Wolf Blitzer Reflects on 20 Years at CNN

The Baltimore Sun

When CNN hired Wolf Blitzer from The Jerusalem Post in 1990 to be its Pentagon correspondent, the first thing his new employers tried to do was “teach” him how to be a TV performer.

“They sent me to coaching and voice lessons and all sorts of stuff– it was making me crazy,” Blitzer said. “And I remember saying to my wife at the time, ‘I’m never going to make this. … I think I made a huge mistake in taking this job.’ “

But when Blitzer told his boss, Bill Headline, CNN’s Washington bureau chief at the time, about his misgivings, Headline surprised the veteran Middle East correspondent with his answer–“Forget everything.” More…