Christiane Amanpour Jets to ABC News

Christiane Amanpour will no longer be loading up on frequent-flyer miles, as the veteran CNN globetrotter is trading her passport for a seat at ABC News’ This Week.Amanpour on Thursday announced that she will leave CNN for ABC News, where she’ll anchor the broadcaster’s Sunday morning public affairs program. In a statement released this afternoon, Amanpour said she was “thrilled” to be joining ABC News, calling the opportunity “a tremendous and rare honor.”In addition to her weekly anchor duties, Amanpour also will provide analysis for all other ABC News programs. Moreover, she will anchor an unspecified number of prime time documentaries on international subjects.“I look forward to discussing the great domestic and international issues of the day,” Amanpour said, by way of announcing her decision. “I leave CNN with the utmost respect, love and admiration for the company and everyone who works here. This has been my family and shared endeavor for the past 27 years and I am forever grateful and proud of all that we have accomplished.”As CNN’s chief international correspondent, Amanpour reported from the world’s most volatile regions, chasing down stories in hot zones like Iraq, Afghanistan, Kuwait and Somalia. Her move to the broadcast network comes as ABC News has begun making significant reductions in its international newsgathering operations.Amanpour will join ABC News in August. In the meantime, Jake Tapper will stay on as interim anchor of This Week.In a note to staffers, ABC News president David Westin said he was pleased to bring Amanpour aboard, having pursued her for some time. “More than once over the years we’ve talked with Christiane about her joining us in one position or another,” Westin said. “Until now, it wasn’t the right time or the right fit. We are fortunate that this time it worked for Christiane and for us.”Amanpour will lend a global perspective to the program, which has focused primarily on Beltway politics. “Christiane will bring the international and the domestic together, in the interviews she does and in the roundtable over which she presides,” Westin said. “Our audience has come to us for years to see differing points of views expressed in intelligent and compelling ways; now the different points of view will be expanded beyond partisan politics alone.”CNN president Jim Walton thanked Amanpour for her years of service to the network, noting that her reporting “burnished our news brand and gave it authority.” He went on to add that the journalist and network enjoyed a reciprocal relationship: “CNN and Christiane helped make each other great.”

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Christiane Amanpour Jets to ABC News

Anthony Crupi

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