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A Crippling Blow to Journalism
From Broadcasting & Cable magazine:
CNN anchor Daryn Kagan is leaving the network to start an online inspirational Website, darynkagan.com. Kagan, who has been with CNN for 12 years, will continue her regular anchoring gig from 10 a.m. through noon until Sept. 1.
Kagan joined CNN as a sports anchor in 1994, after working in local TV in Phoenix, AZ, and moved to news reporting in 1998.
In an e-mail to colleagues, Kagan said she was excited about her new venture, an “online community dedicated to the radical idea that the world is a good place.” She said the site will launch Nov. 13.
Kagan (above): Resemblance to Posh Spice not sole factor in career success
At last, a serious project to challenge Kagan’s formidable intellect and keen analytical skills. But can journalism carry on without her?
[Update: This will be a successful and well-respected website. It is perhaps designed to appeal to women.]
Chuckles said,
August 4, 2006 at 16:41
I do believe I’m getting the vapors.
Wally Whateley said,
August 4, 2006 at 16:51
She must’ve gotten into her old boyfriend’s stash…
Gus said,
August 4, 2006 at 16:58
She’s obviously getting axed. What a lame sounding venture. Who leaves a major network to start a web site? Maybe in 1997, but not now.
Otto Man said,
August 4, 2006 at 17:13
So she’s resigning from CNN in order to spend more time with her cyberstalkers? Gotcha.
And I have to disagree with the suggestion that she looks like Posh Spice. For one thing, she’s not an anorexic with tragic breast implants. And for another, she has that creepy Maria Shriver lantern jaw.
Can’t think of who she reminds me of. Hmmm….. Mark Gastineau?
Jo Fish said,
August 4, 2006 at 17:22
Wow! My retinas are burning! What a rush! Well, I will say that her website matches the outfit she has on in that picture you have of her.
Will ingestion of psilocobin be required to read this when it opens up in Just 15 weeks It might make the experience more … mellow.
I wonder if she’ll talk about whether or not happiness is leaving your warm white whale beached at the corner of Viagra St and Oxycontin Blvd? You know, happy stuff like whether or not you need a condom when you have sex with a guy whose wood is provided by Big Pharma…
Inquiring minds…
Siffl said,
August 4, 2006 at 17:24
Has anyone alerted the good Dr. Frisch?
I’m surre she would want to attend the gala opening
of Miss Kagan’s site.
Siffl said,
August 4, 2006 at 17:24
Has anyone alerted the good Dr. Frisch?
I’m surre she would want to attend the gala opening
of Miss Kagan’s site.
Ken Houghton said,
August 4, 2006 at 17:26
What Ottoman Said, mostly, about any resemblance to Posh Spice. Similar hair color and having tits does not a similarity make. Maybe an aged, plastic surgeried Katrina (of ….and the Waves fame, a band not likely to play New Orleans any time soon) whose drug consumption resembles Marianne Faithful’s.
That website is designed to appeal to women? Blind ones, or just the severely colorblind?
When the next announcement comes—Rush named Head of Programming there—all will be clear.
jrm78 said,
August 4, 2006 at 17:28
Gus-
But now she can work on her blog! After all, all the kewl kids have one. She can hope for approving links from Glenn “Heh, indeed” Reynolds, Malkin, and Patterico-suave now. Maybe she can get crazy cat lady Deb Frisch to make the occasional appearance. Then she’ll know she’s arrived. Yep, the Skyy’s the limit.
_________
The Brief Case
FlipYrWhig said,
August 4, 2006 at 17:32
I recently started going to the gym at an earlier time, so I saw a whole new schedule of cable news on the screens. I remember thinking, who’s that awful, pinched, bony, lipless woman on CNN? Then the name came up. I can’t say anything about her newcasting abilities, because I can’t read the garbled closed captioning, but, still, eep.
Hate Encrusted Eyes said,
August 4, 2006 at 17:37
I can’t live if living is without you …
Wow I bet her web site will be as good as John Tesh’s radio show…
salty said,
August 4, 2006 at 17:49
Wow.
That site is really… uh, it’s nice. That’s a really nice site, Daryn. Good… good for you, Daryn. Doing what you want. That’s a, uh… that’s a really nice message.
