King-ers Were Afraid Of Being Brown-ed

Remember last week, when several media outlets criticized Larry King and CNN stayed quiet? “The network allowed seven days to elapse between the initial criticisms of Mr. King and CNN president Jon Klein‘s first published defense of his prime-time star,” today’s Observer notes.

“As days passed with no defense from Mr. Klein, Mr. King’s staff began to grow anxious. The show’s executive producer, Wendy Whitworth, held a conference call to reassure the staff that everything would be fine, according to two network sources. The silence from the executive suite brought back some of the feeling of last fall’s ouster of NewsNight anchor Aaron Brown…”

> In the piece, Greta Van Susteren is quoted: “Larry is what holds that place up…”