CNN Veteran Dana Bash to Take Reins of Weekday ‘Inside Politics’
Washington journalism veteran Dana Bash will take over CNN’s weekday broadcast of “Inside Politics,” giving the network mainstay her first weekday anchoring assignment in nearly three decades at the Warner Bros. Discovery-backed network.
Bash will take over the program from John King, whose facility with a digital technology known as CNN’s “Magic Wall” that is used heavily during election coverage has expanded his overall profile. King will lead a new reporting project focused on voters in key battleground states as the 2024 presidential campaign cycle gets underway.
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Bash will continue as co-anchor of the Sunday political talk program “State of the Union,” along with Jake Tapper. King is expected to continue to play a significant role in CNN’s coverage of elections.
Placing her at the noontime program is the latest maneuver in a wholesale reworking of the bulk of CNN’s daytime schedule under CEO Chris Licht. In recent months, CNN has placed a new trio of anchors in its mainstay morning slot and introduced a new “News Central” format for the bulk of its daytime programming. The decision may also serve to keep Bash — who has been seen in the past as a candidate to anchor Sunday talk shows like CBS’ “Face The Nation” or NBC’s “Meet The Press” — busy and content at CNN.
The move changes up a program that goes head to head with a similar Washington-based program from MSNBC that is hosted by Andrea Mitchell, a Beltway anchor who has also enjoyed a long tenure covering machinations inside the Beltway.
“I am thrilled to be taking over as anchor of Inside Politics,” said Bash, in a statement. “After nearly 30 years at CNN covering campaigns, Capitol Hill and the White House, I am excited to helm a program devoted to the politics that impact Americans’ lives. John built an extraordinary show that has attracted a loyal audience of political junkies, and I am looking forward to leading its next chapter.”
“Inside Politics” is a CNN franchise with a lot of history. King revived the program in January 2014. It had been a mainstay of the CNN schedule, hosted first by Catherine Crier and Bernard Shaw, followed by Shaw and Judy Woodruff between 1992 and 2005.
“This is my ‘back to the future’ dream assignment,” King said in a statement about his new role. “It is my tenth presidential cycle and, given the stakes, I felt it was time to get back to my roots reporting across the country.”
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