Poll: What's the Best Way Back for CNN?

Anyone have a tow truck handy? CNN is in a ditch.

As I mentioned yesterday, the network that invented 24-hour cable news has hit a new low, falling to No. 3 in the prime-time ratings race, behind both Fox News and MSNBC. It's gotten so bad that Fox's Bill O'Reilly has actually taken to saying kind things about CNN, possibly out of pity. (He called Anderson Cooper "an honest guy" and said Wolf Blitzer "does a nice job.")

Sure, prime time is only three hours out of the day, and there are ways of slicing the numbers that are more favorable to CNN. And MSNBC appears to be giving its Time Warner-owned competitor a gift by postponing plans to create a new show for the 10 p.m. hour, which currently features a rebroadcast of Countdown.

Still, it's bad. The trend lines are unfavorable. The twin surges at Fox and MSNBC seem to confirm the theory that cable news viewers, if not TV news consumers in general, want their headlines pre-sifted through an ideological filter and delivered by strong personalities. Unfortunately for CNN, we only have two major political parties in this country. Despite early buzz, Campbell Brown's show, an experiment in non-partisan attitude, has turned into "the most problematic part" of CNN's lineup, says AP.

Clearly the executives at CNN are running low in the fresh-ideas department. I am, too. Why don't you have a go at it?