CNN Promotes Jake Tapper And Unveils Other New Assignments

Jake Tapper has been promoted at CNN, becoming the cable news channel’s lead Washington, D.C. anchor. As new lead dog, he’s not only taking Wolf Blitzer’s title, Tapper is getting an hour from the elder statesman’s daily program.

According to The Wrap, Tapper’s daily show will now run from 4-6 p.m. ET, adding the 5 p.m. hour. “The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer” will run from 6-7.

Jake Tapper

With an even larger load to shoulder, Tapper will get some help from Dana Bash on Sundays. The two will co-anchor “State of the Union” together.  Beginning on Jan. 24, the pair will each anchor the show, now called “State of the Union with Jake Tapper and Dana Bash,” two Sundays per month. Bash is still CNN’s chief political correspondent.

CNN Worldwide president Jeff Zucker, in making the announcements Monday morning, told staffers that Blitzer will remain with CNN for a long time to come.

Other new assignments, include:

• Abby Phillip will become the anchor of “Inside Politics Sunday” which runs from 8-9 a.m. ET. John King will continue to host the weekday version of that program. Phillip has been named CNN senior political correspondent.Jim Acosta has been named anchor and chief domestic correspondent. We’ll learn more about his weekend-anchoring duties in the coming weeks, CNN said.
• Pamela Brown is becoming the anchor of “CNN Newsroom” on Saturdays and Sundays from 6-9 p.m. ET, beginning on Jan. 23. She is a senior Washington correspondent.
• Kaitlan Collins has been named chief White House correspondent
• Phil Mattingly will become senior White House correspondent.
• Arlette Saenz, Jeremy Diamond, John Harwood, MJ Lee and Kate Bennett will all be correspondents covering the White House. Kevin Liptak and Jasmine Wright will join them at the White House as reporters.
• Jeff Zeleny has been named chief national affairs correspondent and will also cover the first year of the Biden White House.
• Joe Johns will remain senior Washington correspondent and will shift his focus from the White House to a variety of Washington-related stories. Sunlen Serfaty will become Washington correspondent covering Washington at large. Suzanne Malveaux will continue in her role as national correspondent.
• Manu Raju has been named CNN’s chief Congressional correspondent. He will be joined on Capitol Hill by correspondents Jessica Dean, Lauren Fox and Ryan Nobles. Daniella Diaz has been named a Capitol Hill reporter.

Cable news channels, which enjoyed record ratings in the aftermath of the 2020 election, are jockeying for advantage as the story shifts to the turbulent exit of Donald Trump from the White House and the beginning of President-elect Joe Biden’s administration.

Fox News was No. 1 in every major category for 2020 as a whole, but rivals ate into its lead during the postelection period. CNN has taken the lead in total-day viewership, averaging 1.56 million viewers from Nov. 4 to Jan. 6, according to Nielsen, while Fox News has drawn an average total-day audience of 1.44 million viewers during the postelection period.

Other networks have also made Washington-oriented announcements in recent days. Last week NBC named both Peter Alexander and Kristen Welker as chief White House correspondents for the Biden years. And on Monday CBS named Shawna Thomas, well known for her years running the D.C. bureau for Vice News, the new executive producer of "CBS This Morning."