In the escalating arms race for news talent, Cable News Network scored a
big one, landing ABC newsmaker Connie Chung.
The former ABC News anchor is joining CNN, where she'll host her own
primetime newscast and join CNN's stable of signature talent that includes Larry
King, Paula Zahn and Aaron Brown.
The move gives Chung, who most recently co-anchored
newsmagazine 20/20 , her own newscast and gets her out from the shadows of
Barbara Walters and Diane Sawyer.
Chung will anchor an 8 p.m. EST newscast, filling the slot vacated when Greta
Van Susteran, former host of The Point, defected to Fox News Channel
earlier this month.
CNN chairman Walter Isaacson is scheduled to introduce his new star Wednesday
at press conference in New York.
CNN poached Zahn from FNC this past September and lured Brown away from ABC
News last year.
Chung had about one year remaining on her contract. ABC agreed to release her
from her deal.
'Connie Chung has been a valued member of the ABC News family,' ABC News
president David Westin said in a prepared statement. 'This is an important
opportunity for her to have her own show.'
This past August, Chung landed one of 2001's biggest 'gets' -- an exclusive
interview with Rep. Gary Condit (D-Calif.).
Chung peppered Condit with questions about his relationship with missing
intern Chandra Levy, although she couldn't get him to admit the two were
anything more than close.
The interview was last summer's most-watched program, drawing 23.6 million
viewers and earning a 7.5/22 Nielsen Media Research rating in adults 18 through
49.
From
1993 through 1995, Chung co-anchored the CBS Evening News with Dan Rather. In 1997, she jumped to
ABC News.
