CNN plans to fill the 10 PM slot next week with a replay of Jake Tapper‘s afternoon program “The Lead,” TVNewser hears.

Tapper’s show currently airs at 4 PM ET, and does not get a replay. Placing it at 10 PM will give it significantly more reach than it currently sees at 4, when many potential viewers are still stuck at work.

“AC360″ will air at 11 PM following “The Lead” Monday through Thursday, with an Anderson Cooper special report airing Friday evening at 10 PM. “AC360″ is expected to return to 10 PM the week after next.

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CNN is getting political day during a two-day special report on firearms background checks. “Guns Under Fire: A CNN Special Report on Background Checks” will kick-off this evening on “AC360″ as Dana Bash interviews former Congresswoman Gabby Giffords. Piers Morgan and Wolf Blitzer will also discuss the issue on their respective shows.

Wednesday, the channel will present a number of special reports on background checks, including interviews and analysis on the issue (see all the reports after the jump). The reasoning behind the special report? “According to the latest polls, 9 out of 10 Americans support tougher background checks, so how is it that Congress can do nothing?” the channel says in a release.
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CNN is looking to bring back “Crossfire,” TVNewser hears. The long-running political debate show was canceled in 2005.

It isn’t entirely clear what time the program would air, though we hear it would likely be a 30-minute format. During its original run from 1982-2005, “Crossfire” aired in both the afternoons and primetime, in addition to weekend editions. Aside from a brief 60-minute experiment, it was always 30 minutes. CNN declined to comment.

If it moves forward, CNN would rely on its stable of political contributors to fill the “left,” “right” and occasionally “center” roles. The channel recently parted ways with contributors James Carville and Mary Matalin, who were regulars on the original iteration of the show. Paul Begala–also a regular on the show when it was canceled–is still with the channel.

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In a sign of just how quickly new CNN Worldwide president Jeff Zucker is moving to change the company, the CNN.com homepage will be getting a new look this afternoon, as well as a new organizational structure.

The moves carry Zucker’s fingerprints, including a cleaner look, some design influences from the CNN app, “CNN Trends” at the top of the page and news sections color-coded to the subject, as seen on Jake Tapper‘s 4 PM show “The Lead.” The bottom of the page features a distinct grey video module. You can see a screenshot of the new homepage after the jump.

The new executive structure will have VP/managing editor Meredith Artley adding oversight of the digital video team. Mike Toppo has been promoted to VP and senior editorial director, where he will have oversight of the homepage. Alex Wellen will become VP of products and operations, including oversight of mobile and Allen Wyke will join CNN Digital as its senior VP of technology and product development.

CNN Digital senior VP and GM KC Estenson announced the changes in a note to staff, obtained by TVNewser.

“Throughout the coming days, weeks and months Meredith and Mike will drive an effort to develop a punchier, more authoritative and engaging voice for CNN.com — from headlines and imagery to content and story order,” Estenson wrote. “We do breaking news better than anyone, but there’s room for improvement and expansion beyond the breaking news cycle — through urgency, quality and story selection.”
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The first quarter of 2013 marks Jeff Zucker‘s first in charge of CNN Worldwide. Many of his changes haven’t been reflected yet in the ratings (a new morning show, an experimental 10 PM show, etc) but there are a few things included in the numbers, like Jake Tapper‘s new 4 PM show, and of course the much-maligned (and praised) coverage of the Carnival cruise ship fiasco.

The ratings for Q1 2013 (Nielsen Live + Same Day data):

• Primetime (Mon-Sun): 590,000 Total Viewers / 174,000 A25-54
• Total Day (Mon-Sun): 402,000 Total Viewers / 122,000 A25-54

In total viewers, CNN was down -7% in total day and down -22% in primetime compared to Q1 2012. In the A25-54 demo, CNN was down -12% in total day and -31% in primetime (Note: percentages are based on a blend of Nielsen Live + 7 and Live + 3 data).

