LOS ANGELES(Reuters) - Executives at CNN had a new mantra Monday: don't call Paula Zahn sexy, don't call Paula Zahn sexy.
A CNN promotional spot touting its new morning newscaster as ``just a little sexy'' was pulled off the air after it was broadcast repeatedly over the weekend in error, CNN officials said.
Red-faced executives said the 15-second ad was the work of an overzealous promotional staff and that ``appropriate steps'' were being taken to ensure future promos are cleared through proper channels.
``It was a major blunder by our promo department,'' CNN Chairman and CEO Walter Isaacson said in a statement. ``The ad was never seen or approved by anyone outside the promo department. I was outraged, and so was Paula Zahn, who has spent more than 20 years proving her credibility day in and day out on the air.''
Zahn, 45, is a 10-year CBS News veteran who joined the Fox News Channel as an evening news anchor in 1999 and moved to rival CNN in September, signing a deal worth roughly $2 million a year to host CNN's morning news show. She first appeared on CNN on Sept. 11 during coverage of the suicide attacks on Washington and New York.
A revamped version of CNN's morning news program, retitled ''American Morning,'' debuted on Monday.
In a CNN promo that aired several times on Saturday and Sunday, a voice-over asks: ``Where can you find a morning news anchor who's provocative, super-smart, oh yeah, and just a little sexy?'' At that point, the music pauses and the voice-over intones the answer: ``CNN, Yeah, CNN.''
Zahn appears in the ad with a shot of her on the set interviewing someone.
The episode occurred amid an intensifying battle for viewers between CNN and Fox News, which last week hired away CNN's longtime legal affairs correspondent and anchor Greta Van Susteren to put her in the 10 p.m. spot formerly occupied by Zahn.
Fox News fired Zahn in September after learning she was in talks to anchor a news program on CNN, then sued her agent, N.S. Bienstock, for breach of contract.
Fox officials were clearly gleeful over the Zahn promo embarrassment. Kevin Magee, Fox News vice president of programming, called the ad a ``sign of desperation.''
``It makes you wonder who's running the place over there,'' he said. ``She's their No. 1 star. It's the big premiere of their big show, and no one watched the promo before it went on. What were all those people doing?''
Reuters/Variety REUTERS