CNN Fires Crossfire, Tucker Carlson Moves to MSNBC

The new president of CNN, Jonathan Klein, announced last week the network has ended its relationship with conservative commentator Tucker Carlson and will soon cancel its long-running program, Crossfire.

Carlson said he had actually quit Crossfire last April and had agreed to stay on until his contract expired. He said he had a deal in place for a job as the host of a nightly talk program on rival MSNBC.

Klein said "[Tucker Carlson] wanted to host a prime-time show in which he would put on live guests and have spirited debate. That's not the kind of show CNN is going to be doing."

Instead, Klein said he wanted to move CNN away from what he called "head-butting debate shows," which have become the staple of much of all-news television in the prime-time hours, especially at the Fox News. Klein said "CNN is a different animal. We report the news. Fox talks about the news."

Klein specifically cited the criticism that comedian Jon Stewart of The Daily Show leveled at Crossfire when he was a guest on the program during the presidential campaign. Stewart said that ranting partisan political shows on cable were "hurting America."

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