CNN's identity crisis may have ended with terrorism

NEW YORK -- One of the many things to end with the terrible events of Sept. 11 may be CNN's identity crisis.

At least CNN's new chairman, Walter Isaacson, hopes so. He said he has a clearer picture of the cable news network's role after the terrorist attacks at the World Trade Center and Pentagon.

"This tragic situation has helped us on our true mission and the vital importance of what we do," Isaacson said. "Our true mission is to do hard reporting and smart analysis. It's to be reasoned and calm and to cover international news in a serious way."

Before the attacks, all the changes CNN made over the past year -- the layoffs, programming shuffles and hiring of Isaacson -- hadn't changed one simple truth: Fox News Channel was nipping at CNN's heels and CNN didn't know what to do about it.

CNN tried to beat Fox by imitating it. Isaacson said that's over now.

"For a while, CNN was searching for its mission and trying to chase ratings," he said. "I don't know that that's our mission now. I think it reaffirms that we want to attract an audience that wants to be well-informed, and it's not to chase ratings at all."

The news story of the summer -- remember Gary Condit? -- played to Fox News Channel's strengths in sharp and entertaining prime-time talk.

The news story of the moment, and probably for months to come, plays to CNN's newsgathering strengths, particularly its unmatched presence and aggressiveness overseas.

Ratings way up

Viewers seem to sense this. The audience for each of the news networks has grown dramatically after the attacks, but it's grown more for CNN.

CNN averaged just under 3 million viewers for the week starting Sept. 11, up 813 percent from its daily average of 323,000 this year through Sept. 10, according to Nielsen Media Research. Fox increased 478 percent from 289,000 to 1.7 million, and MSNBC grew by 446 percent from 223,000 to 1.2 million.

While Isaacson can talk about not chasing ratings at a time ratings are chasing him, he won't always have that luxury.

CNN's corporate parent AOL Time Warner has demanding profit projections and CNN has been lagging, said Porter Bibb, a media specialist. An ad market that was weak before Sept. 11 and only gotten worse doesn't help much.