CBS, CNN and Ratings

3:58 p.m. Thursday, March 4, 2010

CNN denies talk of Anderson Cooper leaving for CBS
Weekend morning anchor Betty Nguyen will go to network

By Kristi E. Swartz
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Anderson Cooper, among the most recognizable faces on CNN, may be talking to CBS News executives about an anchor job, the New York Times reported earlier this week.

Cooper, who anchors his show at 10 p.m. and 11 p.m, already contributes to CBS’s popular Sunday news magazine show “60 Minutes.”

CNN has denied repeatedly that there’s anything to it.

“Reports that Cooper has recently met with CBS News re: an anchor position are false. He is not engaged in any additional conversations with them beyond those necessary for his continuing role on ‘60 Minutes,'" Cooper’s publicist said in an e-mailed statement to the AJC.

Cooper’s show helped buoy CNN’s ratings before the presidential election. Since then, however, the Atlanta-based cable news network has struggled during prime time, lagging behind bitter rival Fox News as well as MSNBC in some key time slots.

In February’s ratings from Nielsen Media Research, released Tuesday, CNN touted its results during the daytime and Saturday.

The network continued to fall behind in prime time, however.

The Olympics pulled viewers from all cable and other stations to NBC, MSNBC and other sister networks.

CNN says Cooper is staying. But the Atlanta-based cable news network is saying goodbye to longtime weekend morning anchor Betty Nguyen, who will become a CBS News correspondent, Sean McManus, president of CBS News and Sports, said in a news release Thursday.

Nguyen anchored “CNN Newsroom” for years.

She now will anchor "CBS Morning News" and report for the network’s “The Early Show,” McManus said.

Erica Hill, the news anchor for CNN’s signature program, “Anderson Cooper 360,” joined CBS News in January. She had been co-host of the Saturday edition of "The Early Show" since September 2008.