After 8 Years At White House, CNN’s John King Named “Chief National Correspondent”

On Friday the WP reported that CNN’s John King is “yearning to leave his White House beat after almost eight years.” This afternoon CNN announced King has been named chief national correspondent. The new DC-based assignment will be a “broad mandate for a range of reporting on interesting and important stories in the United States and around the world,” the press release says. Jon Klein says “our viewers are better served by having him out in the field.”

> Update: 2:21pm: “As best anyone at CNN can tell, King is the first chief national correspondent, joining Christiane Amanpour who is the chief international correspondent,” FishBowlDC says.