A Change of Venue: Van Susteren Quits CNN For Fox News Channel

Four months after CNN spirited Paula Zahn away from Fox News Channel, Rupert Murdoch's network has struck back.

Greta Van Susteren, one of CNN's most visible and voluble talkers, said yesterday she is leaving the network that gave her cable stardom and joining Fox, which occasionally beats CNN in the prime-time rating wars.

"This was never about money," said the 47-year-old defense lawyer, who sources say is being paid less by Fox -- about $900,000 a year -- than CNN had offered to keep her. "I needed a change. They seemed to have an exciting group over there that's having a lot of fun."

Van Susteren will take over the 10 p.m. slot vacated by Zahn when Fox fired her in September for negotiating with CNN, which hired her the next day for a reported $2 million a year. Zahn has blossomed into a major-league morning presence for CNN, and her departure left a hole in Fox's evening lineup.

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"I like Greta," said Fox News President Roger Ailes. "She's a competitor. I'm impressed with her questioning. She's smart and asks simple, direct questions, which most people in television get away from. Either they ask long questions to control their time on camera or give people a number of escape routes."

"I hit it off with him when I called him," said Van Susteren, who approached Ailes as her one-year deal with CNN was expiring.

Sid Bedingfield, CNN's executive vice president, praised Van Susteren. "Greta has been an asset to CNN since we first hired her as a legal analyst 10 years ago," he told the staff in a memo. "Greta has decided that the time is right to pursue opportunities elsewhere. We respect her decision and -- although she'll be working for a competitor -- we wish her well."

Van Susteren, who has taught at Georgetown Law School, came to prominence on CNN during the O.J. Simpson trial. She was so ubiquitous that at one point she wound up with two programs. She and Roger Cossack hosted the daytime legal analysis show "Burden of Proof," which was dropped amid the war coverage that followed Sept. 11. And a year ago CNN created for her the 8 p.m. show "The Point," which averaged nearly 1.5 million viewers in the last quarter of 2001 and became the network's No. 2 show in prime time.

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Bedingfield said "The Point" will continue with rotating hosts from inside and outside CNN, beginning with correspondent Kate Snow. He also announced that CNN has hired NBC correspondent Fredricka Whitfield as a weekend anchor.

Blond, brassy and opinionated, Van Susteren worked the legal angle on stories from the O.J. circus (Simpson once called in to chat) to the Monica Lewinsky saga to the Florida recount, at one point even writing the Unabomber to request an interview. Some CNN insiders say the network's honchos never gave Van Susteren the Zahn star treatment, while others say CNN handed her every on-air opportunity she wanted.

Van Susteren's stock is also high because nighttime cable chat has been dominated by Larry King, Bill O'Reilly, Chris Matthews, Wolf Blitzer, Sean Hannity, Alan Colmes and other members of the male species. "I pioneered women in prime time with Catherine Crier and Paula Zahn," Ailes said.

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One Fox executive said Ailes had little interest in Van Susteren when she put out a feeler a year ago, but grew more receptive when Zahn left and Van Susteren made inroads against Fox's popular "O'Reilly Factor."

Asked why he was raiding CNN, a network he frequently criticizes, Ailes said: "It doesn't mean they do everything wrong. Even a blind pig occasionally finds an acorn. She was a star there."

Van Susteren, who will anchor the only Fox prime-time show from Washington, said she has "ignored" criticism that Fox is too conservative or CNN too liberal. Ailes said Van Susteren, while viewed as left of center, will fit in fine at the network he bills as "fair and balanced."

The anchor also disputed the notion that she is sticking it to CNN. "I have been a loyal, hardworking employee for CNN," said Van Susteren, who will be competing against its other high-profile hire, Aaron Brown. "I have worked incredibly hard, not taking vacations." As for her role at Fox, she said: "I can't change my tone. I'm going to be whatever I am."

Howard Kurtz hosts CNN's weekly media program.

Legal analyst Greta Van Susteren came to prominence at CNN with the O.J. Simpson murder trial.Roger Cossack and Van Susteren hosted "Burden of Proof," the legal-affairs show that was recently dropped by CNN.

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