Big changes are coming to CNN. What would you change if you were the boss?

Here’s what this humble viewer wishes for.

Keep putting intelligent and articulate women on TV. Avoid Men-only panels. Avoid all-white panels . . . here are 10 more ways CNN can upgrade their journalistic integrity
  1. More Kaitlan Collins
  2. Less Wolf Blitzer endlessly saying “Breaking News”
  3. End Quest’s ‘World of Wonder” – Anthony Bourdain set an expectation for richly-illustrated, documentary style travel doccies starring the people of other cultures, and not himself so much.
  4. Abolish the paid travel ads from Saudi Arabia. (Really? This has to be said out loud?)
  5. Stop airing wince-inducing self-important promos for show hosts like Michael Smerconish. Fire whoever approved that promo script.
  6. Ignore Fox News and the culture wars.
  7. Simply do ethical journalism with as much integrity and impartiality as possible. Prevent anchors to engage in speculation. That is not journalism. That is simply low quality gossip. Show your audience what high-quality journalism looks ALL the time.
  8. Do great TV with slick sets and and all the hair, costume and makeup as necessary, but please stop calling news reports ‘Shows.’ Call them Programs or Reports to remind people less frequently that TV broadcasters are in the Show Business and not the Journalism business.
  9. You recently fired several show hosts who were being paid millions of dollars and cancelled CNN+. Use that budget to hire more off-screen fact-checkers and shoe-leather reporters based in more locations. Beef up your Hubs. May I suggest building one in Berlin? There are more people living in the EU than there are in America, and you do not have an EU Live Studio that I am aware of.
  10. Give viewers more of what us CNN International viewers see. Straight-ahead news hours that can compete with BBC World NEWS, France 24, DW, and other top-tier news broadcasters.

I only wish the best for CNN and the journalists who work there. I only wish American’s had access to as many straight news channels as we are accustomed to here in Europe.

Full disclosure, I have been a special contributor to CNN’s web site with this article they commissioned from me about the firing of the photojournalists at the Chicago Sun-Times.