Desperate CNN Gives Primetime Slots to Daytime Anchors Who Have Been Repeatedly Trounced by Fox News

As CNN continues to change its programming and reshuffle its hosts, Jake Tapper and Alisyn Camerota have been promoted to primetime spots, though their current viewership lags behind other major networks.

Tapper, who works as CNN’s main anchor in Washington, will switch to the 9 p.m. slot during election season, CNN announced Thursday.

That slot hasn’t had a permanent host since Chris Cuomo was fired in December 2021, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported.

“The world relies on Jake’s no-nonsense approach to reporting the news, especially during high-stakes election cycles,” CNN’s new CEO and chairman Chris Licht said in a statement.

Tapper has been with CNN since 2013 and hosts shows like State of the Union and The Lead. Before that, he was ABC News’ senior White House correspondent, the Inquirer reported.

CNN said he will begin his stay at 9 p.m. on October 10 and stay there until November 11.

John Berman and Brianna Keilar will be moving from morning to take over Tapper’s 4pm slot.

Meanwhile, Camerota will switch from her co-host spot on the CNN Newsroom afternoon to the 10 p.m. spot previously held by Don Lemon, CNN announced. She will share anchor duties with Senior Legal Analyst Laura Coates.

“This step will show itself [Tapper’s] hard-hitting reporting, shrewd analysis, and consistent interviews as our audience navigates the myriad issues that the midterms are about,” said Licht. “By adding the insights, experiences and powerful voices of Alisyn and Laura, we will advance and expand this coverage and create something complementary and compelling in prime time.”

However, neither Tapper nor Camerota have performed very well with viewers in their current time slots on the network, Mediaite reported.

Looking back at some of the numbers from the past week, Fox News slammed the CNN anchors.

Tapper had just 742,000 viewers for “The Lead” as of 4 p.m. Friday, just over half — 1.37 million — that Fox News drew for “Your World with Neil Cavuto” during that timeframe, Mediaite reported. MSNBC’s Nicolle Wallace took first place in the timeslot with 1.51 million viewers.

“CNN Newsroom,” which Camerota co-hosts from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m., was similarly slammed by Fox News on Friday, according to Mediaite, with about half the audience.

In their primetime slots, Tapper and Camerota go up against Fox News heavyweights Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham and Greg Gutfeld, who routinely dominate from 9 p.m. to 11 p.m

Licht has continued to mix many CNN hosts and shows since he started as CEO in April.

The announcement of Tapper and Camerota’s moves follows news that Don Lemon lost his 10 p.m. seat and switched to a morning show, Wolf Blitzer got more time on the air as he anchored from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m., and “Reliable Sources host Brian Stelter was fired.

Erin Burnett and Anderson Cooper are two of the few hosts who will stay on their regular shows during their regular hours (7 p.m. and 8 p.m. respectively), CNN said.