The New York Times reported on Wednesday that "John King USA," which has been on the air since
March of 2010, has been yanked from the network lineup. The show will
end on June 29th. In its place, Wolf Blitzer's "The Situation Room" will
expand back to three hours.
In a memo to staff, CNN president Ken Jautz said that King will become the network's "lead campaign correspondent."
King has long been one of CNN's top political reporters, and he hosted the network's Sunday morning show, "State of the Union" before moving to primetime. But he struggled to gain much traction in the ratings, remaining a perennial third place finisher to Fox News (where Bret Baier has dominated the timeslot) and MSNBC. In May, for instance, he averaged 341,000 viewers — 200,000 behind MSNBC's Al Sharpton.
King has long been one of CNN's top political reporters, and he hosted the network's Sunday morning show, "State of the Union" before moving to primetime. But he struggled to gain much traction in the ratings, remaining a perennial third place finisher to Fox News (where Bret Baier has dominated the timeslot) and MSNBC. In May, for instance, he averaged 341,000 viewers — 200,000 behind MSNBC's Al Sharpton.