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Michael Schulder
CNN Senior Executive Producer

I must interrupt my 50th birthday campaign – my campaign to bury the worshipers of the18-49 audience “demo” – so that I can tend to company business. The deadline has arrived for me to write the confidential self-evaluation portion of my job performance review. For efficiency’s sake, I’ll post it right here.

I’m in a zone as I approach 50. Not a zone defense. A creative zone. I can’t remember precisely when it began. But if it stretches on much longer, in the 50on50 AC360.com series I’ve been doing to fight my imminent expulsion from the 18-49 demo, I believe CNN stands to make incalculable gains (or, better yet, calculable.)

Would I rather be turning 40? Sure I would. Provided I was in this zone. I’ve spent various periods of my life in the zone. But never a zone like this. And never for so long in a single stretch. So if 50 is the price of admission to this zone, I’ll pay it.

Humility

I know I may be sounding arrogant. And I’m aware of the value of humility.

But I’m reminded of the joke Bible scholar Elie Wiesel likes to tell:

Two religious friends are sitting on a park bench debating their relative levels of humility.
One man says to the other: “I’m the most humble man I know.”
His friend responds: “You? How can you COMPARE your humility to mine?!”

Raise Me

I must say, humbly, as I approach my 50th birthday, I consider myself deserving of the maximum raise allowable under CNN corporate policy. That corporate policy has been explained to me the way some store owners punch a hundred numbers into a calculator and then reveal the best price they can give you. I see.

I deserve better. I deserve one of those special raises. A huge check. One of those “I’m partially responsible for the failure of my investment bank” bonuses.

But we journalists don’t get big bonuses. It’s not the nature of our business. I understand that. I won’t take it personally. I’m just saying, if we did get bonuses for successfully adding value, as some bankers do for successfully losing value, I’d deserve a big one.

The Specifics

As evidence of the value I’ve added to CNN as a senior member of the editorial staff, I could point to a number of other peoples’ scripts that I helped transform from OK to excellent. But the individuals I cite would object and it would get messy.

And then, in fairness, I’d have to cite all the superb first drafts I received that took me only two minutes to read and sign off on, which allowed me to quickly get back in my zone. This latter zone I refer to is essential for creative output. It’s the “zone-out.” Brief, but necessary, for refreshing the mind and giving lucrative ideas the space to form.

50on50

Speaking of lucrative ideas, how do you like this 50on50 series? Out with the 18-49 demo. In with A NEW DEMO FOR A NEW AGE. “A new demo for a new age” is so original, a Google search of the phrase only turned up references to this series. Talk about ripe for going viral! Will you, my CNN job evaluators, join me on my journey here?

If you’re reading this now, you should know that you are part of my very own exclusive 18-49 demo.  Eighteen to 49 is the average number of readers I have.

But, as I approach 50, with an amazing family by my side, I’m a happy man living in my zone.

My Future

You could say I should be pessimistic when I look at the number of clicks I’m getting. But I know quite a few movers and shakers on Wall Street. I know what they value. And I’m the kind of investment they love.

They can look at my current readership numbers, look at the potential market out there for my series, and do the thing that makes stock prices shoot up: Imagine growth.

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Follow Michael Schulder's battle against getting kicked out of the 18-49 demo here