Campbell Brown quits CNN after deciding no one likes her enough to justify having her own show
In keeping with her credo of “no bias, no bull,” CNN anchor Campbell Brown has announced that she is ending her namesake series due to its low ratings, and because of her refusal to adopt the sort of outsized, melodramatic punditry that might actually attract viewers. Campbell Brown, the show, has always been a tough sell in the highly competitive 8 p.m. slot, and Brown says she recognizes that “the ratings for my program are not where I would like them to be.” She then went on to issue one of the most straightforward explanations for quitting that anyone's given since Sarah Palin resigned as governor to coach basketball:
As for why, I could have said, that I am stepping down to spend more time with my children (which I truly want to do). Or that I am leaving to pursue other opportunities (which I also truly want to do). But I have never had much tolerance for others’ spin, so I can’t imagine trying to stomach my own. The simple fact is that not enough people want to watch my program, and I owe it to myself and to CNN to get out of the way so that CNN can try something else. CNN will have to figure out what that is. The 8pm hour in cable news world is currently driven by the indomitable Bill O’Reilly, Nancy Grace and Keith Olbermann. Shedding my own journalistic skin to try to inhabit the kind of persona that might co-exist in that line up is simply impossible for me.
America, you are now free to bullshit Campbell Brown all you like.