New York: CNN’s Christiane Amanpour is ABC’s choice to replace George Stephanopoulos as host of its Sunday morning political talk show “This Week”.
ABC announced the hiring Thursday in an e-mail to its staff. It’s not clear whether Amanpour's hiring signals a change in direction for “This Week,” a show that's heavy on politics and domestic policy.
Amanpour is best known for her reporting from war zones at CNN. She has lately been host of a daily show on CNN’s International network; highlights are run Sunday on the domestic channel.
Stephanopoulos left the show in December to take over as co-host of “Good Morning America.”
Amanpour will start in August, with Jake Tapper filling in until then.
Amanpour, one of the world’s most respected international correspondents, will also appear on other ABC News programs and platforms to provide international analysis of the important issues of the day, ABC News said in Thursday’s announcement.
She will anchor primetime documentaries on international subjects for ABC. “This Week” will continue to be broadcast from the Newseum in Washington.
Amanpour grew up in Iran and Britain, and is the daughter of an Iranian father and a British mother.
ABC News President David Westin said in a memo to staff: “With Christiane we have the opportunity to provide our audiences with something different on Sunday mornings. We will continue to provide the best in interviews and analysis about domestic politics and policies. But now we will add to that an international perspective. All of us know how much the international and the domestic have come to affect one another – whether it's global conflict, terrorism, humanitarian crises, or the economy.”
Added Amanpour: “I didn’t know about war until I started covering it...I didn’t know about famine until I was in the middle of one. This is an opportunity to explain domestic politics and how it impacts the world.”