Nancy in Detroit said,
August 4, 2006 at 17:58
It is perhaps designed to appeal to women
Not this one. Jeepers.
Samurai Sam said,
August 4, 2006 at 18:04
It looks like the opening credits for one of those Eastern European “Tom & Jerry” cartoons. The ones with the wierd sound effects…
Gratis said,
August 4, 2006 at 18:08
Wow. I don’t know who her designer is but someone needs to inform him/her of that amazing invention called “The Color Wheel”….after they get slapped for putting up that monstrosity. Gah!
Alex said,
August 4, 2006 at 18:10
Amazing. Great catch.
I have only one thing to say: inspiration?????
tigrismus said,
August 4, 2006 at 18:10
“One Woman. One Radical Idea: The World is a Good Place.”
She’s either not using “radical” the way I usually do or she doesn’t get out much. And “stop by for daily affirmations?” Like Stuart Smalley but with more clashing colors!
Otto Man said,
August 4, 2006 at 18:10
Nice website. I wondered what ever happened to the set designer from The Match Game.
TC said,
August 4, 2006 at 18:18
Maybe CNN will replace her with Melissa Theuriau:
http://heyjennyslater.blogspot.com/2006/02/comment-dites-vous-giggedy-giggedy.html
I just wanted to say it before Doug does.
flawedplan said,
August 4, 2006 at 18:51
Take the word “radical” and totally denature it, make the “edgy” vacuous and unthreatening, god I resent this as someone half radical and all woman. “Psssst! The world is Good as it is, so you just focus on tweaking that lovely and pleasing personality.” It’s propaganda.
I just finished reading an investigative study explaining that doctors give women electroshock more frequently than they do men because women “don’t need to use their brains as much.” I thought that was a little unfair, frankly not so sure now.
_______________
Karloff v Lugosi
Darth Vegas said,
August 4, 2006 at 19:22
Yes! Melissa Theuriau! CNNs ratings would skyrocket- she wouldnt even have to speak english.
As for that website- the goggles- they do nothing! LOL! PWNDDD!!!1!!1!
Wait… this isnt Fark…
maryc said,
August 4, 2006 at 19:23
Aiiiiii! My eyes! My eyes!
sohei said,
August 4, 2006 at 19:32
If she can bang “Big Pharma” Rush and still think the world is a good place, I have nothing but boundless admiration for her.
Scott C. said,
August 4, 2006 at 19:38
online community dedicated to the radical idea that the world is
…a very poorly color-coordinated place.
Bloggofascist said,
August 4, 2006 at 19:45
She Always reminded me of Julia Roberts. Ironic, I know.
Daryn is a dyed-in-the-wool good girl. She believes what authority tells her – liars wouldn’t get positions of authority, would they? I remember her anguish over a suicide bombing in Israel, a deep from inside cry of “what kind of monsters would attack place with kids in it?”. Never once thinking of the order-of-magnitude greater number of children dying from Israeli attacks in the west bank at the time. That’s just propaganda, I’m sure she was thinking. Maybe “they broguht that on themselves”, but I doubt even that.
There was a week I had really high hopes for her. She took a trip to Africa with Bono and a bunch of other reporters. You could start to see some of the real world cracking through her mindset.
But by the next Oscars season, it was all gone. My, how her eyes sparkled at covering the entertainment industry.
I’m not surprised by this at all. I don’t think she’s emotionally ready for seeing all the real world horror.I think she has been badly disillusioned by her Limbaugh relationship and the exposure of Nixonian government. I think she really does want to cover “good” news – not for propaganda, but because she desperately needs it for the sake of her sanity. I bet she even pitched the idea for her own “good news” show around the news industry and got laughed out of corner offices – yeah, that should capture the 1 am timeslot: unless there is a good infomercial on.
I wish her well, and hope she finds her peace with it. And that someone with a sense of color gets hold of her website.
Bloggofascist said,
August 4, 2006 at 19:47
“Maybe CNN will replace her with Melissa Theuriau:”
Marie Jon.
You know you want it.
nashtbrutusandshort said,
August 4, 2006 at 20:08
“The world is a good place.” Wow. How unfortunate that the world has had to wait so many centuries for someone with Daryn Kagan’s depth and courage to come along and defend this radical thesis.
