CNN’s Campbell Brown, whose 8 p.m. EDT news program was never able to muster a strong challenge to personality-driven shows hosted by Bill O’Reilly and Keith Olbermann, is leaving the network after she asked to be released from her contract.
Brown’s departure, first reported by the blog Mediaite, comes as the network has suffered deep losses in its prime-time viewership since its 2008 political ratings surge. A source familiar with the situation confirmed that Brown has been in talks for some time with the network about making a change. She sought to have her program moved an hour earlier, to the time slot anchored by Lou Dobbs, until he abruptly left the network, but that hour went to John King.