The Revolving CNN Door

TVNewser is reporting that CNN's Abbi Tatton, internet reporter for The Situation Room, is leaving the network. That's three CNN changes reported today by TVNewser.
TVN writes "CNN confirms the departure. A CNN spokesperson says, 'Abbi is a Situation Room original and has been a wonderful colleague at CNN — both on and off the air — for nearly a decade. We're sorry Abbi has decided to leave the network but we're thrilled she has other opportunities. We truly wish her all the best.'"

Tatton's last day at CNN will be tomorrow.

A native of England, Tatton is based in Washington, D.C. She joined CNN in 2000, and has worked as a producer for Inside Politics, Crossfire, and On the Story, and for the CNN Election Express.

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Heidi Collins To Leave CNN

Best of luck to Heidi Collins who according to an article by TVNewser will be leaving the network as of January 15. Here's an excerpt of their article which can be found in full here.

First on TVNewser: TVNewser has confirmed that dayside anchor Heidi Collinswill not have her contract renewed by CNN, and that she will leave the network on Friday, January 15.

A CNN spokesperson tells TVNewser: "After seven years of dedicated service to CNN, Heidi Collins will be leaving the network on January 15. We thank Heidi for her contributions to the network and wish her the best."

Collins joined CNN in July of 2002 as an anchor for then-Headline News. Previously she was an anchor/reporter for stations in Denver; Colorado Springs; and Wichita Falls, Texas.

No word yet on Collins' future plans. She had been anchoring CNN's dayside 9-11amET newscast. Ali Velshi will now anchor the 1-3pmET "CNN Newsroom" while Kyra Phillips will move to Collins' spot.

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Ali Velshi to become Anchor

Tweets from CNN staffers say that Ali Velshi is moving up to become an anchor. According to Rick Sanchez, Ali will host weekdays from 1-3pmET (leading into Sanchez' new program.) Ali will host from the NY studio Atlanta. [Sorry, I misread a tweet!] More details to follow...

Here is the article from the NYT:

January 7, 2010, 1:08 pm

On CNN, a New Show for Ali Velshi

By BRIAN STELTER

Beginning Jan. 18, CNN is assigning two hours of anchoring to its chief business correspondent, Ali Velshi.

CNN is remodeling its afternoon schedule, assigning two hours of anchoring to its chief business correspondent, Ali Velshi.

The cable news channel informed staff members on Thursday that Mr. Velshi, well-known for his coverage of the financial collapse, would anchor the 1 to 3 p.m. hours beginning Jan. 18.

That same day, Rick Sanchez’s 3 p.m. program will expand into the 4 p.m. hour and be renamed “Rick’s List,” in a previously announced change.

“My goal is to make topics more accessible” to viewers, Mr. Velshi said in a telephone interview Thursday afternoon.

Mr. Velshi’s mantra on CNN has been “breaking it down.”

“What I want to do is take what I’ve been doing in business news for the last two years and translate that to all of the other topics” CNN covers, he said. “Whatever the challening news stories of the day are, I’m going to try to use my specific tools and methods for telling the news to make everything a little more understandable and a little more accessible to the viewer.”

Kyra Phillips currently anchors from 1 to 3 p.m. The hours will remain named “CNN Newsroom” for now.

(Interesting to note that Kyra was in NY this morning. She appeared on the set of American Morning to discuss her report on the "Yoga Cult.")

And the official CNN PR release is here.

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Ratings For the Week of December 28th

1- Ratings based on three nights of regular programming

2-Ratings based on four nights of regular programming

Rating calculations are weekly averages based on nightly ratings provided by TVNewser.

Based on ratings from TVNewser Fox's Bill Hemmer and Megyn Kelly beat Anderson Cooper and Kathy Griffin in total viewers with 1.970M viewers as opposed to CNN's 1.957M. CNN did come out on top in the 25-54 demographic however with 842k viewers to Fox's 576K.

Popeater is saying that because of Kathy Griffin's slip up during the broadcast she will not be invited back for New Years Eve 2011 based on comments from a CNN insider however CNN publicist Shimrit Sheetrit said decisions regarding next years show have not yet been made.

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JuJu Chang and Anderson Cooper

ABC News recently announced George Stephanopoulos and JuJu Chang would be joining the Good Morning America team. Stephanopoulos will anchor the broadcast with Robin Roberts and Juju Chang has been named the news anchor for GMA.JuJu Chang has anchored at ABC in the past. She was the co-anchor along with Anderson Cooper at the World News Now overnight desk from 1999 until 2000.
Barry Mitchell, who performed musical parodies on WNN penned this musical number for JuJu and Anderson in honor of the WNN Bus Tour. Enjoy!

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Heidi Collins in Living Without Magazine

Heidi Collins was interviewed by Living Without Magazine about Celiac disease which she was diagnosed with five years ago. Here's an excerpt from the article which can be read in full by clicking here.

Celiac disease, a genetic autoimmune disorder, is a hypersensitivity to gluten, the protein in wheat, barley and rye. With symptoms that can mimic many other health conditions, millions of Americans (about 1 in 100) have the disease but 97 percent remain undiagnosed. For years, Heidi Collins was one of them.

