Thursday, January 06, 2005
Crossfire To Become Part Of 'Inside Politics'
Source: Philadelphia Inquirer Big changes at CNN's Crossfire: The format is toast, and Tucker Carlson is leaving the toaster.
Crossfire will morph from a 30-minute verbal steel-cage match to a 10-minute civilized discussion folded into Judy Woodruff's hourlong Inside Politics, says new CNN/U.S. boss Jonathan Klein.
The changes will be made in the next few months. The cohosts are conservatives Carlson (until tomorrow) and Robert Novak and libs James Carville and Paul Begala.
Klein says he agrees with Jon Stewart of Comedy Central, who blasted Crossfire as high-decibel "partisan hackery" during a guest appearance in October.
We need to lower the temperature," says Klein, a CBS alum. "It's time for us to do a better job of informing our audience in an engaging way, as opposed to head-butting and screaming.
Carlson, 35, says he flew to CNN's Atlanta headquarters to give his notice April 30. "I love parts of Crossfire, but I felt it was time to do something new. I have no complaints. CNN couldn't have been nicer to me."
NEW NEW NEW
A source tells CNN BLOG, "Shakeups may come cause there's lots going on, but don't look for any outside hires." " Klein is not into development, just improvement in working with the best exsisting talent at CNN."
# posted by ATN @ 3:56 PM 
