CNN Fired Mike Brooks — And Then They Negotiated To Bring Him Back

CNN correspondent/analyst Mike Brooks, a 26-year police veteran and former member of the FBI’s Terrorism Task Force, was told last week that “his services were no longer needed” at the cable news network. But it didn’t take long for the network to change its tune.

John Cook (Contributing writer to Radar Magazine/former Chicago Tribune TV critic) is blogging the details: When the Atlanta shootings happened, CNN chief Jon Klein called up Brooks, and the conversation went something like this:

      Klein: How badly did we fuck up?

      Brooks: Very badly.

“The two had lunch on Tuesday, and are negotiating to bring Brooks back, which will likely happen, hopefully with a salary boost,” Cook says. Here’s the rest of his post…

> Update: 3:13pm: “Looks like Mike Brooks is already back — he is on CNN right now (3 :09 p.m.) talking about the Atlanta shootings,” an e-mailer says.

> Update: 5:34pm: From an insider: “Mike was back Monday on CNN’s air. He was feverishly called, apologized to and offered new negotiations. To his credit, he didn’t make them wait out the paperwork and took the high road. His ex-wife, by the way, is a CNN 6th-floor exec.”