I swear: all by themselves, some people in the media are walking, talking arguments for the nonexistence of God.
Ruthie said,
August 4, 2006 at 20:21
Rush? Viagra and Oxycontin Rush? I suppose this explains why Daryn thinks this is a “radical” idea….
TC said,
August 4, 2006 at 20:35
I never want to lose Marie Jon. Her home should always be S,N!
In fact, you ought to give her guest posting rights.
dr. bloor said,
August 4, 2006 at 20:50
Wow. The graphics of “Rhoda” teamed with the sensibility of “Mary Tyler Moore.”
Ron Mexico said,
August 4, 2006 at 21:04
That website: yuck. Lileks will be putting it in his next book.
hugely said,
August 4, 2006 at 21:06
ooh
TC that is an awesome idea
MrWonderful said,
August 4, 2006 at 21:16
I love the slimy effort at pre-emption, which she probably learned from her ex. If you dislike her site, you think the world isn’t “a good place.” You liberals–why do you hate the world? Why do you hate goodness? Why do you hate the good-placeness of the world?
Henry Holland said,
August 4, 2006 at 21:28
You liberals–why do you hate the world? Why do you hate goodness? Why do you hate the good-placeness of the world?
Hmmm…perhaps because the world, as we humans have set it up, is small bits of goodness–say, the Berlioz Symphonie Fantastique that I’m listening the Scottish National Orchestra play to via BBC Radio 3–interspersed with large, heaping dollops of loneliness, doubt, pain, suffering and misery? That, NOW, of all times in recent history, with what’s going on in the Middle East, is a really piss-poor time to start babbling about the good-placeness of the world? (love that, good-placeness) *
Or would that harsh her mellow? I mean, for fuck’s sake, I’m proud to say I’m a hippie in outlook but even *I* don’t get that disconnected from reality and utter such touchy-feely bullshit as that website spews.
*I know you’re mocking her, as I am
Otto Man said,
August 4, 2006 at 21:49
Wow. The graphics of “Rhoda� teamed with the sensibility of “Mary Tyler Moore.�
Dammit, I almost went with the Rhoda reference before succumbing to the Match Game. But that combo nails it.
I, christian said,
August 4, 2006 at 21:55
“Launching in 15 weeks”
Until then, the world is still a shit place.
sohei said,
August 4, 2006 at 22:04
Fortunately, if there’s one thing that can turn a sickeningly sunny, naive, optimist who thinks the world is a “great place” into a self-hating, miserable, ranting lunatic, it’s the Internet. This should be fun to watch.
Kobie said,
August 4, 2006 at 23:08
First Edward R. Murrow, then Walter Cronkite, now Daryn Kagan. Another paragon of journalistic virtue leaves the airwaves to start an inspirational website.
We will miss you, Ms. Kagan. Good luck and Godspeed. And see if Rush can spare any oxycontin, my pilodinal cyst is killing me something fierce over here.
———————–
Bills vs. Oilers
NFL’s greatest comeback
YooHooligan said,
August 4, 2006 at 23:30
Update: It is perhaps designed to appeal to women.
Not this woman. Nonetheless, I’m betting there’s a Very Special Lifetime movie script with her name all over it when this website goes under. She may have to slapfight Meredith Baxter for it, but by then she’ll want it more.
Basharov said,
August 5, 2006 at 0:35
“Maybe CNN will replace her with Melissa Theuriau:�
Marie Jon.
That’s Marie Jon’, buddy. And don’t you forget it.
mikey said,
August 5, 2006 at 1:16
No, you don’t get it yet. The real plan is to create a kind of internets version of “The View”. She’ll get Pamela shrugs, Marie Jon’, Cynthia McKinney and Deb Frisch. They’ll sit around and blog about issues, interview interesting people and offer opinions on everything from proper christian makeup and clothes to the effectiveness of artillery in counter-insurgency operations. All ending in a group hug…
mikey
boingitall said,
August 5, 2006 at 1:36
as soon as I saw that website, I wanted cheese and juice…but not the kind I have, or the kind you’re thinking of.
