Talk the Talk, Yo   

Could Headline News be starting a trend with its 'slang dictionary?'

This fall an internal CNN Headline News memo that made the rounds detailed efforts at the station to appeal to younger viewers. It urged anchors to use more "cutting edge" slang, words like "flava" and "ill." Is a story like the following too far off?

After CNN's Headline News disclosed this fall that it was stepping up its hip quotient in order to pry young viewers' eyes from the likes of "American Idol" and "Friends" (a print reporter's best guess as to where young eyes are; like we know...), it didn't take long for competitors to follow suit. Or rather, to try to crash that party. (Or is it partay?)

Headline News, now of course known as Representin' Nooz, first endeavored to cross the cultural divide by circulating to its staff a "slang dictionary" in hopes that they would incorporate the new terms into newscasts. When the old-school reporters were slow to catch on, the network hired Snoop Dogg for the morning shift (though he eventually had to move to the evening shift because he had trouble getting up early and laying off the "dope-ass blunts"). Dogg also retooled the newscast's theme music, the single for which, "Get This, Ho," became the first news theme song to ever break the Top 20 on Billboard's R&B/Hip-Hop chart.

The ambitious initiative, Project Bring on Da 18-34 Benjaminz, has gone smoothly, despite much early scoffing by both competitors and media critics. Aside from one well-documented hitch--the unfortunate forced resignation of a popular male anchor after he, on-air, complimented his female co-anchor's "booty," then, when she was visibly upset, called her "playa-hatin"--the staff and viewers alike seem taken with the new format.

"You gotta give us props," says Rolando "R-Daddy" Santos, the cable channel's general manager. "Peeps know we got da 411."

Ripple effects from Representin' Nooz's bold moves are hitting most of the major news organizations. NBC's Tom Brokaw, in reporting on a new welfare reform bill, repeatedly referred to "government cheese." Though Britney Spears turned down Peter Jennings' overtures to have her do ABC's "World News Tonight" weather report, the network is now negotiating with Sarah Michelle Geller. And though Dan Rather's preference to keep his newscasts conservative is well known in the industry, the CBS frontman was spotted recently in Bloomingdale's buying two FUBU tracksuits and a Sean John sport coat.

CNN officials say they're confident that their strategy is paying off, though numbers aren't yet available as to exactly how many more young viewers are tuning in. In fact, they report that the company brass recently broke out the champagne to celebrate. (Actually, they said, "We're chillin' now, cuz we think it's all that, da bomb. On the real, we was marinatin' with hella Cristal at Ted Turner's crib.")