Whippersnappers

CNN has high hopes that its forum tonight, co-sponsored by Rock the Vote, will attract the younger viewers that seem to elude the network:

Courting an audience that doesn't heavily watch the network, CNN is teaming with the Rock the Vote organization to sponsor a Democratic presidential debate with questions asked by young voters. …

CNN, like many individual news programs, tends to have an older audience. Pulling in younger viewers will make the network more attractive to advertisers.

But a single evening program won't get to the real heart of the problem, which the older folks at CNN — like all older folks everywhere — know is young people's apathy and lack of social concern.

Somehow, CNN has got to find a way to cut through that apathy and get young people to really care again about the things that really matter.

You know, things like the defense strategy in the Laci Peterson case, the next court appearance for Kobe Bryant, the Laci Peterson case, the popularity of the Atkins diet, the Laci Peterson case, the tragic tiger attack on beloved entertainer Roy Horn, the Laci Peterson case, Winona Ryder's shoplifting, the Laci Peterson case, the behind-the-scenes wrangling over CBS' miniseries on Ronald Reagan, the Laci Peterson case, the latest shark attack or the Laci Peterson case.

And CNN is betting that if anyone can get young people to care about such things again, that man is Anderson Cooper.