The write-ups are in on the Paula Zahn resignation, reported first on TVNewser. Zahn tells TVWeek’s Michelle Greppi, “I wanted to move on and he (CNN/U.S. president Jon Klein) wanted to move on.”

To Jacques Steinberg of the NYTimes, “when you look at the landscape, particularly in the 8 o’clock hour, it seems pretty obvious the audience is drawn to opinion-driven shows. That is not what I do.”

And on the persistent rumors surrounding the demise of her show, Zahn told the AP’s David Bauder “You’re not going to survive very long in this business if you internalize every rumor that is out there. To a certain extent, my staff and I were able to drown out the noise and do what we were expected to do.”

In his note to the CNN staff, Klein wrote, “throughout the coming weeks, we will be utilizing substitute hosts at 8pm leading up to the November launch of a new program anchored by Campbell Brown.”

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Two days after 33 members of the Bancroft family met in Boston (in person or by phone), the WSJ reports News Corp.’s bid for the company “remains too close to call.” The family is being asked “to make a decision by early next week.” The paper reports that, despite family “difficulty”, it will be hard to stop the sale “given that it would take only a few players to deliver a deal” to Rupert Murdoch.

First MSNBC’s Mika Brzezinski refused to read, tried to burn, then shredded her script regarding the release of Paris Hilton from jail, now CNN’s Jack Cafferty is trying to take the high road on celebrity news, too. And, as in Brzezinski’s case, the on-air refusal is making international news.

See the clip on YouTube…

>Update: Public Eye takes a closer look…

25-54 demographic: (LS)

Total day: FNC: 387 | CNN: 768 | MSNBC: 164 | HLN: 145 | CNBC: 35

Prime: FNC: 296 | CNN: 634 | MSNBC: 163 | HLN: 130 | CNBC: 44

	5p:	6p:	7p:	8p:	9p:	10p:	11p:
FNC	Gibson:	Hume:	Shep:	O’Reilly:	H&C:	Greta:	O’Reilly:
	215	315	303	449	371	339	241
CNN	Blitzer:	Dobbs:	Debate:	Continues:	Sit.Room:	Cooper:	Debate:
	127	228	890	—	673	551	558
MSNBC	Hardball:	Tucker:	Hardball:	Countdo.:	Abrams:	Special:	Investig.:
	155	99	116	155	143	195	212
HLN	Prime:	Prime:	Beck:	Grace:	Beck:	Grace:	Showbiz:
	53	68	132	185	132	117	117

Data by Nielsen Media Research. Live and same day (DVR) data.

25-54 demographic: (LS)

Total day: FNC: 187 | CNN: 133 | MSNBC: 185 | HLN: 102 | CNBC: 42

Prime: FNC: 222 | CNN: 154 | MSNBC: 181 | HLN: 134 | CNBC: 47

	5p:	6p:	7p:	8p:	9p:	10p:	11p:
FNC	Big Story:	FoxNewsSun.:	Report:	Geraldo:	Hannity:	Half/Line.:	Geraldo:
	200	176	183	185	255	230/222	192
CNN	Newsroom:	Dobbs:	Newsroom:	Investig.:	King:	Newsroom:	YouTube:
	202	114	119	89	265	107	83
MSNBC	Special:	Special:	Special:	Special:	Special:	MeetPress:	Special:
	240	159	165	126	255	164	169
HLN	HLN/NewsMe:	Prime:	Beck:	Grace:	Beck:	Grace:	Showbiz:
	88/98	121	66	128	114	161	127

Data by Nielsen Media Research. Live and same day (DVR) data.

25-54 demographic: (LS)

Total day: FNC: 166 | CNN: 128 | MSNBC: 210 | HLN: 87 | CNBC: 76

Prime: FNC: 182 | CNN: 138 | MSNBC: 304 | HLN: 75 | CNBC: 74

	5p:	6p:	7p:	8p:	9p:	10p:	11p:
FNC	Big Story:	Belt/Watch:	Report:	Geraldo:	Greta:	Line Up:	Journ/Belt:
	124	131/103	105	155	204	187	120/133
CNN	Newsroom:	Dobbs:	YouTube:	Investig.:	King:	Newsroom:	YouTube:
	103	118	68	71	179	164	71
MSNBC	Reports:	Special:	Special:	Special:	Special:	Special:	Special:
	180	147	276	240	354	318	408
HLN	HLN/NewsMe:	Prime:	Beck:	Grace:	Beck:	Grace:	Showbiz:
	66/59	77	69	84	78	64	47

Data by Nielsen Media Research. Live and same day (DVR) data.

One demo we forgot to include in the earlier post about the CNN/YouTube debate ratings, the 18-34 year old crowd. The debate drew 407,000 in the demo, the highest of any debate so far this year, and, a CNN spokesperson adds the “highest 18-34 delivery in cable news history.” Read more here…

As for CNN.com, “the site generated 45.5 million page views and the new CNN.com Live Player served 237,315 live video streams” on Monday.

The Nancy Grace fan club (yes there is one) alerted us that the Headline News anchor broke her foot. A Headline News spokesperson tells TVNewser Grace “missed a step going down some stairs and broke three bones in her foot.” An unfortunate event any time, but especially worrisome considering Grace is four months pregnant with twins.

The ratings are in for last night’s CNN/YouTube debate. And either viewers are getting debate-fatigue, or the debate may not have been as revolutionary as some would have hoped: 2,552,000 total viewers watched, 831,000 in the 25-54 demo and 663,000 in the (presumably YouTube-friendly) 18-49 demo.

CNN had more viewers when the Democratic candidates debated on Sunday, June 3: 2,714,000 total viewers, 1,050,000 (25-54), 836,000 (18-49).

Today’s announcement that Paula Zahn is leaving CNN, reminded one TVNewser emailer of the one degree of separation between Zahn, and another newly-freed up cable anchor. Fresh out of UC Berkeley, a young Liz Claman was the production assistant, gofer, runner, etc. for Zahn who was an anchor at KCBS-TV in Los Angeles. Claman worked at KCBS for other future network stars including Ann Curry, Pat O’Brien and Jim Lampley.