CNN

Tonight at 8pmET, CNN premieres a Special Investigation into the Ft. Hood massacre. The one-hour live special is anchored by Don Lemon, with on-site reporting from Ft. Hood by CNN national correspondent David Mattingly and CNN investigative correspondent Drew Griffin.

In the LA Times, Matea Gold examines CNN's recent prime time ratings woes and the network's position defending them as viewer totals drop following last year's election.

While his competitors believed "the more opinionated the better," [CNN/U.S. President Jon] Klein said he had a different strategy: "If we concentrate on really being the best news network in the world, we'll continue to do well and grow and do even better."

But a year after a record 13.3 million people tuned in for CNN's election night coverage, the network has lost much of the gains it made during the political boom time. CNN has drawn an average of 932,000 viewers in prime time this year, down 25% compared with the same point last year, according to Nielsen.

"We are not going to try to boost numbers during fallow news periods by running cartoons, as our competitors do," Klein told the LA Times. "We're going to cover the news and we'll attract an ever more loyal audience as the result of it."

Gold points out that, with Lou Dobbs in the line-up and Campbell Brown providing editorials, CNN programming is not opinion-free. MSNBC President Phil Griffin responded, saying "If they're going to carry this so-called flag of news, why don't they do it? They've got one foot in and one foot out, and I think that's why they're struggling."

Gold also adds that "prime time makes up just 10% of the revenue of CNN Worldwide," which CNN execs noted.

The night before the 2009 elections, CNN's prime time line-up continued their ratings troubles seen in October.

On Monday night, Larry King and Anderson Cooper saw their lowest Total Viewer ratings for 2009. King drew 450,000 viewers at 9pmET, while "AC360" drew 396,000 and 296,000 viewers at 10pm and 11pmET, respectively.

At 10pmET, Cooper's program was in fourth place, behind FNC's "On the Record with Greta Van Susteren" (1,462,000) and replays of MSNBC's "Countdown with Keith Olbermann" (561,000) and HLN's "Nancy Grace" (413,000).

The airings were not the lowest in A25-54 demo viewers and "AC360" is tracking its second-best year ever in Total Viewers and in the demo.

Click here to see the full TVNewser Scoreboard for Monday night.

First on TVNewser: A shake-up announced today at CNN. Mark Nelson, who has overseen CNN Productions since 2005, is leaving the network while Atlanta-based head of live programming Scott Matthews leaves that position to head up a combined CNN Productions and Investigative unit. Matthews will remain in Atlanta, while the search is on for his replacement.

Additionally, CNN/U.S. President Jon Klein announced that Soledad O'Brien's "In America" franchise, which Nelson had overseen, will be expanded in 2010. The unit, will add "more than a dozen positions" writes Klein in an email to staff, obtained by TVNewser. That unit will be headed up by CNN's SVP of current programming Bart Feder (pictured). Current CNN Productions staffers will have the first opportunity to apply for the positions.

Feder and Matthews joined CNN in January 2008.

A longtime-ABC News "Nightline" staffer, Nelson joined CNN in 2004 as the senior executive producer of "Paula Zahn Now." In addition to his departure, Jody Gottlieb, CNN Productions' Executive Director, is also leaving as a result of the restructuring.

CNN officially launches its broadcast center in Abu Dhabi today. The "new state-of-the-art production center and newsgathering hub" has a staff of around two dozen and a four-camera digital studio with 24/7 live capability.

"The establishment of a permanent broadcast and production center in the Middle East by CNN is a significant and unique move by a Western news broadcaster," said EVP of CNN International Tony Maddox at the launch announcement. "It gives CNN a powerful base from which to coordinate seven regional bureaus and showcase a new daily news show from the Middle East."

That news show is called "Prism" and is CNN's first daily live news show from the Middle East. It's presented by Stan Grant and airs Sun-Thu on CNNI. That makes 10 shows launched on CNNI in the past year.

Photos of the new digs below. Video tour after the jump. (h/t CNN Observations)

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The Washington Post's ombudsman Andrew Alexander wonders whether there is a conflict of interest when it comes to TV columnist Howard Kurtz who also hosts a weekly show on CNN -- a network he covers. Alexander asks, "Would The Post allow a reporter who covers energy to be paid on the side by a big oil company?"

Kurtz, a workhorse of a reporter, has a sizable following in print, online and on the air. But being paid by CNN presents an inescapable conflict that is at odds with Post rules. They state that a reporter or editor "cannot accept payment from any person, company or organization that he or she covers." There can be exceptions for some groups, such as broadcast organizations, "unless the reporter or editor is involved in coverage of them."

Kurtz, the Post media writer since 1990, got approval to appear on "Reliable Sources" about 15 years ago from then-Executive Editor Leonard Downie Jr.

"My track record makes clear that I've been as aggressive toward CNN -- and The Washington Post, for that matter -- as I would be if I didn't host a weekly program there," Kurtz told Alexander.

This morning on "Reliable Sources," Kurtz showed he's not afraid to criticize CNN, while on CNN. At the end of a segment discussing how much, or little, coverage the comments of a congressman have been getting, Kurtz concluded "All right. Well, I think it should have been more of a story on CNN as well."

On his radio show Monday, CNN host Lou Dobbs revealed that someone fired a shot at his house earlier this month. And while the New Jersey State police continue to investigate, the shooter or the intended target may never be known. Dobbs lives in the wooded, rolling hills in remote Sussex County.

"It's unclear at this point what the intended target was," Sgt. Stephen Jones of the New Jersey State Police told the New York Times yesterday.

Several neighbors said Mr. Dobbs does not allow hunters on his property. Regardless, "everyone around here likes him," said Rocky Russo, who was dressed in camouflage gear and bowhunting for white-tailed deer near Mr. Dobbs's property on Friday. The gunshot, he said, "might have been some idiot taking a shot at a squirrel in a tree. Who knows?"

And small game season doesn't open until next Saturday in New Jersey.

On his radio show this week, Lou Dobbs told his listeners that someone fired a shot at his remote New Jersey home earlier this month, while his wife was standing outside.

"My house has been shot and hit... This shot was fired, with my wife not 15 feet away," said Dobbs. "It's part of life. The anger, the hate, the vitriol."

Somehow the story turned to "little fools like Geraldo Rivera."

There is no comment from CNN on the security scare.

(h/t Newsbusters)

On her program last night, CNN's Campbell Brown showed the interview with Obama Senior adviser Valerie Jarrett last evening, and added an editorial about the "White House war with Fox News."

She told viewers, "What confuses me is that if the White House is really so concerned about bias in the media, then why are they only targeting Fox?"

"Jarrett seems loathe to admit that MSNBC has a bias," she said, "And that is where I think the White House loses all credibility on this issue." She admitted that "partisan opinion" has drawn big ratings for both of those networks.

"I'm not critical of what my friends at Fox News and MSNBC do, but it is apples and oranges when compared to what we at CNN do," she added. "And we should all just acknowledge that."

We should note, however, that Jarrett's interview was prior to yesterday's "truce." Clip after the jump.

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CNN's Campbell Brown talked with Pres. Obama's Senior Adviser Valerie Jarrett today at The Women's Conference in California. Brown asked Jarrett if she thought Fox News was biased. You probably already know her answer. But listen to Brown's follow-up about MSNBC:

The entire interview airs tonight on Campbell Brown at 8pmET on CNN.

(h/t HotAir)