Fox steals Zahn for news
Ex-Eye correspondent to anchor 'The Fox Report'
"Paula has the right blend of authority with likability," Roger Ailes, chairman and CEO of Fox News, said.
In addition to the nightly "Fox Report," Zahn will host a daily, one-hour mid-afternoon newscast for FNC under the "Fox News Now" umbrella.
Zahn is currently the anchor of the "CBS News Saturday Edition" and serves as one of three backup anchors (the others are Bob Schieffer and John Roberts) on the "CBS Evening News" when Dan Rather goes on vacation or assignment. She leaves CBS to join FNC on March 1.
Zahn rose to national prominence when CBS named her co-host of the two-hour "CBS This Morning" with Harry Smith, the perennial also-ran to NBC's "Today" show which vies with ABC's "Good Morning America."
After six years of climbing out of bed before dawn every weekday, Zahn bowed out of "CBS This Morning" when the network started experimenting with cutting the national edition of the show to an hour and funneling the other 60 minutes to CBS' affiliates to program locally, according to Richard Leibner, president of N.S. Bienstock, which negotiated Zahn's deal.
FNC's ratings have shot up dramatically in the last year both in primetime and total day. In primetime, FNC soared from a 0.1 rating in cable homes (an average of 25,000 households) in 1997 to a 0.4 rating (an average of 115,000 households) in 1998. In the 24-hour schedule, FNC leapt from a 0.1 rating in cable homes (18,000 households) to a 0.2 (60,000 households).
"We're building a strong team" of on-air personalities, Ailes said, citing Brit Hume, Catherine Crier, Bill O'Reilly and Neil Cavuto.
