Former anchor (Aaron Brown) questions TV news priorities

http://www.mailtribune.com/archive/2006/0302/local/stories/07local.htm

Former CNN anchor Aaron Brown had an epiphany following his network’s saturation coverage of the 2001 murder of actor Robert Blake’s wife.

The crowd that packed SOU’s Rogue River Room Wednesday night listened as Brown recalled shuffling home at 3 a.m. after a four- hour tour of duty reporting in excruciating detail a low-level celebrity shooting on the day four Canadian soldiers died in Afghanistan. His wife was waiting up for him with only one question: Why?

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He suggested his eventual demise at CNN resulted from criticizing the network’s obsession with lurid celebrity gossip while short-changing meaningful news.

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"Cable indulges too often in what amounts to mud wrestling — just two people shouting at each other," he said.

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According to Brown, CNN spent a fortune covering the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. After two weeks, he said, ratings fell to normal levels. The Fox news channel channeled their dollars into a story about American teenager Natalee Holloway disappearing in Aruba. Fox, of course, cleaned up in ratings and revenue.

Independent World News. it's the wave of the future. soon people will say, cnn who?

He was an arrogant blowhard then, and I doubt the new Aaron Brown is some heroic Murrow figure ready to singlehandedly redeem tv news.