Gallup CNN Break-Up

And speaking of Gallup…

Here at MP, we are not prone to posting gossipy items about the polling industry, largely because what little gossip MP hears, is well… not worth posting.  Today however, thanks to TVNewser (via Hotline On Call), we have news that Gallup and CNN are "breaking up."  And it’s not pretty:

In a memo dated Wednesday, March 15, CEO Jim Clifton wrote: "We
have chosen not to renew our contract with CNN. We have had a great
relationship with CNN, but it is not the right alignment for our
future."

"CNN has far fewer viewers than it did in the past, and we feel that our brand was getting lost and diluted," Clifton continued. "…We have only about 200,000 viewers during our CNN segments."

Gallup
no longer wants a broadcast partner, according to the memo. "We are
creating our own program and we don’t want to be married" to one
network, Clifton wrote. Analysts like Frank Newport will be seen as more independent under the new arrangement, he added.

"We
have offered to help CNN find a new polling partner and to be as
helpful as we can during this transition," Clifton concluded. Gallup IS
renewing its deal with USA Today. The newspaper has about 10 million
readers per day, the memo noted.

As the Hotline’s Aoife McCarthy put it, "ouch." 

In response, CNN issued a statement to TVNewser and the Hotline:

Jim Clifton’s statements are not only unprofessional but in every respect untrue.


Jim Walton actually spoke with Jim Clifton, CEO of The Gallup Poll, and
was told by Mr. Clifton that the reason that Gallup wanted to end their
partnership was that the CNN brand was so dominant that Gallup wasn’t
getting the attention for the polls that they wanted.


We
want to make it clear that the decision to not renew our polling
arrangement had to do with Gallup’s desire to produce their own
broadcasts and not about CNN viewership figures. In fact, Gallup had
negotiated with us for four months in an effort to extend the
partnership.


While
we appreciate that Gallup does not wish to have any broadcasting
partner for the future, I must note that CEO Jim Clifton’s excuse to
his employees for ending the relationship has no basis in fact. It
shows ignorance of not only our viewership figures but of the reach and
value of the CNN brand.


Domestically,
our viewership was grossly misstated in his comments. CNN’s average
monthly reach in 2005 was 66.7 million, far and away the No. 1 source
for cable news.

There’s more – see the two posts on TVNewswer for the details.

Ouch indeed.

PS:  Wonkette’s new editors have their own unique take here.