The New York Times

5/31/01

CNN Hires A New Anchor From ABC by Jim Rutenberg

For 20 years, Bernard Shaw was the face of CNN-TV, a leading anchor and correspondent when major news broke the Persian Gulf war, the presidential election race between George W. Bush and Al Gore.

CNN said yesterday that it was hiring what it hoped would be a new defining face for the network, filling the gap left when Mr. Shaw retired in February. CNN said Aaron Brown, an anchor for ABC News, would be the anchor of a new, as‑yet unnamed, flagship nightly newscast, as well as an anchor for important breaking events at any time during the day.

The move comes as CNN rebuilds amid assaults on its ratings from its cable rivals at Fox News Network, MSNBC and CNBC. CNN was founded on the philosophy that news itself, not the personalities delivering it, should be the main attraction of its programming. But as the competition has grown, with programs that could be considered personality driven, CNN management thinks that strategy is outmoded.

Jamie Kellner, the new chief executive of Turner Broadcasting System ‑ the AOL Time Warner division that oversees CNN ‑ has said he wants to add more showmanship to the network, partly in the form of new stars.

The appointment of Mr. Brown, not exactly a household name, would seem to go against this vision. But CNN executives said they planned to showcase his talents as part of an effort to develop a stable of news stars comparable to those at the major broadcast networks.

Mr. Brown, 52, has been the anchor of the ABC News Saturday edition of "World News Tonight" and a correspondent for the weekday editions of "World News Tonight." He was previously a co‑anchor of "World News Now," ABC's overnight news program.

Sid Bedingfield, executive vice president and general manager of CNN's domestic operation, said the new newscast featuring Mr. Brown would not be a talk show, but would, be built "around enterprise reporting and storytelling."

Mr. Bedingfield said it was not yet clear when the program would be shown.

Mr. Brown's four‑year deal with CNN was brokered by Carole Cooper, of N. S. Bienstock, and was made possible after ABC News agreed to release him from a contract that had more than a year remaining.