In January 2006, Ken Jautz gave Glenn Beck, then a syndicated radio host and ex-Top 40 deejay, a 7 p.m. show on Headline News’ revamped primetime block, "Headline Prime."
Plucking the unknown out of radio obscurity and installing him as the lead-in to Nancy Grace unleashed Beck on the television world, launching his rocketship ride to cable news superstardom.
It also defined Jautz's tenure as the head of HLN -- and may well be a central reason Jautz was picked on Friday to run CNN.
Who is Ken Jautz, and where is he likely to take the CNN brand?
Credited with "reinventing" CNN’s sister network, Jautz not only found Beck (Jautz once described Beck's style as "self-deprecating, cordial" and "not confrontational." If you say so, Ken!), he also created a calvacade of opinionated talk show stars.
He made Nancy Grace. He discovered Jane Velez-Mitchell. He created the Joy Behar show.
At HLN, Jautz (pictured above, far right, in 2007 with Beck and Grace) pushed a livelier, flashier -- and, yes, trashier -- sort of programming than CNN executives were used to. The question now is, of course, will CNN take a turn to the opinionated head-talkers Jautz's predecessor, Jon Klein, largely resisted?
According to a network insider, Jautz has repeatedly told people in the newsroom that he isn't into long-form reporting or in-depth investigations. “I do not believe that ‘facts-only’ programming will work [in primetime],” Jautz told TheWrap in an interview on Friday. “Viewers, if they’re looking for just the news, they can get that anywhere now. The news that happened that day, they probably know already. They want context, perspective and opinion.”
This has some of Klein’s “quality journalism” disciples inside the newsroom deeply worried. In a meeting with the CNN staff on Friday, Jautz was asked, given the success of ideologically-tilted programming on Fox and MSNBC, if CNN is headed in that direction.
He didn’t answer.
The person that did was Scott Safon, CNN's chief marketing officer, who is taking over for Jautz at HLN.
According to one person at the meeting, Safon said Friday that CNN has a seven-month plan in place to explore what viewers want to see. He said he does not think their answer will be “more opinion,” he said. Instead, he thinks they'll want “authenticity.” Safon and Robin Garfield, SVP of CNN research, have charted a course of "getting inside viewers heads."
"They don't want us to be Fox or MSNBC," Safon said. The answer won't be right or left, he told the staff. "It will be more authenticity, and more passion."
If that sounds like quasi-marketing-speak, it’s because that’s what it is. CNN executives can spin Safon's promotion however they want, journalistically, but he’s a marketing guy, suddenly in charge of a cable network.
As for Jautz, staffers can understand his hiring a bit more. Prior to HLN, Jautz was the EVP of CNNfn, the business news network, and CNN Money.
