Now that CNN has canceled DL Hughley’s cringe-inducing show, can the cable news networks finally stop trying to serve up the yucks? Here’s the basic brand lesson: Don’t try and expand your brand into a culture or product that is not a right fit. First it will hurt your current brand equity by cheapening what you are good at and why people love you. And second, odds are you will not be able to deliver on a new promise since you are not cut out to deliver said product. If you don’t have the intuition, stomach, or creative guts to serve up something like comedy or cutting satire, you will fail. When people turn to a serious product like news, the last thing they want is someone trying to make light of the world as it falls apart. When we want that, we’ll watch the news-as-comedy pros at Comedy Central, SNL, or Onion News Network.
If you’re a news business, stick to news. It’s bad enough “news” has been watered down to include tabloid sensationalism and two-way social media conversations masquerading as reporting. But for God’s sake keep your hands off funny. With the exception of the unintentionally funny news (hello Tony Harris!), comedy is not a good fit at news businesses. It didn’t work for Fox News’ lame The 1/2 Hour News Hour and it hasn’t worked for CNN. Now we just need to get HLN to dump Not Just Another Cable News Show and all we can be safe. If I want to laugh while watching the news, I can always tune into Glenn Beck’s crazy eyes.
