HLN chief Scot Safon is leaving the network at the end of August, a CNN spokeswoman confirmed. CNN/U.S. executive VP Ken Jautz will oversee the channel in the interim, in addition to his current responsibilities.
Safon is a 22-year veteran of Turner Broadcasting, spending the past 11 years at HLN and 11 years at TNT before that. "Scot leaves HLN in a position of strength, enjoying some of its best ratings in years," said CNN Worldwide president Jeff Zucker. "That is a tribute to Scot, and all of the wonderful people at HLN, both on and off camera. Scot has been a terrific leader, and he will be missed."
His exit is just one move in a larger restructuring by Zucker, which he outlined in a memo to staff on Wednesday obtained by B&C.
Bloomberg head of U.S. television Andrew Morse is joining the network as senior VP of CNN/U.S., overseeing the newly combined domestic newsgathering and digital editorial efforts. Now Meredith Artley and the digital editorial team, Terence Burke and the domestic newsgathering operation, and Sam Feist and the DC programming team will all report to Morse. "As a result of this, all of our domestic newsgathering operations now reside in one editorial organization, and I have asked Andrew to continue to drive our digital and television teams even closer together," Zucker said.
Tony Maddox, who had some oversight of domestic newsgathering, will now focus solely on international operations, including CNN International and CNN en Espanol. Senior VP Michael Bass will add oversight of New York and Atlanta based programming with morning EP Jim Murphy, VP of programming Janelle Rodriguez and the primetime executive producers reporting to him.
Amy Entelis, senior VP of talent and program development will now report directly to Zucker and Fox News’ Nancy Duffy is joining CNN as VP of program development, reporting to Entelis. Participant Media's Courtney Sexton is joining the network as senior director of CNN Films, reporting to Vinnie Malhotra in Los Angeles.
All of the moves are effective Aug. 19.
