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You gotta fight for your right ... to "NewsNight." David Bohrman, executive producer, says the show is "not obligated to be the newscaster of record for the day. A story has to
fight its way onto this program." "NewsNight" reaches around 1 million households at 10 p.m. ET with a unique look at the most interesting news of the day. "If you believe the tea
leaves of ratings," Bohrman says, the average viewer is younger than typical CNN addicts. Around 25 percent of viewers are between 18 and 49.
Content/Contacts
Without the mandate to strictly adhere to the day's headlines, "NewsNight" is able to cover a variety of topics - whatever strikes producers' and host Aaron Brown's interest.
Recent coverage has included an author who wrote an article for Vanity Fair after spending a month in Afghanistan. Her unique twist on the story everyone's covering: she puts a
spotlight on the heroin trade that is funding the terrorist-harboring nation. The show also recently took a look at how "walking down memory lane" with Alzheimer's patients can
make a difference in their quality of life.
Contact the show's head booker, Libby Rager, with unique personalities and interesting potential guests. Email ([email protected]) is the best way to reach her.
Pitch Tips
Many PR pros find their way to the show through CNN's various assignment desks. "Stories rarely originate with someone trying to pitch a story [directly] to us," Bohrman says.
Use your contacts at CNN, and contact "NewsNight" bookers only with a great personality or a guest who has a unique perspective on the news. "The show is largely guest and
personality driven, rather than 'there's a great new invention,'" Bohrman advises.
Also, when pitching a guest, make sure he or she is someone the producers are likely to have heard of. Guests need not be household names, but an obscure author or unknown CEO
will be of little interest to the "NewsNight" team.
Comments
It may be a struggle to win airtime on the non-traditional news program, but when a story strikes a chord with the producers, the struggle is worth it. "This is an interesting
forum for really intelligent and interesting discussions. Much of cable [programming] is about debate and yelling at each other. We try not to yell. If something needs three
minutes, it'll get three minutes, but if it needs eight minutes, it'll get eight," Bohrman says.
When Rick Burns appeared on the show in the wake of the World Trade Center attacks and discussed his documentary about New York, the show found 18 minutes to run an extensive -
and haunting - clip on the building of the WTC.
In The Pipeline
"We had a lot of plans for the show before Sept. 11," Bohrman says. "Now it's going to be a different show. We're trying to figure out what it wants to be. It tries to be
appropriate for any given day." As such, the producers don't have specific plans far in advance of any episode.
Jason Bellini, who also reports for MTV and has been doing reports on youth in Afghanistan, is now stationed in Salt Lake City and will be reporting on "non-Olympic" stories
from the Olympic Games.
Keith Olbermann, formerly with Fox Sports, has also signed on as a contributor to the show, and his pieces will be worked in as well.