One of the bright spots for the embattled CNN has been anchor Jake Tapper. During a very tough week that saw the cable news network making numerous errors during the Boston bomber manhunt, Tapper distinguished himself (along with Chris Cuomo) with consistently smart, accurate, cautious, and informative reporting. And now it looks as though that is paying off in the ratings.
TV Newser reports that “The Lead with Jake Tapper” is “up +28% in total viewers and up +62% in the demo compared to the same period last year on CNN.” The 4pm ET program now averages 689k total viewers and 209k in the 25-54 demo. We’ll have to wait and see how things look after the news settles down, but this jump is still worthy of note.
This is not just good news for CNN; it is also good news for those of us who are looking for solid, professional journalism. If the Tapper approach to journalism can deliver the customers, maybe CNN and others will begin to replicate it.
Tapper certainly deserves the success and it wouldn’t surprise me to learn that much of it is a result of word-of-mouth coming from those of us who are not otherwise interested in watching CNN.
Follow John Nolte on Twitter @NolteNC