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Ernest Miller produced a piece taking apart AOL's Jaime Kellner's views on the relationship between creators of content and consumers. Kellner is the CEO of Turner Broadcasting, the part of AOL Time Warner that runs CNN and all the Turner television properties (TBS, Cartoon Network, TNT, etc.) This is a painful piece for me to read, because I worked for CNN for five years, and when he started, I had some hope that he might be able to bring CNN back from the slow decline they've suffered over the past few years. Kellner's comments suggest he's on the wrong track.
Companies like Turner can only succeed by giving people what they want. News and entertainment aren't a commodity like oil that people have to use no matter what; if you get too far from consumers, they will bypass you. And Kellner's view here sound an awful like what he wants, not what consumers want.
Years ago I used to like watching "thirtysomething," which was once described as a bunch of people sitting around whining "What about my needs?" Kellner's comments strike me that same way. Turner and AOL certainly have a right to make a profit, but I think Kellner's on the wrong side of history on a number of these issues, and it doesn't bode well for Turner or AOL.
12:54:46 PM 
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