Kiran Chetry (screen grab by TVNewser), who recently moved to CNN from Fox, takes over - along with John Roberts - as co-anchor for CNN's "American Morning" (weekdays 6 am-9 am ET). Soledad O'Brien and Miles O'Brien, who were paired up as anchors in 2005, will go back to reporting. This makes Chetry, who was born in Kathmandu, Nepal, one of the few South Asians to have a major daily broadcast or cable network news anchor gig on U.S. national TV. Here's highlights from the AP story, which quotes CNN President Jonathan Klein:
As for Chetry, who joined CNN in February from Fox News Channel, "one look at her tells you why she deserves the spot," Klein said. "She's a terrific anchor who lights up the screen."
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Chetry began working in local TV news in 1995 in Rockville, Md., and later in Erie, Pa., and Sacramento. She joined Fox News in 2001. At CNN, she has anchored programs including "CNN Newsroom."
More from TVNewswer:
The Hollywood Reporter sums up her network-jumping adventure this way: "A month after joining CNN after being spurned by Fox News in her quest to co-anchor that network's morning show, Kiran Chetry has been named co-anchor with John Roberts of American Morning..."
See SAJAforum coverage of the drama behind Chetry's move to CNN. Last year, she came in at #3 in Maxim's list of TV's sexiest anchors. More on Chetry on her Wikipedia profile and a fan-run Yahoogroup. Please put your thoughts in the comments section below.
HELP US CONFIRM SOME HISTORY HERE: Asha Blake , formerly of ABC and NBC was
the first South Asian anchor/co-anchor with her own national show (ABC
"World News Now" in January 1997). Riz Khan, Zain Verjee and several
others on CNN International had their own shows on that network, starting
in the mid-1990s. Uma Pemmaraju, who was a charter anchor on Fox News
Channel when it launched in 1997, was anchor of various news updates and
other shows. PLEASE HELP US MAKE THIS ACCURATE! More info welcome in the
comments section or via e-mail to saja[at]columbia.edu
