CNN Taps ABC News Producer for Network Post

In a move designed to increase its ratings and create more innovative programming, CNN on Tuesday named ABC News producer Rick Kaplan president of network operations in the United States.

Kaplan, 50, who at various times has been executive producer of ABC’s “Nightline,” “PrimeTime Live” and “World News Tonight,” will be in charge of programming and day-to-day operations at CNN, which reaches 71 million subscribers.

The ratings for CNN “spike” during breaking news (reaching 1.5 million households at one time during the Andrew Cunanan story) but drop to an audience of 342,000 households during an average day.

“I think there’s a much larger news audience than CNN has tapped,” Kaplan said in an interview.

Because of his background with newsmagazines, Kaplan is expected to try to create the next “Nightline” on CNN. But both he and the man who recruited him, CNN News Group President Tom Johnson, indicated that CNN’s newscasts will be where Kaplan turns first.

“‘I’m absolutely committed to hard, breaking news; this is not a move away from that,” Kaplan said.

“I don’t think we need a lot more talk shows--it’s our newscasts that need more distinctive elements,” Johnson said.

In other changes, CNN named four longtime executives to be presidents of other CNN networks. Eason Jordan was named president of CNN International, CNN en Espanol and global news-gathering. Lou Dobbs was named president of CNNfn, the financial news network. Bob Furnad was promoted to president of CNN Headline News, and Jim Walton was named president of CNN/SI, a sports news network.