CNN Needs To Learn To Share The Responsibility, Not Spread The Blame

If I had one pet peeve from working in an office environment, it was people who refuse to take responsibility for their own actions. I can handle a mistake, as long as the person owns up to it. Attempting to blame everyone else without taking a little responsibility for yourself when things went wrong was basically the mortal sin of office survival.

So I guess that explains why CNN’s ratings have to gone to hell.

We’ve all heard that CNN is struggling against its competitors. Fox News and MSNBC are completely outshining the OG cable news channel. This information has been widely accepted for a while now. Many have attributed CNN’s downfall to the polarization of the political parties. We all assume that it’s the political agenda and obvious editorializing of the hosts that makes the up-and-comers so popular.

But a new report shows that it might not just be the rampant partisanship that’s hurting CNN. Insiders are saying that the cable channel is suffering from serious infighting. When high-level managers are the ones refusing to take responsibility, there’s sure to be plenty of negative side effects.

Apparently, the rift is between network president Ken Jautz and CNN Worldwide managing editor Mark Whitaker. The insider says that these two “have competing ideas for what we should do.”

At no time does the blame game come on stronger than after a serious problem. Like say, misreporting the biggest Supreme Court ruling of the year while live on television. In case you hadn’t heard, CNN jumped to report that the individual mandate was struck down without reading on a couple pages to find out that it was just upheld under a different provision. They actually took about seven minutes to realize their mistake. Just enough time for them to be ridiculed by every other news outlet on the planet.

So it only makes sense that after this controversy, the blaming started to be leaked to the media. Instead of standing together as a company, the various factions will point the finger at one another and hope that they come out on top.

Office accountability isn’t an easy policy to put into place, and it has to be one that starts at the top. Managers and executives have to be the first people to stand up and accept responsibility for failures. They have to be willing to ignore the easy excuses and admit to their own shortfalls.

Obviously, I don’t know Ken Jautz or Mark Whitaker. I’m sure they’re both successful men who work hard at their jobs. They wouldn’t have risen so far if that weren’t the case. But if they’re blaming each other for their problems instead of accepting their own part in the channel’s struggles, the partisanship and politicization won’t matter. It’ll just be another excuse.

(Photo: Katherine Welles/Shutterstock)