Note to Anderson: Get over yourself!

I watch Fox News, but I have seen Anderson Cooper on CNN and being feted and adored by the Lib MSM.

So, I was happy when I found this article in the San Francisco Chronicle. It is titled Sure, Anderson Cooper is cute and young, but get a grip, CNN.

The Anderson Cooper cult of personality must end.

That may be difficult, given that he's the Poster Boy Anchor and Future of Broadcast Journalism, so perhaps merely containing him would be a start.

This much is certain: CNN, looking to exploit the post-Katrina face of caring, personal, passionate, youthful, hip, modern and really good looking journalism, has now further marginalized Aaron Brown and nearly ruined Brown's show, "News-Night," by throwing Cooper into the mix.
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Last Friday was really the nadir in this experiment. Cooper -- who, by the way, has his own nightly show on CNN called "Anderson Cooper 360" -- has apparently taken up permanent residence on "News-Night." He appears to be the co-anchor. And in what was hopefully an experiment since tossed in the bin (Monday's "NewsNight" was less gimmicky, though not by much), CNN added all kinds of cute and unnecessary elements to the "News-Night" program, significantly reducing the accuracy of the show's title.

There was lots of standing. News producers believe standing is fresh and new. It trends young. There was lots of forced mingling between Brown and Cooper, which may have been meant to show chemistry, but instead showed Cooper's suits are more fitted and a tad more stylish than Brown's. (Brown, it should be noted, has at least on camera played this about as professionally as anyone could expect. He has yet to have that look that asks -- with a cynically raised eye that regular viewers know Brown to possess -- "Who is this interloper, and why is he on my show?")

Friday's show had a pointless and inappropriate poll about what was the most popular story on CNN.com -- sell the brand! -- and a story about Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes. A story on meth labs followed that concluded with Cooper saying, "I have a number of friends, actually, who've started using it and their lives have been ruined."

How very boho of you, Anderson.

At that point in the broadcast, even people half asleep must have noticed Cooper's most annoying trait: his relentless use of the first person. Never mind whether it's wise to admit that your friends are meth heads. But must there be so much me in your media? This point was driven home, painfully, when Cooper introduced a segment (since banished to hell, one hopes), called "Awkward T.V. Moments," complete with a silly television graphic. The news (loud cough) was that sometimes things go sideways when you're on the air. Gratuitous shots of Cooper doing his job proved this. Those images of him -- sell the cult, sell the cult! -- were preceded by this sentence: "You may have seen me out in Times Square last night."

Wait, what happened to the people in New Orleans?

Anyway, "Awkward T.V. Moments" -- now there's an apt title -- concluded with Cooper showing how, um, he turned his back to the camera to fiddle with his ever- present laptop computer. "I decided at the last second that I just had to have my laptop. Smooth move, Columbo."

Yeah, well, aside from the fact that this proves no editors are actually employed on "NewsNight," it was a perfect moment to check out Cooper's backside. Nice, that. Maybe the ratings spiked.

If that's a cheap shot, this one isn't: Cooper apparently learned nothing from his incessant need to toy with the laptop. Because he does it all the time now. Opening it, shutting it, typing on it. Is he instant messaging Death Cab for Cutie? Reading Achenblog?

Shepard Smith is better, anyway.