Editor’s note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff. 

Is this news story real or fake? For CNN the past week has been a nightmare for the once-great Cable News Network started in 1980 by media-trail-blazer Ted Turner. News icons Edward R. Murrow and Walter Cronkite would be ashamed of today’s mainstream media and their relentless use of anonymous sources in their constant attack upon President Donald Trump and his ‘American First’ agenda.

Political conservatives like long-time commentator Bill O’Reilly and other media giants like the owner of One America News Network should come together and purchase CNN’s Headline News Channel from parent company Time Warner. It may be a good time to make such an offer and here’s why.

CNN is in trouble over a recent Russian news story that was challenged and proved to be fake resulting in a rare retraction from CNN with at least three reporters resigning. CNN’s “credibility” troubles go far beyond one fake news story. CNN’s ratings are way down and have been for some time which means advertising revenue is down. When ratings are in the basement so is CNN’s bank account.

CNN is shunned by conservatives and independents. Anti-CNN rhetoric is all over social media. Virtually all supporters of President Trump, who has called CNN “fake news” many times, have stopped watching CNN. Buying CNN’s Headline News would put real conservative issues and personalities front and center once again. The traditional conservative TV home has been the FOX News Channel for years, but when they canned O’Reilly’s ‘The Factor’– broadcast weeknights at 8 pm — things began to change. Existing programs and personalities on Fox News were shifted around with no real replacement for O’Reilly except for anchors Tucker Carlson and Sean Hannity staying on board. This network is moving to the center from far-right-wing stands on controversial political subjects. But CNN remains far-left in their support of liberal philosophy.

Just about all TV cable-satellite networks in the USA and abroad carries CNN’s Headline News, but this network is way under-utilized and it has outgrown its original purpose. Newer technology has taken over leaving Headline News without a clear mission. Weekday mornings are best with Robin Meade’s ‘Morning Express’ news show based in the USA and Kristie Lu Stout  from CNN Hong Kong. Both Meade and Stout are gifts from God and neither is too political. They are both news professionals of the highest order with their brand of straight-up news mixed with a few laughs, especially with Meade’s ‘Morning Express.’

But afternoons, evenings and weekends Headline News is terrible and full of repeat crime programs and other old shows that have no impact – a waste of precious, expensive on-air time piped directly to 97 million households in America, according to Wikipedia. Just because a news network reaches 97 million homes does not mean they are watching but the market penetration is there.

Ever since former prosecutor and long-time TV talk show host Nancy Grace left her nightly Headline News program in 2016 — their ratings are dismal. Grace was extremely popular and drew high ratings for her ‘take-no-prisoners’ coverage of high profile crimes especially those involving children like the Casey Anthony case involving the death of her 2-year-old child in Orlando and the missing-child case involving 6-year-old Hailey Cummings in Putnam County, that both played out for months on end in Florida with nationwide news coverage. Since Grace left Headline News there’s not been anyone anchoring a national news show like she did with her heart-felt compassion except perhaps John Walsh and his ‘America’s Most Wanted.’

These days Grace makes frequent appearances on TV news shows offering her opinion on crimes involving missing children and other high-profile cases. She should be brought back to the national TV audience. Boring Headline News anchor Ashleigh Banfield with ‘Primetime Justice’ replaced Grace.

Headline News used to be the best of current headlines from around the world, including sports — that changed every 30 minutes all day long. It was always on TV monitors at airport restaurants, hotel lobbies and doctor offices everywhere. A quick source for the most important news stories of the day, but now most of this news is on everyone’s smart phones. There is also a lot of duplication on CNN and Headline News covering the same subjects with the same interviews by the same anchors. It’s as if the CNN executives don’t really know what to do with this established network that clearly has lost its way. Headline News is a sitting duck for purchase and wham the new owner is in 97 million homes competing in every way with mainstream media.

But coming out of new technology and a bright young mind from Costa Rica – Jairo Rivera of San Jose — an innovative website is under construction to bring anyone local-live-news feeds from anywhere in the world with just a click. For example if you’re a British citizen visiting in Costa Rica and you get a text message about a terror attack or natural disaster that just happened in northern England — where your family lives — click on that location and presto you are live with local news broadcasts. No filtering of news by mainstream media. No waiting around for news. Go direct to the eyewitness source of breaking news anywhere in the world. This is Mr. Rivera’s goal and he’s onto something.

It’s still a ways off in the future when cable TV and satellite TV programing will be replaced with internet-based broadcasts reaching millions of homes on 50-inch flat-screen TVs in the USA and beyond. But it’s coming.

 

P.S. President Trump on Wednesday night held his first official Campaign 2020 kickoff fundraiser at Trump International Hotel on Pennsylvania Avenue just a few blocks from the White House with 300 Republican donors attending the event which raised about $10.5 million. Proceeds from the $35,000 tickets were split 50-50 with Trump’s Campaign 2020 and the Republican Party, according to ABC, BBC and AP news reports. Liberal mainstream media along with the Democrats are already screaming “conflict of interest.”

 

About the Author

Britt Nelson relocated to Costa Rica in 2011 from Florida, where he served as news editor for the Palatka Daily News, a newspaper owned by the New York Times Regional Newspaper Group (NYT-RNG) for 20 years.

Nelson served the NYT-RNG for 18 years in Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia, North Carolina and Florida as a correspondent, reporter, staff writer, senior staff writer training new reporters, copy editor, page designer, editorial writer, editorial page editor and editorial board member.