Doug said,
August 5, 2006 at 2:09
My head is temporarily spinning . . . as far as Kagan’s replacement, I don’t know whether I’d be more entertained by the Gallic tres-hotness of Melissa Theuriau or the sheer grammatic chaos of Marie Jon’. Why not bring back “Crossfire” and put the two of them on it.
MELISSA: Pensez-vous que Rumsfeld a dirigé cette guerre correctement?
MARIE: Uh . . . are you speaking French, or something? I know there was something, hatred of Americans, in there, I just don’t know what it is. Let me YOU a question, Miss France: Do you hold the opinion, that America, is fighting for to freedom of the world’s Muslim people, or do you think, we should be undermining the resolves of our soldiers?
MELISSA: Um . . . est-ce que c’était anglais? Nous sommes hors de temps aujourd’hui, de la gauche, je suis Melissa Theuriau!
MARIE: And from, the right,, I am Marie Jon’!
What do you think, sirs?
Jillian said,
August 5, 2006 at 3:27
I can never, ever, ever look at Daryn Kagan without stopping to think that she has touched Rush Limbaugh’s penis.
Tell me I’m not the only one.
TC said,
August 5, 2006 at 3:52
Jillian-
I just threw up in my mouth. A lot.
dr. bloor said,
August 5, 2006 at 4:54
I can never, ever, ever look at Daryn Kagan without stopping to think that she has touched Rush Limbaugh’s penis.
If it’s any consolation, she was probably wearing rubber gloves.
Kobie said,
August 5, 2006 at 6:15
Dr. Bloor, who’s idea were the rubber gloves, anyway?
Some Guy said,
August 5, 2006 at 7:03
Oh, Jesus Tapdancing Christ. >
Marq said,
August 5, 2006 at 8:36
But, don’t you all see? That ‘ll be one of the Great* recurring features on Daryn’s website:
“SEX TIPS FOR DEALING WITH THE OXYCONTIN AND VIAGRA INFLATED LOVER by Daryn Kagen”
“Part 5: Utilizing the keg of vaseline”
Accompanied by “tasteful” pix of a beached Rushbo, Gannon-style, glistening and quivering.
Marq said,
August 5, 2006 at 8:37
*great for causing projectile vomiting.
dr. bloor said,
August 5, 2006 at 14:26
“SEX TIPS FOR DEALING WITH THE OXYCONTIN AND VIAGRA INFLATED LOVER by Daryn Kagen�
That should probably read “Oxycontin deflated and Viagra inflated.” Hadn’t really thought about him combining the two together before–he must have been popping up and down like the automatic pilot in Airplane.
Otto Man said,
August 5, 2006 at 19:26
I can never, ever, ever look at Daryn Kagan without stopping to think that she has touched Rush Limbaugh’s penis.
That presumes she was able to find it.
TC said,
August 6, 2006 at 0:57
Accompanied by “tasteful� pix of a beached Rushbo, Gannon-style, glistening and quivering.
Crap, thanks a lot.
Now I can’t stop throwing up.
I’m going to take up heroin to drive THAT image out of my mind.
‘glistening and quivering’ BLECCCH.
Mrs. Tarquin Biscuitbarrel said,
August 6, 2006 at 19:13
Eeeeeeu-yew. Her website borrows handsomely from the color scheme of the now-defunct Pacific Southwest Airlines, known to us who had to fly it as PSA. (Back in the early ’70s, a ticket from LA to Oakland cost $16.75.) If you’ve seen “Almost Famous,” the Cameron Crowe character’s older sister runs away from home to become a stewardess on PSA, which required female staffers to wear hot pants and a helmet shaped like a penis head. It’s all there in the movie…
Her Doktor Bimler said,
August 6, 2006 at 23:44
Accompanied by “tasteful� pix of a beached Rushbo, Gannon-style, glistening and quivering.
Thank you, Marq. Throwing up blood now. That can’t be good.
Ruthie said,
August 7, 2006 at 6:46
Accompanied by “tasteful pix of a beached Rushbo, Gannon-style, glistening and quivering.
C’mon, kiddies! How often does one get the opportunity to use the words “tumescence,” “magnifying glass” and “Cuban cigars” in the same sentence?