"They don’t have any clue what they’re going to do." Not a very nice quote, from anyone, but especially not nice when it comes from inside the CNN organization. Here's the whole quote, in context, from Brian Stelter's piece in The New York Times this morning:
“They have this iconic personality who is going to disappear in the not-too-distant future, and they don’t have any clue what they’re going to do,” one senior employee said, speaking on the condition of anonymity because he did not have permission from the channel to speak publicly.
The Larry King situation is, indeed, serious. The Cable Gamer doesn't doubt that King wants to stay forever in his post--people like him wish to die in the saddle, as it were. And TCG further doesn't doubt that the decision to remove King would create a sticky situation, and that some of King's diehard fans (oops, don't say "die" around Larry) would abandon CNN, probably forever. That's the fix CNN finds itself in.
Meanwhile, Gawker piles on, as Gawker always does.
But what's perhaps most interesting is that blind quote from the CNN exec. That's a severe breakdown in message discipline, especially as CNN brass is attempting to convince Cable Gamers that primetime doesn't matter.
It would appear that Time Warner HQ is talking--that's the Time Warner Center, pictured above.
But who is blabbing to Stelter? From where? Which division? Within CNN, or elsewhere in the sprawling corporate empire? Time magazine, perhaps? Inquiring minds want to know, although they have no doubt that more unauthorized voices will be heard.
