CNN public editor: the only question in news is ‘will it rate’

WHEN I WAS HIRED AS A PRODUCER AT MSNBC ALMOST SEVEN YEARS AGO, I did not own a television. I considered myself an accidental TV producer, having crossed the line from public radio to cable news to help launch what I thought was going to be my dream job. The show I worked on—“Up Late with Alec Baldwin”—was cancelled after only five weeks on air. Welcome to the TV news business.

Over time, I forged a role as a producer for “The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell.” I was proud of the work I had done in public radio. I thought I could use that experience to bring a broader range of stories to light at MSNBC. By the end of my tenure this summer, however, I realized I could not improve it from within. The problem as I came to understand it is industry-wide. I had to leave the network to try to change it from the outside.

And that, in part, is why I’m now taking on this new challenge, as CJR’s public editor, covering CNN. I will use what I have learned from nearly a decade in cable news to show you why you see the things you do, and why you get that frustrated feeling about certain coverage without knowing quite why.