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Out of the loop

CNN Headline News is adding hour shows on entertainment, courtroom news and in-depth coverage on weekday nights.

By CHASE SQUIRES
Published February 18, 2005

For 23 years, CNN Headline News has been the standby. Viewers have been able to tune in around the clock for a looping half-hour stream of the day's headlines.

That changes Monday, when Headline News launches its first block of weeknight programs. Not headlines, programs.

During prime time, the network will offer three hourlong shows: Showbiz Tonight , at 7 p.m., is a live show featuring entertainment stories, celebrity interviews and industry analysis; Nancy Grace , at 8, has the former prosecutor and Court TV analyst discussing legal issues and trials; and i n Prime News Tonight , at 9, Mike Galanos and Erica Hill host a format that allows longer stories than the standard Headline News broadcast.

Ken Jautz, the CNN News Group executive who oversees Headline News, said the changing news environment and a close look at audience interests demanded change. Reaction in tests has been good, he said, and the network is backing the switch with heavy promotion.

Headline News will continue its traditional format during the day and on weekends, and it has no plans to spread the new format into other hours, the way MTV slowly dumped music videos, but there is room to do more, Jautz said.

Headline News does well during the day, when people want a news fix, he said. But with multiple cable news outlets, talk radio, the Internet, and local and network television news, interested viewers already know the news by 7 p.m.

Instead of repeating stories they've seen, Jautz said, Headline News will focus on what the network has learned viewers want more of, namely entertainment and courtroom news.

"By offering people more choices, we're able to bring more people to the CNN brand," Jautz said.

Grace said she's excited but a bit anxious about venturing into new territory on established news turf.

"It's a huge departure. It's huge," Grace said. "This is breaking the mold. ... Of course you're nervous, your heart is pounding. It's just like going into a jury trial."

But Grace said she's confident that viewers will have an appetite for real courtroom drama in an hourlong format.

In addition to reports and analysis (Grace said she won't shy from rapping a judge for a questionable call or pointing out an attorney's strategic error), her show will also feature segments on missing children and unsolved crimes, react to viewer questions and investigate perceived injustices.

In researching her upcoming book, Objection, Grace said, she was struck by the historical interest in courtroom news. She said Americans historically have tuned in to crime stories, citing the sensational coverage of the 1935 trial of the kidnapper of famed aviator Charles Lindbergh's baby boy.

"It's talked about at the bar, over the dinner table, the next day at work," she said. "We've never lost our fascination with evil in the hearts of men."

This, as Michael Jackson's defense team unveiled a witness list that includes some big Hollywood names.

Grace said she has struggled, even as a prosecutor, to remove herself emotionally from cases. She hopes that's something that will connect with viewers.

"I do every show with a box of Kleenex under the table. Even as a prosecutor, I had to leave the courtroom to collect myself sometimes," she said. "This is real. These are not made-for-TV scripts. These are real people."

To reassure regular Headline News viewers, Jautz vowed that the network won't lose sight of what's kept it on the air for nearly two dozen years. Producers can always cut in for an urgent report.

"Breaking news is CNN's mandate," he said. "That always takes precedence."

[Last modified February 18, 2005, 00:14:17]