CNN Ousts Evening Anchor And Embraces Rising Star

(From The New York Times -- By Bill Carter)

CNN Wednesday ousted its longtime prime-time anchor, AARON BROWN, in favor of ANDERSON COOPER, who received extensive media attention over his coverage of HURRICANE KATRINA.

JONATHAN KLEIN, President of CNN/US, said Wednesday that he and Mr. Brown agreed that Mr. Brown would leave the cable news network because its new lineup left "no options" for a program that would include Mr. Brown. "It is, unfortunately, a zero-sum game," Mr. Klein said.

The realigned CNN lineup will place Mr. Cooper's program, 360, which ran at 7 pm on weeknights, in the 10 pm time period that had been occupied for the last four years by Mr. Brown's program, NEWSNIGHT.

Mr. Cooper's program will also expand to two hours, from
10 until midnight. CNN has experimented with that two-hour format over the last month, with Mr. Cooper joining Mr. Brown as co-anchor.

The audience levels for that program increased markedly in the last month, a development CNN attributed to
Mr. Cooper's presence.

In the 7 pm hour, CNN will insert the final third of its three-hour-long THE SITUATION ROOM with WOLF BLITZER. That program has run from 3 to 6 pm each weekday. Now it will run from 4 to 6, leading into an hour newscast with LOU DOBBS as anchor and then Mr. Blitzer returning at 7 pm for one more hour.

PAULA ZAHN's NOW will continue to run from 8 to 9 pm, and LARRY KING LIVE will remain on the weeknight schedule from
9 to 10 pm.

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 pm 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.

He would not disclose the terms of that contract or whether it had been extended with the new assignment.

Citing all the talk in the media since Mr. Cooper's often emotional reporting and commentary during the hurricane coverage,
Mr. Klein said, "Clearly, America is embracing Anderson Cooper."

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 September 11th, 2001.

But his 10 pm 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
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.

Mr. Klein complimented Mr. Brown, who is 56, saying, "He is a first-class news talent, no question." He added, "He is really a doll to work with."

But Mr. Klein repeated that CNN simply had no program to offer Mr. Brown. "There are only so many hours in the course of a day," he said.

Mr. Brown did not respond to phone calls and email messages requesting comment.

A spokeswoman for CNN, which is a unit of TIME WARNER, said Mr. Cooper was on vacation and was unavailable for comment.