CNN To Replace American Morning's Soledad O'Brien and Miles O'Brien
By Anne Becker -- Broadcasting & Cable, 4/3/2007 2:50:00 PM
CNN is replacing Miles O'Brien and Soledad O'Brien as the hosts of the ratings-challenged American Morning with John Roberts and Kiran Chetry. The duo starts April 16.
Both O’Briens will remain on at the news network as correspondents. Soledad O’Brien, who joined CNN in 2003 to anchor the morning show, becomes a “special correspondent,” while Miles will focus on science and space, his expertise.
Roberts joined CNN in February, 2006 after 14 years as CBS, most notably as White House correspondent and Dan Rather’s main substitute on the Evening News. Chetry came to the network in Feb., 2007 after co-anchoring Fox News’ Fox & Friends.
CNN has pitched American Morning as a newsier alternative to broadcast morning shows’ mixed bag of news and features. The show has failed to consistently attract viewers, however. While up 3% in news’ target 25-54 demo during first quarter, it was off 6% with total viewers to 372,000. That put it only about 10,000 viewers in front of MSNBC’s fast-growing Imus in the Morning.
“We think we have a great show and approach and we want to do better,” said CNN U.S. President Jon Klein.
In announcing the change, Klein praised Roberts for being “a kick-ass reporter” and said there was “no stronger classic news anchor on television.” Of Chetry, he cited an “encyclopedic knowledge of CNN” and said, “one look at her tells you why she deserves the slot. She’s a fantastic anchor. She lights up the screen and she’s got a passion for news.”
Klein said shifting O’Brien and O’Brien to reporting roles was aimed at “matching on-air talent to their passion.” In Miles O’Brien’s case, Klein said that was his space and science reporting. In Soledad’s, he said the network “started to see glimmers of passion,” from her reporting on the tsunami in southeast Asia, Hurricane Katrina, and the Martin Luther King, Jr. papers.
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After a year, I still can''t watch CNN''s morning show with out Soledad. I
love her style, her freshness, her enthusiasm. I don''t understand how
anyone would consider Kiran Chetry an improvement. What a joke! In fact,
John Roberts would probably perform better paired with Soledad.
Shirley A Jackson - 8/26/2008 1:16:00 PM EDT -
It's been awhile since the O'Brien's were replaced by Chetry and Roberts. However, I still believe it was a mistake. Chetry is a poor substitute for Robin Meade [who has no substance whatsoever as a serious journalist] and Roberts is just boring. Soledad always kept my interest. It's apparent that CNN has moved from it's original position of reporting real news and using real "jouralists" to employing and parading news personalities to look pretty and pitch / pass the story. CNN was one of the main reasons I started watching news, especially world news. I can only stomach CNN for maybe a minute before turning the channel. What a great loss to CNN, i.e., Soledad and Miles. What a great loss to CNN ... another dissatified customer / viewer.
Janice Dixon - 11/21/2007 6:33:00 AM EST -
why is it that the cnn women have to be stretched taut, plucked and made
-up perfect and then john roberts is allowed on the air with that hair
color/style? i miss soledad!! i can''t believe you fired her.good for the new
girl, but really? SHE replaced soledad?
debytillman - 9/3/2007 7:56:00 AM EDT -
I WAS A FAITHFUL AMERICAN MORNING FAN , UNTIL SOLEDAD WAS RANKED OFF. I NEVER WATCH ANYMORE SHE WAS A GREAT ANCHOR I TRULY MISS HER IN THE AM.
DBATIE - 8/23/2007 11:22:00 AM EDT -
I swear...the media is the devil. CNN got rid of Soledad O'brien when she was honored by the NAACP for professionalism. I didnt care for Miles O'brien, they let him go cause they couldnt justify letting him stay and not her.
Oh Boy....Where did this John Roberts and Kiran Chetry
come from.? They are straight up jokes. Not nice to look at either.
I know what happened. Some people got drunk one night
and some sxx favors happened and thats how they
got those jobs.
Kathleen Springer - 8/10/2007 7:39:00 PM EDT
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