Following CEO Mark Rosenthal's departure two weeks ago, Current TV co-founder Joel Hyatt has fully reclaimed the role he has held for the bulk of Current's history. Almost immediately, he and co-founder Al Gore picked their new programming guru -- David Bohrman, a longtime TV executive who comes by way of CNN and whose resume includes prior stints at both ABC and NBC.
Bohrman will assume the role of President of Current TV, a position the network has never had before. He will report directly to Hyatt with those from programming, production, broadcast operations and tech all reporting to him.
Also Read:Current TV Names Former CNN Executive David Bohrman as Its New President
His explicit goal is to introduce and enhance the line-up around Chief News Officer Keith Olbermann, who hosts the network's top-rated show, "Countdown."
Bohrman and Hyatt talked with TheWrap on Monday about going "all in" on news analysis, the flaws of cable news networks and social media innovations.
David, coming in, what do you see as the greatest challenge that you face? Bohrman: Let’s put the glass half full. What I’m chomping at the bit to do is to implement the vision for the transformation of Current from what it was to what it's going to be. [Joel] brought me onboard to make it happen, to create a programming schedule and programs that deal with opinion, analysis and news of the day. We are not creating a news gathering organization but a 24-hour channel that will be vital in the political process of the company. Joel, you used a great phrase before that you wanted to be "all in."
Hyatt: While doing the work of getting Countdown going [...] it was increasingly clear to Al and me that it was a strategic imperative to go all in as a political commentary and news analysis network. That was the decision we made and it represents a major strategic shift for the network. In order to execute on that vision, Al and I wanted to go out and find the very best person in TV news production and programming. If I say so myself, Al and I are pretty resourceful and have access to lots of great minds and inputs. Basically everyone we asked said he's the best in the business for that.
Is that shift represented by replacing Mark with David considering that while both come from cable TV, Mark came from an entertainment and media background and David from a more political one?
Hyatt: They are not as directly linked as you make them, but yes that’s of course right. Mark's background was in an entertainment background not a news background -- and never really in programming since he had the business side. So David's coming in again with an entire career of expertise in news analysis and the innovations associated with providing news analysis and political commentary.
