CNN Panel Guest On Network's Future: 'CNN Is This Nation's Last Bastion Of Television Journalism'

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In a panel discussion on Sunday with CNN's media critic Howard Kurtz about the future of the cable news network after this week's announcement that Jeff Zucker will take over as the network's chief in January, one panel guest claimed that CNN is the nation's last, best hope for strong television journalism.

RELATED: Jeff Zucker Will Officially Take Over As President Of CNN Worldwide

Media critic Frank Sesno said he expected Zucker to 'blow up' the network's hard news format. He said that the future of the network is important to the broadcast news industry which, Sesno said, is critical to the political health of the nation.

Kurtz said that CNN's problem, as a hard news network, was that it does not attract loyal viewers when there is no breaking news in the way its cable news competitors can. He cited ratings that show CNN is lagging behind its competitors in raw viewership.

David Zurawik, media critic for the Baltimore Sun, said that ratings are not the only thing that drives revenue in the form of advertising dollars. He claimed that advertisers love buying CNN airtime because the network is so well respected.

'CNN is this nation's last bastion of television journalism,' Zurawik said. 'You can make money by cutting this channel down to what MSNBC and Fox are. Sure, they have ratings in prime time because they don't do things like spend their money on those ratings.'

Sesno concluded that CNN is a profitable entity and the network should focus on investments and not cuts to its budget.

Watch the clip below via CNN:

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• lol only Wolf Blitzer can take us to the promised land!

• '''CNN Is This Nation's Last Bastion Of Television Journalism'

  Doomed we are.

• Ahhh! don't make me laugh.

• Ummm'.its SESNO

• I agree 100%. Fox News isn't a news network. Nor is MSNBC. They are political parties that pretends to be a news network. CNN on the other hand seems to be the only actual news network. They get their boys and girls in the war zone when the crap hits the fan and they report. They don't politicize. I love CNN because they have actual Journalist. I love how non-journalist(such as many of the people who has commented and will comment after me) thinks they can accurately say otherwise. Keep up the great work CNN. Stick to the news and not the politics of the news.

• CNN is the lowest viewed Cable News network for a good reason. The only way they will get credibility back is to fire all the political hacks and bring it back to a straight news station.

• Obviously you haven't watched Fox News as they have journalists in the war zones as we type. Your bias is showing.

• Something tells me that when Jeff takes the helm, Mr. Kurtz will be kindly kicked out the front door.