Jake Tapper, ABC's senior White House correspondent, is leaving the network for CNN, where he will anchor a new one-hour news program beginning early next year as CNN's chief Washington correspondent. Tapper's exit triggered changes at ABC News. Veteran Washington hand Jonathan Karl will be ABC's new chief Washington correspondent, and Martha Raddatz's role will expand as the new chief global affairs correspondent.
Jake Tapper Moving From ABC News To CNN
NEW YORK (AP) – Jake Tapper is leaving the White House beat at ABC News to become CNN’s chief Washington correspondent and anchor of a one-hour weekday news program.
CNN spokeswoman Jennifer Scoggins said Thursday that Tapper’s show would take an hour from the three-hour “Situation Room” newscast, which Wolf Blitzer currently hosts from 4 to 7 p.m. Eastern time on weekdays. It hasn’t been determined when Tapper’s show will start.
Tapper has been at ABC since 2003, most recently as its senior White House correspondent and author of the Political Punch blog. He’s also author of “The Outpost: An Untold Story of American Valor,” about the war in Afghanistan.
He’s been ABC’s primary substitute for the Sunday “This Week” talk show. But he was twice passed over for the top job, once when Christiane Amanpour replaced George Stephanopoulos and again when Stephanopoulos returned to replace Amanpour earlier this year.
Tapper worked at Salon.com before joining ABC, but he also had experience at CNN a decade ago, co-hosting a weekend show featuring young journalists talking about politics and pop culture.
He’ll be joining CNN at a time of change, with former NBC Universal chief Jeff Zucker starting in January as head of the network.
BRAND CONNECTIONS
Tapper’s exit triggered changes at ABC News. Veteran Washington hand Jonathan Karl will be ABC’s new chief Washington correspondent, ABC News President Ben Sherwood said.
Martha Raddatz’s role will expand as the new chief global affairs correspondent. Raddatz, who won praise this fall as moderator of the vice presidential debate, will become Stephanopoulos’ chief substitute on Sunday mornings.
Comments (3)
alicia farmer says:
December 21, 2012 at 7:59 am
Tapper’s insulting and rude question to President Obama a couple days ago was disgraceful. He’s a hack, not a journalist.
Christina Perez says:
December 22, 2012 at 12:42 pm
Rude? How about direct and to the point?
Dale Godfrey says:
December 21, 2012 at 9:18 am
Tapper was dissed twice by ABC because he IS a serious journalist, seeking answers, not political chaff, from the president and others to whom he tosses questions. I cannot even categorize ABC as a serious news player today; with ‘stars’ like Stephanopoulos, Raddatz, Cuomo, Sawyer….you’re talking about as ‘lightweight’ as you can get!