CNN
Ousts Evening Anchor and Embraces Rising Star
New York Times, By BILL CARTER
Published: November 3, 2005
...Mr. Klein said the moves were made chiefly to elevate the profiles
of the two news figures whose popularity has been growing at CNN, Mr.
Cooper and Mr. Blitzer.
"We want to expose Anderson and Wolf to more people," Mr. Klein said.
He said Mr. Cooper, who is 38, had so stood out for his "passion and
enthusiasm," especially during the coverage of the aftermath of
Hurricane Katrina and its impact on New Orleans and the Gulf Coast,
that "his name has been on the tip of everyone's tongue."
The evidence, he said, was in the ratings and the number of people
"both in the audience and among observers of the industry" who have
been talking about him. Mr. Cooper's 7 p.m. show had 36 percent more
viewers over the last month compared with a year earlier. The
11-to-midnight portion of "Newsnight" has also gained viewers with Mr.
Cooper on the show the last month. That hour has been up about 27
percent over the previous occupant, a replay of Mr. Dobbs's newscast.
Mr. Klein also noted that Mr. Cooper has started to turn up as a
character satirized on "Saturday Night Live" on NBC, a development that
he said was "a sure sign" that people were becoming more aware of him.
He would not comment on rumors that the broadcast networks were taking
note of that awareness. Mr. Cooper's name has emerged in speculation
about future talent plans at CBS News; such talk did not surprise Mr.
Klein. "Fortunately we have him under contract," he said...
Just as clearly, CNN no longer embraced Aaron Brown. When Mr. Brown
joined CNN from ABC News in 2001, he instantly became the most
important news figure on the network, a designation exemplified by his
central role in the coverage of the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.
But his 10 p.m. program, frequently cited as a serious effort to
summarize the news of the day, never seized a large audience; like
other CNN programs, it fell far behind its competition at the Fox News
Channel.
Mr. Brown's style, which combined a low-key delivery with occasional
sardonic humor, never seemed to connect with a wide audience....
