world is currently driven by the indomitable Bill O’Reilly, Nancy Grace and Keith Olbermann. Shedding my own journalistic skin to try to inhabit the kind of persona that might co-exist in that line up is simply impossible for me. It is not who I am or who I want to be; nor is it who CNN asked me to be at any point. This is the right decision for me and I hope it will be a great opportunity for CNN.”
Brown said she plans to help CNN through the transition period. It’s unclear how her show will be replaced or when she’ll anchor her last broadcast. “Today is about Campbell, said CNN President Jon Klein in a statement. “We want to wish her well as she begins the next phase of her life. We respect her decision to leave. We will announce our programming plans in the coming weeks.”
I’ve disliked her since she was on NBC. She always seemed so happy when reporting something awful about someone. The worse it was, the more pleased with herself she seemed.
She’s good at what she does. Honest. And hard hitting when she has to be….maybe she’s headed back to nbc?
She’ll probably go to Fox News, where her husband Dan Senor frequently appears. She’s not non-partisan any more than her husband. She’s a republican, and eats up their talking points (especially the ones written by her husband.) Senor was being pressured by the Republican party to run for the US Senate from NY, but he has decided not to. But they are still a Republican power-couple.
Extremely honest statement – good luck to Campbell in the future!
It looks like femininity at 8 pm will only be represented by Keith Olbermann now.
HAHA!
GOP fears Olbermann.
GOP laughs at Olbermann. The whole world laughs at Olbermann. He’s a joke and was much better on SportsCenter.
Hahahaha.. specially when he cries like a little B*&CH and stupidly attacks those that don’t buy into his idiotic ideas by calling them nazis, and uses a blackboard to scare idiots into believing in a non-existing thread… oh wait…
Win!
nice. *thumbs up*
ROTFLMAO
What made anybody think that she was interesting enough to be an anchor?
The problem with the news these days, is that all we have are “Journalists” who are left or right wing activists. Most are not true journalist!
Exactly…I’m not looking for op-ed pieces, I want the facts. Nothing more, nothing less.
Some tv people, like Keith Olbermann, Rachel Maddow, and Glenn Beck, admit they are commentators. They discuss issues, and give their points of view. But you know what you’re getting when you watch because they don’t claim to be unbiased.
It’s the people who claim to be unbiased journalists, but who really give just their views, that are the problem.
I am sad that the only decent journalist today is stepping down. I personally despise both Nancy Grace and Bill O’Reilly. I thought her coverage was the only honest coverage out there. Oh well. There is always BBC America…
I can honestly say that I’ve never seen her show. CNN is a total disaster. Complete liberal BS from start to finish. How can you even mention Olberman in the same sentence as O’reilly. Olberman has 5 viewers for every 5,000,000 viewers O’Reilly has.
What a choad. You probably think McDonald’s = good food since it sells.
Good that she’s leaving she’s so annoying!
Somewhere, Paula Zahn is laughing.
hahaha …. do you think she stepped down or was nudged…or pushed?
No, I don’t think that Paula Zahn and her show on Random Discovery Network #23 are laughing. Paula Zahn’s show was more of a snoozfest than Brown’s. Speaking of Brown…CNN should’ve never let go of Aaron Brown. He managed to have neutrality and gravitas.
the reason that campbell’s show is doing so poorly against olbermann’s and o’reilly show is that she is not biased and viewers want bias. they want the host to give their opinion. w/o opinion, you’re just getting news and that’s boring. msnbc and fox news are biased, but that’s why they’re doing better than cnn. cnn is boring w/o any bias.
It’s very sad, but it’s also very true. But although Olberman is biased, he’s also funny as heck… probably the most entertaining “news” show around. I’ll never understand why people like O’Reilly though… so much vitriol yet zero charm or charisma to make it even slightly enjoyable.
On the odd occasion that I’d channel-surf and land at her program, I did find her (as most of her CNN colleagues) to have a liberal bias. The difference was that she didn’t raise her voice or interrupt her guests like her 8p.m. cable competitors.
Campbell Brown has a conservative bias, not a liberal bias. She’s a republican. Her husband, Dan Senor, was an advisor to George W Bush. He is considered a rising star in the Republican party.
I never liked the show (felt like it had an agenda and was in the pursuit of it unclear) but I respect the tone of this announcement. Well done and honest! Good luck!
Yes the agenda was honesty. Campbell Brown was the only journalist that didn’t spit vile biased lies. I’ll miss her.
Campbell shined when she was teamed with David Bloom. They were a team that could take on any morning show even though theirs was Weekend Today. It was so sad that it had to end so soon. I always felt that Campbell left NBC Weekend Today when her other half was gone. It was like losing your best friend. I wish Campbell all the best. Not meaning to speak on his or his family’s behalf, I’m sure David would, too.
Sorry, but Soledad O’Brien was David Bloom’s “other half” on Weekend Today when he died.
Never was a fan though CNN is my news network of choice. Cya Campbell
She eats up GOP talking points like no one else… Maybe John King does it more. She was a bore and he is too. I wish CNN was more international like they used to be.
And CNN loses another moderate reporter. Looks like they’re trying to go ultra liberal.
Brown is not a moderate. She’s clearly a Republican who HATES Obama. It has come through in her reporting time and time again. Too bad, because I really liked her way back when…