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Cooper Bounces Brown at CNN
There's a Brown-out at CNN.
An Aaron Brown-out, that is.
The mild-mannered newsman is exiting the cable news network amid a reshuffling that sees Anderson Cooper ascending to lead anchor.
Brown's departure was officially characterized as a "mutual decision," but he was definitely the odd man out after CNN boss Jon Klein rejiggered the weeknight lineup, expanding Anderson Cooper 360° to two hours and moving it into the 10 p.m. ET slot previously occupied by Brown's NewsNight.
Cooper, 38, cemented his status as CNN's It boy during his hands-on Hurricane Katrina coverage.
"He's got a refreshing way of being the anti-anchor," Klein told the Associated Press. "He's not quote-unquote reporting at you. He's just being himself. He's asking the questions you would like answered. He's getting involved the way you might. You feel that he's a regular person that you can trust talking to you. He brings such a passion to the storytelling that's infectious.
"You just want to make sure that you're putting him in the best possible situation and showcasing his talent."
Brown, 56, had a tumultuous four-year run at CNN. The former ABC newsman came to the cable network in 2001 and wound up thrust into the spotlight during the Sept. 11 terror attacks. His folksy, conversational style didn't go over well with all critics, but he appeared to be a rising star at CNN. However, he came under fire in 2003 when it was reported he refused to return early from a charity golf game to cover the Space Shuttle Columbia catastrophe. And he never seemed to endear himself to Klein, who took the reins at the struggling network last year and has been tweaking its programming ever since.
By moving Cooper to 10 p.m., Klein hopes he can cut into the ratings dominance of Fox News Channel's Greta Van Susteren, who regularly walloped Brown and NewsNight. Fox News has grown 11 percent in prime time, with an average audience of nearly 1.8 million to CNN's 879,000.
A special edition of Wolf Blitzer's The Situation Room, in turn, takes over Cooper's old 7 p.m. time slot. The new schedule becomes effective Monday.
Brown, who is on vacation this week, did not comment on his exit or his future. Before his CNN stint, he anchored for ABC's World News Tonight Saturday and World News Now. He began his career in his native Minnesota as a Minneapolis radio talk-show host.
Cooper is also a product of ABC News, with a brief pit stop as host of ABC's reality series The Mole.
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