Yes and no. Jonathan Karl, 28, is one of CNN’s three new MTV-generation commentators. “TV news hasn’t been doing a good job of talking about the things young people care about,” says Karl. NBC is creating an online news service with Microsoft in the hope of tapping into the cyber-hip info junkies. And ABC snapped up Anderson Cooper, 28, from the in-school news service Channel One. But Cooper won’t be ABC’s Gen-X spokesmodel. “At no time did anyone say, “We want you to do stories about young people’,” he says.
It’s a delicate balance. Network honchos don’t want to alienate their core audience with reports on Lollapalooza. They also argue that youth correspondents simply don’t have enough experience for the major leagues. “I’m not going to start mindlessly hiring people in the name of some youth movement,” says CBS News president Andrew Heyward. Fair enough. But ABC once took a chance on a 26-year-old Canadian kid named Jennings.That seemed to work out OK.R. M.
