SHAKEUP

CNN Moves Jake Tapper to Primetime Through Midterm Elections

While the move is supposedly temporary, CNN chief Chris Licht appears to be flirting with permanently moving the anchor to the slot left vacant by Chris Cuomo’s firing last year.

CNN chief Chris Licht is shaking things up once again. Days after unveiling a “reimagined” morning show, the network announced that anchor Jake Tapper would be moving to primetime to host the 9 p.m. slot through this year’s midterm elections. While the assignment is ostensibly temporary, it could possibly become permanent if Tapper draws a decent audience. The hour has been manned by a series of rotating hosts since Chris Cuomo was fired in December. Tapper, who anchors the late-afternoon news program The Lead and the Sunday morning talk show State of the Union, has long been considered a frontrunner for the open primetime slot as Licht looks to shift the perception of CNN being too liberal. Additionally, CNN revealed that Don Lemon will officially sign off from his 10 p.m.-midnight block on Oct. 7 to begin launching the network’s new morning program. Afternoon anchor Alisyn Camerota and legal analyst Laura Coates will take over hosting duties in that slot during the midterm election schedule. John Berman and Brianna Keilar, whose current morning show New Day is being replaced, will fill in as hosts of The Lead while Tapper works primetime.

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Justin BaragonaSenior Media Reporter

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