Anderson Cooper is taking on new duties with CNN as the network continues a rebranding process.
The veteran cable personality will host the new CNN Sunday show “The Whole Story with Anderson Cooper,” the network announced Thursday.
CNN Chairman and CEO Chris Licht pointed to the new program as a highlight of the network’s vision of journalism.
“Powered by CNN’s unmatched global journalism operation, ‘The Whole Story’ goes behind the headlines, touching every continent and corner of the planet, as we bring our viewers into the heart of the essential stories of our time,” Licht said in a news release.
The show is slated to serve as a cable news competitor to CBS News’ “60 Minutes,” with Cooper taking deep dives into singular topics such as asylum seekers’ plans to breach the U.S border and the coronation of King Charles III, according to Variety.
.@CNN’s Emmy and Peabody Award-winning longform storytelling team is coming to Sunday night with new and unique one-hour deep dives. #TheWholeStory with @AndersonCooper premieres Sunday, April 16 at 8pm ET/PT on CNN https://t.co/bvukCbLh8N pic.twitter.com/tuJutfsIw3
— CNN Communications (@CNNPR) March 23, 2023
Cooper’s assignment to the show, which will premiere on April 16, doesn’t appear to be a masked demotion, as the network arranged for struggling host Don Lemon.
Lemon has taken to lashing out at his co-hosts after “Don Lemon Tonight” was pulled from under his feet. IndieWire reported in September that the move was made because the show was “failing.”
Meanwhile, Cooper, who has been a regular correspondent on “60 Minutes” via an agreement between CNN and CBS, is expected to keep his “Anderson Cooper 360” weeknight broadcast on CNN, Variety reported.
Licht has sought to rebrand CNN since assuming a leadership position, trying to change perceptions that the network is associated with the Democratic Party.
Licht canned the Sunday show of liberal media personality Brian Stelter last year.
Some critics of the partisan liberal network pointed to the arrangement as a “desperate” move, with CNN doubling down on one of its few media personalities with a national profile.
CNN is desperate!
— G Cooper (@GCooper93483703) March 23, 2023
CNN has incurred serious challenges to its business model in the aftermath of Donald Trump’s presidency, with viewers tuning out of the establishment media network en masse.
The network managed less than half the viewership of Fox News in the advertiser-coveted 25-54 demographic last week, a symptom of the channel’s troubles.
The week amounted to CNN’s lowest-rated in more than seven years, according to Forbes.
