Fired CNN anchor Aaron Brown tells MarketWatch's Jon Friedman that you can lose more in a golf game than just a few bucks--you can lose your reputation forever:
Perhaps his darkest professional moment occurred a few years ago when a number of media writers blasted him. It appeared that Brown, who was playing in a golf tournament in California, didn't rush back to CNN to anchor a broadcast in the aftermath of the Columbia space shuttle disaster.
He nodded knowingly and said quietly, "They (CNN) screwed up -- I screwed up. I'd hope there would be a statute of limitations. (But) other people want it to be a defining moment for me."
There's a reason defining moments are just that--they define. In this case, the Columbia/golf tournament debacle highlighted that Brown didn't particularly, IMO, like his job. Friedman goes on to write, referring to the Robert Blake case, that "Brown detests pulp journalism." Which begs the question: what did he like covering?
Maybe Brown just needs the right staging ground for his particular style--he also told Friedman he'd listen to a job offer from Fox News, and that he "enjoyed competing with them." Hey, if the thrill of going mano a mano against a worthy opponent is what gets Brown's mojo going (it certainly works for Helen Thomas and David Gregory vis a vis President Bush) maybe Brown shouldn't go to work for FNC. Maybe he should take Keith Olbermann's 8pm slot at MSNBC. Now that would be entertainment.
