CNN Should 'Fire Everyone'

With CNN's president leaving at the end of the year, it's time for a shake-up at the struggling network: It needs to get people to watch even when there isn't currently a major disaster happening. At Salon, Alex Pareene offers a handy first step: "Fire everyone." "Two-thirds of the prime time lineup is hosted by unpleasant people," he writes. Erin Burnett cultivates a "condescending asshole" persona; Piers Morgan "radiates insincerity"; Wolf Blitzer "is plainly an idiot."

Blitzer doesn't appear very smart or thoughtful, and his show would be "better served by having a person with a brain in charge," Pareene writes. Meanwhile, CNN needs to change its identity as the network for people who aren't watching Fox News or MSNBC. People who watch political shows have already taken sides, and they'll watch the network they agree with. But "there are people who like good television and good journalism, and those two things are even occasionally compatible." For the rest of Pareene's suggestions, head to Salon. (More CNN stories.)