CNN Press Release - Nationally Syndicated Radio Host and Best-Selling Financial Expert Clark Howard and CNN Journalist Isha Sesay Join New Show Airing 5-7 p.m. ET

NEW YORK, NY, May 22, 2012—HLN launches a new destination for news and information with Evening Express, hosted by Ryan Smith, beginning Monday, June 4. This new addition to HLN’s schedule will air weeknights, 5-7 p.m. ET, and feature HLN’s popular personal finance expert Clark Howard, and CNN’s Isha Sesay, it was announced by Scot Safon, Executive Vice President and General Manager, HLN. Evening Express will be based at the network’s global headquarters in Atlanta.

“HLN is excited to offer our viewers an evening news program that centers on the news and information they’ll discuss around the dinner table,” said Safon. “The format and tone of Evening Express was inspired by our hit show Morning Express with Robin Meade. Viewers tell us all the time that they love how Robin and the Morning Express team start their day on HLN, and now Ryan, Clark and Isha will be welcoming them home in the evening.”

Evening Express will provide an energetic, inspirational and solutions-oriented look at the day’s news, accompanied by deeper discussions and reporting on stories and issues that resonate in the American household, including parenting, education, health, personal finance and relationships.

Evening Express will also have a deep a social footprint, engaging with viewers and users on all platforms.  In tandem with its June 4 launch, the show’s digital extensions will include Facebook (Facebook.com/EveningExpressHLN), Twitter (@EveningExp) and a dedicated blog on HLN’s recently launched web site, HLNtv.com (HLNtv.com/EveningExpress) that will feature distinctive angles on the stories of the day. Evening Express hosts can also be followed at @ryansmithtv, @IshaSesayCNN and @ClarkHoward.

Smith, a familiar HLN on-air presence in 2011 as a result of his reporting during the Casey Anthony and Conrad Murray trials, was a member of the Morning Express team and host of programming during InSession on truTV. A sports and entertainment lawyer with a degree from Columbia Law School, Smith covers a wide variety of news stories and has a personal interest in health and wellness issues.

Howard is one of HLN’s most popular personalities, with a wildly successful nationally syndicated radio program and personal finance website in addition to his regular appearances on HLN weekends and Morning Express with Robin Meade. In 2011, his book, “Clark Howard’s Living Large in Lean Times,” spent 21 weeks on The New York Times Best Seller list, his third to make that list. With the launch of Evening Express, the personal finance guru will now bring his expert advice to viewers later in the day, answering specific consumer questions and providing information that is applicable and actionable to a wide spectrum of the audience.

Sesay is well known to CNN audiences for her work as an anchor for CNN International, hosting the daily news program CNN NewsCenter and weekly program BackStory, and serving as the nightly “360 Bulletin” correspondent on Anderson Cooper 360°. In addition, she files reports for African Voices and Inside Africa, CNN International’s award-winning, weekly program dedicated to providing viewers with an inside look of Africa.On HLN’s Evening Express, she will bring her strong reporting skills and a point of view informed by her experience covering news stories from across the globe.

CNN veteran Angie Massie is the Executive Producer of Evening Express. Katherine Green is Senior Vice President and Managing Editor, HLN.  Steve Rosenberg is Director of Dayside Programming, HLN.

About HLN

HLN is the national television network that focuses on the “must-see, must-share” stories of the day.  Drawing upon the network’s deep bench of talent, including Robin Meade, Jane Velez-Mitchell, Nancy Grace, and Dr. Drew Pinsky, HLN dissects and demystifies the news stories and newsmakers people are talking about.

HLNtv.com, the network’s new digital platform, is the online destination for users to go deeper into the top stories driving the conversation and generating the national buzz.

HLN is a CNN Worldwide network reaching more than 100 million households in the U.S. CNN Worldwide, a division of Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., a Time Warner Company, is the most trusted source for news and information.

###

TV Newser reports of management moves at HLN and CNN International.

TVNewser has learned that after two years as HLN’s senior vice president, [Bill] Galvin will move to CNN International as SVP of business development and sports programming, responsible for special coverage and sponsored content of CNNI. He will also be in charge of sports coverage across CNN Worldwide.

[Katherine] Green will move into the role of SVP and managing editor at HLN. She has served as the SVP of programming at CNNI since 2007. [Mike] McCarthy, currently VP of coverage and feature programming at CNNI, will be promoted to her former post.

Click through to TV Newser to read the memos from CNNI boss Tony Maddox and HLN's Scot Safon.

I have some news to share with you about our executive leadership and how our programming teams are going to work together to ensure we’re prominently featuring CNN’s quality journalism across our multiple platforms. Two accomplished CNN executives whom most of you know and have worked with are stepping up to new roles, effective immediately. A third senior leader will be brought on in the role of managing editor to help leverage our newsgathering resources across multiple platforms in a more collaborative way.

