CNN Changes…

AdWeek’s Sam Theilman writes about all the changes CNN has been making…

For one thing, CNN’s anchors are appearing on each other’s shows. Once a mainstay on ABC’s Good Morning America, Nancy Grace of CNN sibling network HLN is making fewer guest stints at GMA and appearing on New Day frequently. As one insider put it, the walls seem to be coming down between the shows in a way that never happened under former honcho Jim Walton—and there are more pilots for new shows in the works.

The website, too, has changed. CNN.com now features many more “throws” to the linear channel, and for its part, the network is picking a lot more nonpolitical stories (like the recent tornadoes in Oklahoma) and sticking with them for longer. “They’ve always had the muscle,” the source said. “They just haven’t always used it in the right way.”

“One of the things we’ve heard from Jeff is that he wants to see us broaden the definition of news,” said CNN D.C. bureau chief Sam Feist. Hard-core newshounds at CNN are happier with the flexibility they’re being given to pursue high-profile stories, he said. “In April, when the North Korea story was becoming more important because they’d begun to bring new missiles online, we began to do a nightly special on North Korea.”