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While I no longer work full-time in cable TV, I still follow the ups (and mostly) downs of the industry. It was my life for many years. I still have lots of friends in that world. And old habits die hard.

And that’s why the recent news of a “ratings boost” for CNN left me profoundly depressed. Not because CNN is doing well, but because of the reason, per AdWeek, that CNN is doing so well: The success of CNN NewsNight With Abby Phillip.

Let me say something important: I know Abby very casually. I think she is a good journalist and a gifted broadcaster. And, I think she does her level best in the show to keep it from getting too off the rails too often. I have absolutely nothing against her.

The problem isn’t her, it’s the conceit of her show.

(I also—and you can choose to believe this or not—have NOTHING against CNN. Yes, they laid me off! Yes, it sucked! But that was years ago.)

Plenty of people may agree with my sentiments — in fact, I know they do because they have told me so — but they don’t want to say it. But I don’t say this lightly: I think what is happening in shows like “NewsNight” is actively bad for........

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