Posted on 07/25/2002 1:51:01 PM PDT by an amused spectator
Edited on 04/13/2004 1:39:45 AM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]
When CNN dumped Major Garrett as a White House correspondent in May, one of the first calls he made was to Fox News Washington anchor Brit Hume. Smart move. Wednesday, Fox announced that Garrett, 39, will become a general assignment reporter in its Washington bureau in August.
(Excerpt) Read more at usatoday.com ...
Now don't become a hack.
No. But a second cousin to Major-----De Coverley.
A word to wise, is sufficient.
I always liked Garrett before he was hired by CNN. I hope his being at Fox will make him a better reporter, or at least one whose more fair and balanced. We shall see.
Major Garrett is a White House correspondent for CNN. While at CNN, Garrett has covered President Clinton's first summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin, his emergency Middle East peace summit in Egypt, and his recent visit to Vietnam. At the White House, Garrett has covered a range of economic, political and international stories, filing reports for CNN, CNN International, CNN Radio and CNN.com.
Prior to joining the CNN, he was a senior editor and correspondent for U.S. News and World Report, where he reported on Congress and the impeachment and trial of President Bill Clinton. He was a regular guest during impeachment on CNN, National Public Radio, BBC, C-SPAN, Hardball with Chris Matthews on CNBC, and the Fox News Channel.
From 1990 to 1995, he was a congressional reporter for The Washington Times, and from 1995 to 1997, he was the newspaper's deputy national editor, supervising a staff of twenty reporters and photographers covering the presidential campaign and the historic 105th Congress.
Prior to joining The Washington Times, Garrett was an award-winning reporter for The Houston Post, Las Vegas Review-Journal and the Amarillo Globe-News.
Garrett, a graduate of the University of Missouri, is the author of two books, The 15 Biggest Lies in Politics (St. Martin's, 1998), and Common Cents (Little, Brown,1995). He has also published articles on Congress and politics in Mother Jones and the Weekly Standard.
Covering the Fall Preview Junket in Pasadena, Calif. Atlanta Journal-Constitution reporter Steve Murray writes that Connie Chung is thin, but at Friday morning's CNN session at the Television Critics Association panel, she was treated like the fat lady. You know, the one who has to sing before the opera's over.
On the itinerary handed to reporters gathered here to preview the fall season, Chung was listed as part of a four-member panel, including CNN News chairman and CEO Walter Isaacson, chief news executive Eason Jordan and executive vice president and general manager Teya Ryan. When those three took their seats onstage and welcomed questions, the first one was, "Where's Connie?"
Her appearance was delayed another 15 minutes, further aggravating a crowd that had listened for more than a half-hour as Isaacson delivered spin about his 24-hour news network, which has slipped to second place in the ratings behind Fox News.
Drawing on an old family adage to distinguish CNN from the more abrasive, "talk-radio host" style of Fox, Isaacson said there are two kinds of people: storytellers and preachers. By storytellers, he meant CNN's journalists. But he himself began to preach, praising his organization's commitment to gathering news, adding, "We actually get up in the morning and believe in what we do."
Comments like this elicited groans, sighs and not-so-subtle glances at wristwatches among the dozens of reporters. Jordan joined the bandwagon, saying of CNN, "We are No. 1 as a great journalist network."
This prompted Isaacson to agree, "What we have to do is define 'winning.' "
When Chung was finally introduced, she was preceded by a video montage, showing clips of her TV work over 30 years. One reporter shouted, "No tape --- we've seen her show!"
As for that show, "Connie Chung Tonight," which debuted on CNN last month, the anchor and her colleagues deflected any criticism --- such as that it sometimes veers toward the tabloidy. Said Isaacson, "Y'all should just keep watching, because it's just really good!"
Chung, who ended up appearing for 20 minutes as the panel went into overtime, offered, "We're very close to doing the program we want to do." She also said, "I came to CNN because it is the last sanctuary for news."
But to the critics here, the hour-plus of superlatives made the network seem more like a bastion of the hard-sell.
By JIM RUTENBERG
The New York Times
The announcement last week that Major Garrett, the CNN White House correspondent, would be leaving the network came as a surprise to his colleagues in Washington. It also was a shock to Mr. Garrett - and the manner of his dismissal has roiled the bureau, CNN staff members said.
During his two and a half years at the network, executives never told Mr. Garrett they had a problem with him, people close to the situation said.
Last Monday, however, they bluntly told him that he had "no future" at CNN and that his services were no longer needed. CNN executives did not dispute this account.
The apparent harshness in the way the dismissal was handled sent a chill through the Washington offices of CNN, a subsidiary of AOL Time Warner.
It has also added to a sense of unease at the bureau that is growing as CNN executives continue to make changes. In the last year, the bureau has lost, either to buyout, dismissal or the competition: its longtime chief, Frank Sesno, and its two legal analysts, Roger Cossack and Greta Van Susteren. Its veteran anchor, Bernard Shaw, retired. Meanwhile, the role of Bill Press, the longtime Democrat on "Crossfire," came to an end last month when he was replaced with two Democratic consultants Paul Begala and James Carville. "There is huge uncertainty which hangs over everybody - camera people, producers, directors, reporters and anchors," said another person on the CNN Washington staff. A representative for Mr. Garrett, Robert Barnett, a Washington lawyer, had no comment.
CNN executives said the dissatisfaction among those on the Washington staff was regrettable, but perhaps to be expected. Mr. Garrett's departure, they said, was just one of the changes at CNN since the completion of the merger of its former parent company, Time Warner, and America Online last year.
The new CNN management - led by Jamie Kellner, the Turner Broadcasting System chief executive, and Walter Isaacson, the CNN chairman - was said to question whether Mr. Garrett had the breakout quality the network was seeking.
"The whole strategy is to keep our programming focused on our top correspondents," said an executive at CNN. The executive added that the network was being a lot more selective about whom it puts on the screen and was "really trying to draw out the top anchors like Jonathan Karl or John King or Kate Snow or Kelly Wallace" - the Washington correspondents currently in favor. Mr. Garrett is being replaced with Suzanne Malveaux, a former NBC News correspondent.
Major's been fighting with Judy and Wolf! Oh no, say it ain't so. LOL
My kinda conservative.
He has also published articles on Congress and politics in Mother Jones and the Weekly Standard.
Mother Jones and the Weakly Standard?!
OMG, let's hope for the best.
I hadn't heard Schuster got fired. When last I had cable, he was still there. How long has he been gone? I liked his reporting, too.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.