Geraldo has been in Lebanon. He has done some excellent reporting out of there, and of course, we now know by virtue of the president's speech on Tuesday night that the terrorist organizations that operate in that area are now on the list.

We've had a series of major news stories that have brought in viewers who either were sampling to see what else was available or were normal news watchers. The Florida recount and the end of the election was a huge development. And then 9/11 came along.

The presidents poking fun at himself over what goes down. I thought it was a good-natured performance. It made him look good. But he certainly doesnt disguise the record on weapons of mass destruction. And you feel like saying to people, Just get over it.

You have to have pace, you have to have high production values, you have to have interesting graphics, and you have to have attractive people - CNN could afford not to be so obedient to those commands, and for a long time, it wasn't.

This is a tough environment, and it's tough for everybody.

If the markets had behaved badly, that would obviously add to people's sense of alarm... but there has been a lot of reassurance coming, particularly in the way the Brits handled all this. There seems to be no great fear that something like that is going to happen here.

I don't think very many people would accuse Paula Zahn of being a conservative.