The Media Summit conference in New York attracts executives across traditional and digital media properties. The opening keynote speaker for the 2010 Media Summit was Jonathan Klein, President of CNN, U.S.
Selected portions of the interview are paraphrased below.
Is producing 24 hour news viable?
For CNN, 2009 was the most profitable year and profits have doubled over the past 4 years. Klein also used The Wall Street Journal as an example — if the WSJ can produce 50-60 pages of high-quality content every day, so can CNN.
Areas of growth:
Online is a large growth area, especially with online video. And, mobile has a huge potential in the future. Klein also mentioned that cable has growth potential as well. With innovation, CNN reaches 50% more people today.
Joint efforts and synergy:
“You’ve got to foster a collaborative working environment.” Collaboritive efforts for CNN and their partners have been beneficial. The CNN relationship with Fortune Business Group to produce CNNMoney.com and with Time magazine have mutually benefitted both parties.
On journalism:
“Journalism is an obsession, not a profession.” According to Klein, serious journalism is cheaper than ever before.
On ratings and competition:
“I’m really afraid of social networking.” Klein is more afraid of 500 million Facebook users than 2 million more Fox viewers. People get their news from people they trust. And, Klein wants people to get their news from CNN, rather than the 1000 people that they follow on Twitter. Additionally, Klein would rather over-deliver on real journalism, than focus on best ratings.