Ken Jautz is moving from HLN to CNN/U.S. to run the network as its executive vice president. Ken is a rarity—a working journalist who is an even better news executive. The reinvention of HLN is the latest in a string of successes he has led at CNN. Ken has launched, made profitable and turned around businesses for our news organization, Turner Broadcasting and Time Warner literally around the world. To his new assignment he brings deep experience as a reporter, both overseas and in the US; a CNN-wide perspective; and relationships from multiple positions within Turner. Most importantly, he has a demonstrated ability to collaborate and lead strong teams, and a track-record of programming successes.

Scot Safon assumes the executive vice president role at HLN and will run the network. Scot and HLN are in my view an inspired combination. He is an innovator; HLN is an ideal news and information laboratory. He is an expert in audience targeting and development; HLN’s audience is young, engaged and growing. And he is a charismatic leader who is passionate about journalism, storytelling and our brand. As Chief Marketing Officer of CNN Worldwide, Scot has led a dynamic team that has done award-winning marketing, advertising and promotion for CNN, HLN, CNN International and CNN.com.

Additionally, to put our multi-platform advantages more fully to work, we will be naming an executive vice president and managing editor of CNN Worldwide to lead collaboration across all platforms and elevate CNN’s unique journalism and analysis. A managing editor, with full access to our journalism resources and my mandate to shape and connect our newsgathering across networks, shows, and websites, is a new role for the organization. Ultimately, the goal is that the kind of front-page reporting and analysis that captures a news event, translates its meaning and shapes the dialogue about the story will continue to emerge in even more prominent and more accessible ways to CNN’s audiences. The search for this person is currently underway.

Our colleague Jon Klein is leaving CNN. Jon’s six years as head of CNN/U.S. are reflected in the quality of our coverage of signal news events during his tenure: the tsunami in South Asia, Hurricane Katrina, the 2008 election cycle and the Haiti earthquake, as well as shows like Anderson Cooper 360°, The Situation Room and Fareed Zakaria GPS, all of which bear his imprint. Jon has made important contributions to the CNN story, and he leaves with our respect and friendship, and with my sincere thanks.

We are going into a busy fall and winter with November elections and two new prime time shows on CNN. Ken, Scot and the new managing editor will impact these and all of the other events ahead, as will you. My expectation is that our leaders and our new operating discipline will put CNN’s advantages to work where they matter most: for our audience. Our coverage will be relevant and resonant; will have meaning for millions of people around the world; and it will reflect the qualities that CNN is rightfully famous for: commitment to truth, respect for facts, service to no political agenda and passion for journalism and analysis done right and well.

CNN Pressroom - Marketing and branding innovator Scot Safon has been promoted to executive vice president & chief marketing officer of CNN Worldwide, it was announced today by Jim Walton, president of CNN Worldwide. Safon oversees branding; consumer and trade advertising; and marketing and promotion of the CNN portfolio of networks and businesses, including CNN/U.S., CNN Headline News, CNN International and CNN.com., and their news and information programming, personalities and events. He is based in Atlanta at CNN world headquarters and reports to Walton.

“Our marketing and promotion efforts reflect a quality, intelligence and point of view that set CNN apart,” said Walton. “As a creative executive, Scot sets the tone for that work. But he is equally important to me and to our organization as a strategist and leader. His influence and impact are felt, and welcomed, throughout CNN. I’m pleased to acknowledge his contributions to our continuing success.”

Formerly senior vice president of marketing and promotion, Safon joined CNN in 2002. He and his marketing and promotions teams executed award-winning campaigns supporting the debut of CNN’s The Situation Room, Anderson Cooper 360, the re-launch earlier this year of CNN.com and CNN’s continuing election coverage. Previously, Safon headed marketing for TNT, where he conceived and guided campaigns supporting the network’s signature original films and miniseries including George Wallace, Door to Door, James Dean, Pirates of Silicon Valley and Gettysburg. Safon also led marketing efforts for the successful “We Know Drama” positioning that he helped develop.

Earlier, Safon managed the CBS Television account for Backer Spielvogel Bates and Grybauskas/Beatrice in New York, where he began his career with D’Arcy Masius Benton & Bowles, Inc. He holds a bachelor of arts degree in economics and history from the University of Virginia and an MBA from Cornell University. Safon, who was named a “Brand Builder” by Television Week in 2006 for the Anderson Cooper 360 launch campaign, serves on the board of directors of Promax.

CNN Worldwide, a division of Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., a Time Warner Company, is the most trusted source for news and information. Its reach extends to nine cable and satellite television networks; one private place-based network; two radio networks; wireless devices around the world; CNN Digital Network, the No. 1 network of news Web sites in the United States; CNN Newsource, the world’s most extensively syndicated news service; and strategic international partnerships within both television and the digital media.