A Refreshing Dose of Honesty from CNN Anchor

Recently, CNN anchor Campbell Brown announced she was leaving the network. The reason for her departure? Her show's poor ratings. "Of course I pay attention to ratings," she said. "And simply put, the ratings for my program are not where I would like them to be."

 

Brown wasn't fired. She quit. And to her credit, she didn't try to sugar-coat or manipulate the optics of her departure. Answering questions about her motivation for leaving, she said, "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). 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."

 

Most companies (BP comes to mind) would be better served if their executives adopted Brown's refreshing, no-BS approach to media relations.

Comments

[Wellons Communications]

This is a great post, and you draw an interesting parallel.

BP has much to learn about public relations. We have blogged about this topic multiple times on our blog - http://www.wellonscommunications.com/pr-blog/