Jake Tapper, CNN anchor will leave primetime to go back to afternoons hosting “The Lead”After the midterm elections, a spokesperson for the network stated that.
“As part of a special lineup, Jake agreed to anchor the 9p hour through the midterm elections,”According to the spokesperson. “At the completion of that schedule, he’ll be returning to his award-winning program ‘The Lead.’”
Another source claimed that the network will soon announce plans for the time slot after the elections.
Though some have speculated Tapper’s time in primetime was an experiment by CNN CEO Chris Licht to boost primetime ratings — a goal left unfulfilled as Tapper has been outperformed in terms of ratings both MSNBC’s “Alex Wagner Tonight” and Fox News’ “Hannity” — sources say there was no expectation for Tapper to shift to the primetime gig after midterms. As reported by the New York Times Wednesday morning.
“Chris asked Jake to take over the 9 p.m. slot temporarily through midterms and there’s no expectation on either side that the evening slot would become permanent,”One CNN insider who was familiar with the situation said.
Midterm programming changes include Brianna Keilar and John Berman filling in for the cable news veteran. “The Lead”Tapper was anchoring “CNN Tonight”At 9 p.m. ET slot, started Oct. 10th and will continue through Nov. 11.