The popular television anchor of CNN Newsroom, Collins is a serious journalist who covers hard topics every weekday morning. Her no-nonsense style makes her a reliable and widely respected voice on cable TV.

Collins, who joined CNN in 2002, lives in Atlanta with her husband and their two sons, Riley, 9, and Owen, 2. She is an outspoken advocate for the gluten-free community who served as spokesperson for the National Foundation for Celiac Awareness up until the birth of her second child. Balancing motherhood with a demanding career keeps Collins very busy but she recently took time to talk with editor Alicia Woodward about living gluten free.

When did you learn you had celiac disease?
I was officially diagnosed about five years ago but I was sick with all the typical stomach symptoms for a very long time before that. In college, I remember having to leave parties and events early because I just didn’t feel well and wasn’t ever able to stay all the way through. That continued after I got married. My husband and I would attend events together but take separate cars because I knew I couldn’t last. I lived with symptoms probably a good 15 years before I was diagnosed.

What finally got you diagnosed?
When I transferred to New York City for CNN, there was a lot going on—the move, the house, the school system, two 100-pound yellow Labs in a New York apartment—and my condition grew significantly worse. At first, I just passed it off to stress. I’d seen lots of doctors, had tons of tests, and they all said I was a type A person and when I got stressed, it went straight to my stomach. But after a while, that just wasn’t enough. I was really sick. So I went to an internist near our new home. He asked me some questions and said, “I think you have celiac disease.” He sent me to Columbia University and Dr. Peter Greene at the Celiac Disease Center tested me and confirmed the diagnosis.

With years of chronic GI issues, no one ever suspected celiac disease?
Back in 1997, I developed a blood clot that came out of nowhere. It was very serious and I was in the hospital for four months, including nearly a month at the Mayo Clinic. Long story, but the clot ended up in an artery and it wouldn’t dissipate despite heavy doses of blood thinners. This eventually led to an intense 6-hour surgery. There were five different teams of specialists on my case with sometimes two to three blood draws a day. Tests pointed to an autoimmune problem. Doctors said lupus, antiphospholipid antibody syndrome and on and on—but nobody ever considered celiac disease. But before all that, I lost a pregnancy at 7 months due to placental divide. Looking back, there is no doubt in my mind that it was due to celiac disease and my inability to absorb nutrition.

You now have two little boys. Are they eating gluten free?
Riley, the oldest, tested positive for celiac disease so he’s gluten free. Thank God we caught it early. He’s fantastically healthy and handles the diet so well. I feel very lucky.

What about Owen?
Owen is quite a story. Given my blood clot and years of untreated celiac, I was advised that I couldn’t carry another baby. This was very upsetting. It was a long process, a lot of discussion, but the bottom line was, we wanted another child. So after tons of planning and thought, we used an egg donor and surrogate. We’re very blessed to have a beautiful little boy.

You have a high-profile job where you’re traveling quite a bit. Is it challenging to adhere to the diet?
Travel can sometimes be difficult. I carry my own food everywhere. I worked on a story where I knew it was going to be a long shoot with nothing available but fast food, which is next to impossible for me. The producer and I had planned to drive there together and she shows up in this itty-bitty car—there was barely room for my cooler. It was really funny. Needless to say, there was a lot of talk about celiac on that drive. I am not shy about this. I was on an aircraft carrier overnight, interviewing high-ranking Navy officials. I told them I appreciated being invited but we were going to be out in the middle of the ocean and I had to have food that was safe and wouldn’t make me sick.

And what was the response?
I have never, ever had anything but complete cooperation and concern. But dining out in a restaurant, that’s a different story.

How so?
Some well-known chef at some upper-crust restaurant will look you in the face and say, “Of course, I know what gluten free is.” Then in the same conversation he confuses gluten with glucose and I know instantly I’ll have to question every single thing that comes out of that kitchen. In rare cases, we leave but I’m more interested in teaching people and increasing awareness. Again, I’m far from shy. I’m happy to go back into the kitchen, which I’ve done before, to explain cross contamination. I always relate it to a peanut allergy. Just because it’s not anaphylaxis doesn’t mean that you don’t take it seriously. I don’t want to have to call you at 3:00 in the morning when this hits me and I’m so sick that I can’t function for a couple of days.

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All Things Anderson is a blog dedicated to CNN's AC360 and its host Anderson Cooper.

Walk In My Shoes

In an excellent series of interviews with at-risk-youths TJ Holmes examined the causes of youth-on-youth violence across the country for American Morning.

Monday:
In part one of the series, "Walk in My Shoes," Holmes talked to one of the teens who participated in the brawl that left a 16-year-old boy dead.





Tuesday:
Part two examines “Why do teens fight?” Holmes talked with a group of teens who say acts of violence help to protect their reputations.





Wednesday:
In part three Holmes traveled with two students in Chicago and witnessed some of the threats these teens face going to and from school.





Thursday:
In the last installment of this series, Holmes talked to specialists about the teenage brain. Teen’s brains are still developing, so if put in a volatile situation, their processing of that situation results many times in overreaction or misinterpretation of the situation.





* special thanks to Wonz for the uploads




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