Q1 2012 saw a slew of GOP primary elections and a number of debates, boosting the cable news channels, and CNN was no exception.

Despite CNN’s overall declines, the channel saw some growth in a number of hours. The 8 PM “AC360″ was up +17% and +9% in total and demo viewers, respectively, compared to last year. “Erin Burnett Outfront” at 7 PM was up +7% and +5% in total and demo viewers. At 5pm “The Situation Room” was up +2% and +7% and at 6pm was up +7% and +12% in total and demo viewers, respectively.

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ABC’s Terry Moran will be presented the Merriman Smith Award at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner later this month. Moran, who is not a White House correspondent, is being honored for his coverage of the Supreme Court decision on the Affordable Care Act. According to Mike Allen‘s playbook, judges found that Moran “calmly guided viewers through the complexity, contradictions and nuance of the ruling while explaining what it means for the president and his political fortunes.”

Ryan Lizza of The New Yorker wins for journalistic excellence.  The awards will be presented at the annual dinner April 27. Fox News White House correspondent Ed Henry is the current president of the WHCA. This is the fourth year in a row the WHCA has honored an ABC correspondent. Jake Tapper won it the last three years. Tapper is now with CNN.

25-54 demographic (Live +SD)

• Total day: FNC: 252 | MSNBC: 131 | CNN: 96 | HLN: 150

• Primetime: FNC: 263 | MSNBC: 226 | CNN: 130 | HLN: 178

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Ratings are in for the first full week of “The Lead,” CNN’s new 4pmET program anchored by Jake Tapper. The show averaged 352,000 Total Viewers and 78,000 A25-54 viewers for the week, putting it in last place in its time slot among the cable news networks. Friday’s show was the lowest-rated of the week, drawing 258,000 Total Viewers and 68,000 in the demo.

The show was down -32% in Total Viewers and -33% in A25-54 viewers compared to the same week last year. Compared to the previous week, which saw the election of a new Pope, the show was down -39% in Total Viewers and -44% in the demo.

The lead to the story about the ratings for “The Lead” is this: New CNN Show Leads from Behind.

“The Lead with Jake Tapper” drew 400,000 total viewers and 87,000 in the A25-54 demo Monday — its debut episode. The show was down in total viewers from last Monday’s 4pm hour (427,000) but up in the demo (54,000). Tapper also had split results from his 3pm lead-in: “The Lead” added total viewers (400K vs. 290K), but lost demo viewers (87K vs. 98K).

The show came in fourth place behind FNC (1.102M / 172K), HLN (779K / 211K) and MSNBC (479K / 100K).

Politico’s Patrick Gavin was at the post premiere party during which new CNN president Jeff Zucker called Tapper, the “face of the new CNN.”

“I can tell you from the position that I was in, the prospect of Jake Tapper being the face of the new CNN had me more excited than anything, and I can tell you after today, I know it was absolutely the right thing. I couldn’t be prouder. I couldn’t hope for more than for Jake and his team to take CNN into our next place, into our next century. This is the start of an incredible new era.”

Within Pew’s State of the News Media 2013 report, the topic of opinion versus reporting on cable news came up. As we noted earlier, since 2007 opinion programming has risen dramatically while reporting has declined, but it is worth breaking it down by network.

According to Pew’s analysis, MSNBC had by far the most opinion programming of the “big three” cable news channels, with 85% of segments opinion, versus 15% reporting. By comparison Fox News had 55% of segments opinion to 45% reporting, with CNN the only channel to offer more reporting than opinion, with 54% reporting and 46% opinion. Opinion is not just hosts sharing their views, but also pundits spouting on about their thoughts on matters.

On the whole, 63% of all segments on cable news feature opinion, compared to 37% for reporting.

Not surprisingly, primetime skewed heavily toward opinion, with a broader mix during the day, and a slight skew toward opinion in the morning hours.
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