Tag: Inside Politics

Jake Tapper gains an hour; CNN shifts others around

by Allan, posted in CNN


The Lead with Jake Tapper will gain an extra hour in April; it will begin airing from 4-6pm ET. Wolf Blitzer will move back an hour, anchoring The Situation Room from 6-7pm ET. In addition, Tapper’s role will expand; CNN says he will now serve as the “network’s lead anchor for all major Washington events.” However, Tapper will stay on at State of the Union — albeit only twice a month. Beginning January 24, Tapper will take two Sundays a month, and chief political correspondent Dana Bash will get two Sundays a month. The show will be branded as State of the Union with Jake Tapper and Dana Bash.

Blitzer’s new role, in addition to anchoring the now-hourlong Situation Room, will be that of “a principal anchor role for all major breaking news,” according to the network.

Political correspondent Abby Phillips will take over Inside Politics on Sunday, January 24; John King will still anchor the weekday edition.

CNN is permanently expanding its live news coverage on the weekends. Pamela Brown, whose new title will be senior Washington correspondent, will begin anchoring CNN Newsroom from 6-9pm on January 23.

CNN also reshuffled its White House beat: Kaitlan Collins will take over from Jim Acosta as Chief White House Correspondent (Acosta will begin anchoring a weekend show soon); Phil Mattingly will leave Capitol Hill and serve as senior White House correspondent; and Arlette Saenz, Jeremony Diamond, MJ Lee, Kate Bennett, and John Harwood will serve as White House correspondents. On Capitol Hill, Manu Raju will serve as Chief Congressional correspondent; Capitol Hill correspondents will be Jessica Dean, Lauren Fox and Ryan Nobles. Daniella Diaz has been named a Capitol Hill reporter.

CNN announces new daytime lineup

by Allan, posted in CNN

With the hiring of former Fox anchor Dave Briggs and the departure of Carol Costello, today CNN Worldwide president Jeff Zucker announced CNN’s new programming schedule, effective February 6:

4:00am-6:00am Early Start with Christine Romans and Dave Briggs (beginning Feb. 23)

6:00am-9:00am New Day

9:00am-11:00am CNN Newsroom with John Berman and Poppy Harlow

11:00am-12:00 At This Hour with Kate Bolduan

12:00pm-1:00pm Inside Politics

The rest of the daytime schedule remains the same.

Brianna Keilar to anchor the 12pm hour after Election Day?

by Allan, posted in CNN

CNN senior political correspondent Brianna Keilar seems poised to take over the 12pm hour on CNN following Election Day. Inside Politics has aired in the noon hour, since replacing Ashleigh Banfield when she moved to HLN primetime.

Yet beginning next Monday, November 14, tv guides indicate that the branding will be CNN Newsroom with Brianna Keilar, which is a surprise to few.

Throughout the election cycle, Keilar has covered the campaign and has sub-anchored, and has managed to make plenty of headlines for her tough questioning, including her viral moment with a Donald Trump advisor concerning polling, leaving him silent. (Video is embedded below).

Earlier this year, Keilar was engaged.

CNN’s new DC set until Election Day

by Allan, posted in CNN

Most of CNN’s Washington, DC-based programming will be originating from its new temporary set, until Election Day.

Coming from the top of the US Chamber of Commerce building, the set offers “sweeping views of the White House, Old Executive Office Building and Washington Monument,” notes Politico’s Playbook.

Wolf, Inside Politics, and The Lead are all slated to air from this set, with State of the Union expected to broadcast from it on Sunday.

Next week, Anderson Cooper 360 will use the set.

John King gets noon slot through Election Day

by Allan, posted in CNN

John King’s Inside Politics is moving to the noon slot through Election Day, beginning September 26, a CNN spokesperson confirmed to Brian Stelter.

The noon time anchor, Ashleigh Banfield, announced at the conclusion of today’s Legal View that she was departing the network as an anchor, and moving over to sister channel HLN, where she will serve as the 8pm primetime host beginning in October.

The move by CNN executives to put King in Banfield’s slot doesn’t come as much of a surprise — during convention coverage, Inside Politics preempted Banfield’s noontime show.

Ashleigh Banfield replaced by John King for convention coverage

by Allan, posted in CNN

One nugget can be gleaned from CNN’s press release about its programming during the Republican and Democratic national conventions: John King will be replacing Ashleigh Banfield for the duration. Inside Politics will air from noon to 1pm ET, live from the CNN Grill, pre-empting Banfield’s Legal View.

Although literally every other CNN anchor will be covering the correspondents — yes, even HLN crossover Christi Paul — Banfield was not listed as covering the conventions.

“Anchors Brooke Baldwin, John Berman, Victor Blackwell, Wolf Blitzer, Kate Bolduan, Erin Burnett, Alisyn Camerota, Anderson Cooper, Carol Costello, Chris Cuomo, Poppy Harlow, John King, Don Lemon, Christi Paul, Christine Romans, Michael Smerconish, Jake Tapper, and Fredricka Whitfield will be reporting from the convention sites,” the press release reads.

Palace intrigue: Hardy Spire left CNN because of Brian Stelter

by Allan, posted in CNN

As mentioned here this morning, the senior producer for Reliable Sources with Brian Stelter (and Sunday’s Inside Politics) left CNN.

But a new nugget has been dug up since then.

According to the Daily Caller’s Betsy Rothstein, Hardy Spire left CNN because of Stelter. In the past, he has been criticized as having taken over the shows bookings. In Rothstein’s latest report, she writes:

[Spire’s] worked there 22 years, but he’s moving on in part because Stelter took complete control of Reliable Sources: Topics, guests, right down to the soundbites chosen. He felt marginalized after being here for over 20 years by a know-it-all. Hardy liked the network’s John King, but Reliable was his passion.

John King and Brian Stelter’s senior producer leaves CNN

by Allan, posted in CNN

Hardy Spire, who is the senior producer for CNN’s Sunday shows Inside Politics with John King and Reliable Sources with Brian Stelter, has left the network yesterday, as reported in Politico’s Playbook.

In a statement to Politico, he said, “After 22 years at CBS, CNN, and producing the show ‘EnergyNOW,’ I’m going to be running ‘The Bridge’ newsroom at Golin in DC — so I’ll still be deeply involved in traditional and social media, but from the other side.”