meta_pixel
Tapesearch Logo
Log in
On the Media

Bob's Grill #5: Former CNN President Jon Klein

On the Media

WNYC Studios

Magazine, Newspapers, Media, 1st, Advertising, Social Sciences, Studios, Radio, Transparency, Tv, History, Science, News Commentary, Npr, Technology, Amendment, Newspaper, Wnyc, News, Journalism

4.68.7K Ratings

🗓️ 31 August 2016

⏱️ 9 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

It's the latest and last installment of Bob's Grill, and we've got a special guest chef (it's Brooke). We revisit a 2005 interview with former CNN President Jon Klein.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

With summer drawing to a close this Labor Day weekend, we invite you to join us for our last cookout of the season.

0:09.0

This week, we have a special guest chef.

0:12.0

Yep, it's me.

0:13.9

Hand me that spatula.

0:14.9

We're going to play an interview of Brooks in which she made the then-president of CNN squirm in his seat. And we can't confirm

0:24.6

this in any way, but after this thing aired, we couldn't book another guest from CNN for years.

0:33.0

Here's a story. Back in 2005, a huge news event was breaking, and CNN was all over it. Here's the

0:41.6

daily show's John Stewart. This weekend, obviously, everybody was talking about this Jennifer

0:46.2

Wilbanks of Duluth, Georgia. She's a young woman, private citizen, went missing a couple of days

0:51.7

before her wedding. The family wasn't speaking to the media, but

0:54.5

that didn't stop anybody. Coming up, does Jennifer have enemies, jealous sex boyfriends, and has her

1:00.2

fiancé? Is he going to take that polygraph test? Originally, the fiancé had agreed at the beginning

1:04.9

of the investigation that he would be willing to take a polygraph test. Why is he hedging?

1:09.8

Do you consider him or anyone else

1:12.1

suspicious? When Jennifer Wilbanks got cold feet, she made tabloid headlines and left tracks all over

1:19.2

the cable news channels, including CNN, which covered her day and night for a week. Coincidentally,

1:32.8

the network's new president, Jonathan Klein, had just months before been promising more rigorous journalism and less sensationalism.

1:36.3

So we called him up.

1:38.1

Thank you.

1:38.5

Nice to be here.

1:39.1

So shortly after you took over as president of CNN, you said you wanted fewer, quote, headbutting

1:45.2

festivals of the crossfire variety and more reporting of the news. So you're now five months into the job,

...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from WNYC Studios, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of WNYC Studios and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.

Copyright © Tapesearch 2025.