CNN announces promotions for Jake Tapper, Abby Phillip, Dana Bash and others

Abby Phillip, Dana Bash, Pamela Brown and Jim Acosta are all appointed to anchor positions. Kaitlan Collins becomes the chief White House correspondent, while Jeff Zeleny becomes the chief national affairs correspondent and Manu Raju becomes the chief correspondent for CNN’s Congress.

The new assignments all point in a hard news direction as CNN transitions from the Trump years to the Biden years. All major television networks typically make changes in anchor and reporter around the time of a presidential transition.

Bash remains the network’s chief political correspondent “and will also host quarterly primetime interview specials,” CNN announced.

Tapper’s role is also expanding. In April, he will be the network’s “leading anchor for all major events in Washington,” CNN said, as it did on election nights. This means, for example, that when it comes time to project the winner of the 2024 presidential election, Tapper will break the news.

Also in April, Tapper’s weekday afternoon newscast “The Lead” is expanded to a second hour, stretching from 4:00 pm to 6:00 pm Eastern.

Wolf Blitzer and “The Situation Room,” described by CNN as “the network’s signature evening newscast,” will remain in place at 6:00 p.m. Eastern.

Blitzer, a CNN legend who joined the network 31 years ago, “will also play an important anchor role for all the major news and continue to host CNN special reports,” the network said.

CNN Global President Jeff Zucker said Monday morning in making the announcements that Blitzer will stay with CNN for a long time to come.

Acosta, CNN’s chief White House correspondent during the Trump years and a frequent target of the outgoing president, will become the chief domestic correspondent, along with an anchor role over the weekend. His timeslot will be announced soon, CNN said.

Brown, currently a senior White House correspondent, will drop anchor on weekends from 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. Eastern, a crucial time for breaking news coverage and analysis. She remains in DC and becomes a senior Washington correspondent.

All of Monday’s announcements were about DC postings, and further announcements are expected about time slots and anchor roles in other cities.

Some Biden reporters will also be reprising their roles in Washington now that the former vice president’s campaign is over.

Arlette Saenz becomes a White House correspondent alongside Jeremy Diamond, John Harwood, MJ Lee and Kate Bennett. Jasmine Wright becomes a White House reporter alongside Kevin Liptak. And Jessica Dean and Ryan Nobles, two campaign trail veterans, will be moving to Capitol Hill along with Raju, Lauren Fox and Daniella Diaz.

Congressional correspondent Phil Mattingly becomes a senior White House correspondent. “The Hill will always be my home and my love for the Capitol has only grown over the past 5 days,” tweeted Mattingly, referring to last week’s riot, which he covered live. “But excited to be back on the streets and working with these people.”

All correspondent changes will take effect on the Inauguration Day. “Joe Johns remains a senior Washington correspondent and will shift his focus from the White House to a variety of Washington-related stories,” said CNN’s press release. Sunlen Serfaty will become a correspondent for Washington at large. Suzanne Malveaux will continue her role as national correspondent.

Other networks have also made announcements targeting Washington in recent days. Last week, NBC named both Peter Alexander and Kristen Welker as key White House correspondents for the Biden years. And on Monday, CBS named Shawna Thomas, known for years of leadership of the DC bureau for Vice News, as the new executive producer of “CBS This Morning.”