In a Q&A with The Wrap’s Dylan Stableford, CNN/US President Jon Klein confirms that anchor Campbell Brown will be “hosting her show until the end of July.” A CNN spokesperson tells TVNewser no firm date has been scheduled.
Brown’s departure comes as CNN has announced her eventual replacement, a new debate program with former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer and columnist Kathleen Parker. In The Wrap interview, Klein was asked about the network’s change in stance on “opinion-based programming:”
We’ve never resisted opinion. If you’ve watched our election programming, we’ve quite famously had a wide range of opinions on those shows. What we have resisted is having our anchors insert their personal points of view for an hour and shoving them down people’s throats. What we want to do here is facilitate lively, smart discussion, with multiple points of view. It’s not that we’re suddenly endorsing one side or another. This country already has a super-conservative network and super-liberal network.
Advertisement
Klein says he had been evaluating the new duo over the last two months, reading Parker’s columns and seeing Spitzer “on various shows,” which indicates that Spitzer’s recent stints at MSNBC played a part in landing him the CNN job. Klein also said that replacing Larry King “is not a priority” at the moment.
The NY Post today quotes a number of unnamed CNNers who say they are dismayed with the new hires and the reflection on the network’s brand. Former CNN 8pm host Connie Chung tells The Post, “It’s sadly comical… and this is terribly disillusioning. Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert will give you more solid journalism than this program could possibly give.”
> Interesting: It was roughly three years ago — July 26th, 2007 — that Campbell Brown and Jon Klein announced that Brown would be the host of a new evening show on CNN.
This story appeared on the mediabistro.com Morning Newsfeed. Click here to subscribe and get the morning’s media news in your inbox.