Top of ticker: Former ABC News and CNN anchor Aaron Brown died on Sunday, December 29 at 76 p.m. Brown is best remembered for his coverage of the September 11 terrorist attacks, which also happened to be his first day on the air. Thursday, NewsNight anchor Abby Phillip paid tribute to Brown, whose 2001-2005 show shared the same title and time slot as his. “What we do every night here in this program is try to emulate his excellence,” Philip said.
Our tribute to original NewsNight anchor Aaron Brown, who died this week at age 76. May his memory be a blessing. 🙏🏾 pic.twitter.com/N5089oQXEz
– Abby D. Phillip (@abbydphillip) January 3, 2025
The CNN family – and the media family as a whole – mourned the death of the media executive Dick Parsons during the holiday period. Parsons served as president of TimeWarner, CNN’s former parent company, from 2002 to 2007 and was instrumental in the company’s turnaround after its disastrous merger with AOL in 2000. He also briefly served as president of CBS in 2018. Parsons died on December 1. 26 to 76 years old.
Highlights: CNN’s annual coverage of New Year’s festivities from New York’s Times Square generated strong ratings for the network. According to Nielsen, New Year’s Eve live with Anderson Cooper And Andy Cohen was cable television’s #1 show from midnight to 12:30 a.m. with 3.7 million total viewers and 1.358 million viewers in the Adults 25-54 demo. This was CNN’s best show during this period since 2021.
Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen rang in 2025 on CNN Courtesy of CNN
Happy days ahead: Fox Business correspondent Madison Alworth closed out 2024 by getting engaged. She made the announcement while hosting The Big Money Show on December 30. “I’m so happy,” Alworth said. “I don’t know what to say other than I feel incredibly lucky… he’s absolutely the best. I’m so delighted.
