MOVES: Kiran Chetry Takes Over as Co-anchor CNN's "American Morning"

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."

<snip>
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

Comments

[Raj]

Marketwatch got mad about the comments about Kiran lighting up the screen:
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/sex-always-sells-comes-tv/story.aspx?guid=%7B066F0F24%2DE029%2D4DAA%2DAF52%2D6A78F67F101F%7D

[Anne Brewbaker]

Kiran Chetry is wonderful. Yes she definitely lights up the screen.!Marketwatch is not very honest. Now I'm back watching American Morning. John and Kiran are perfect.!! What a pleasure to watch the show again.
Thank You Jon Klein. You've got it right this time.

Anne. Dallas

[Jimoh Alabi]

> Riz Khan, Zain Verjee and several others on CNN
> International had their own shows on that network,
> starting in the mid-1990s.

That is correct. In addition to his duties at the news anchor desk, Riz was the pioneer host of the interactive talk show "Q&A", where he would interview big names in the news while fielding questions submitted by viewers "via phone, fax, and Internet", as the tagline was. I spent many a worthwhile hour watching him, all the time wondering when he got any sleep!

[Rajesh Man Shrestha, Owner, www.WellnessGod.com]

Kiran Chetry, you make us watch CNN like we are watching live Cowboy's Super bowl game.

[gregg bertovic]

this message is for kiran chetry,
i recall watching fox news last year in long island, ny & seeing her interviewing..
i couldn't believe my eyes, i remembered her in erie, penna on wicu nbc.. a lil cow town in northwest penna. even back then you could tell she had something over other anchor-women..
now she is on cnn... i currently work in washington d.c. area & very aware of her hometown in gaithersburg, md. i bought my corvette from that town..
not too often you see someone starting out in a low-budget tv station, then hit it big...
keep it up kiran...

[Ellen]

Kiran seems like a fun girl, but at the end of the day, she's just another one of the mainstream media elites. You know, those who like to belittle and ridicule small town values. The media culture today is in sad shape. They're all so liberal, pushing the pro-abortion, pro-terrorist, pro-gay agenda. Chetry fits very well at CNN, with all of her like-minded Obama worshippers.