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Cooper replaces Brown to anchor CNN's 'NewsNight'
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-11-04 13:37 The once "voice of CNN" Aaron
Brown is leaving the network after Anderson Cooper was selected as the new
anchor, said the company on Thursday.
Anderson Cooper (L)
vs Aaron Brown (R) | Cooper is getting Brown's
low-rated, two-hour weekday 10 p.m. ET/7PT NewsNight block, to be renamed
Anderson Cooper 360.
Veteran CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer will replace Cooper in his current 7 p.m ET/4
PT slot with The Situation Room, which he also anchors for two hours daily
starting at 4 p.m. ET/1 PT.
The announcement brings an end to Brown's job at the network and further
raises Cooper's profile to the face of the new CNN.
CNN-U.S. president Jon Klein said CNN decided to build its primetime schedule
around "the two tentpoles that have the greatest potential and the greatest
momentum": "360" and "The Situation Room."
"When you look at that landscape, there was little opportunity for Aaron,"
Klein said, adding that it was a "mutual decision." Efforts to reach Brown
weren't successful Wednesday, as he was on vacation this week. Brown, who signed
a new contract in the fall, reportedly was signed through 2007. Klein declined
comment on contractual matters.
Brown's star has vanished while Cooper's is rising: The move comes after a
year of notable live reports from Cooper on natural-disaster stories — where
television news careers are often made — from his searing coverage of January's
Asian tsunami to his recent reports from the path of destruction caused by
Hurricane Katrina.
"In the wake of Katrina, you saw the audience and people who follow the news
were embracing Anderson's phenomenal coverage and glued to reports in 'The
Situation Room,'" he said.
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