Background: CNN Left Aruba In July…

“In early July, [Jon Klein] pulled CNN’s correspondent out of Aruba and dropped the subject from most CNN shows in the absence of new developments,” today’s NYT notes.

It happened one day before the London bombings (temporarily) took over cable news on July 7. Klein said he was amazed the story “was still dragging on endlessly.” Quoting his e-mail to TVNewser:

“After five days without television over the July 4th holiday, I got to the airport craving CNN’s Airport Network. When I looked up and saw that we were still in Aruba, still with no meaningful developments, the decision was clear: get the heck out of there. News is about what’s NEW. When there’s something meaningful to tell, our viewers can rest assured that we’ll go back to Aruba and tell it.”

CNN pulled out of Aruba on the morning of the 7th, “except one reporter to service Nancy Grace,” Klein added. (Apparently Klein has control over the newsgathering operation for both CNN and HLN, but not the programming for HLN…)