CNN's new pop star

Anderson Cooper wants to give the traditional newscast a stylish spin

By Mark Jurkowitz, Globe Staff, 9/8/2003

New York -- Anderson Cooper is not your father’s anchorman.

The 36-year-old son of socialite and designer Gloria Vanderbilt speaks in clipped bursts rather than stentorian tones. In 2002, People magazine named him one of the sexiest men alive. He is probably best known for hosting the ABC reality show ‘‘The Mole’’ and may be as comfortable chatting about Jay-Z and Beyonce as he is discussing Iraq. He writes for the pop-culturally astute Details magazine. And his ‘‘unconventional’’ CNN primetime news show—which debuts tonight—has a pretty cool name (‘‘Anderson Cooper 360˚’’) and opening music that features the techo-rock sound of the band Flin Flon.

But is Cooper CNN’s designated hipster, a fresh icon for news-averse Gen X-ers? Not to hear him tell it. Eyeing his lunchtime surroundings at the uber-trendy Manhattan eatery Town, he declares that ‘‘I would not come to this restaurant in real life ’cause it’s too hip.

‘‘I would never call myself hip. I think I’m sort of weird and goofy,’’ he adds, continuing that theme. ‘‘If you go out and try to create a program to be hip, it’ll be a mistake.’’

Boyishly handsome, with bright blue eyes and prematurely gray hair, Cooper doesn’t exactly project dweebiness. But his analysis may be closer to the mark than it seems. He is — at the core — a news nerd, a devotee of the old CBS evening newscast withWalter

Cronkite and Eric Sevareid from the tender age of 6. After failing to land a job answering phones at ABC, he began his career in notably mundane fashion — as a factchecker

for Channel One News, which beams short newscasts for students into US classrooms. Ask what he does for fun and Cooper enthuses about a Spanish-language Univision tabloid-style news program, ‘‘Primer Impacto.’’ And on the serious side of his resume, he has reported from the scenes of some of the bloodiest conflicts in recent years — from Afghanistan to Somalia to Bosnia.

Now he faces the daunting task of kicking off CNN’s new primetime lineup at 7 p.m., to be followed by Paula Zahn’s new 8 o’clock entry, ‘‘Paula Zahn Now.’’ At CNN, prime time conjures up memories of instability, such as its ill-fated newsmagazine format in the late 1990s and the recent demise of Connie Chung’s once ballyhooed show.

Cooper says he hasn’t thought about the pressure on his show to perform but acknowledges it is still a work in progress.

‘‘What we want is a fast-paced, smart, comprehensive hour of the day’s events,’’ he says. Jim Miller, the Harvard Business School grad who is senior executive producer,

cites as a model ESPN’s signature ‘‘SportsCenter’’ show, which has mixed sports news with the charisma of anchors such asKeith Olbermann (now hosting on MSNBC) and Craig Kilborn (now host of CBS’s ‘‘The Late Late Show.’’) ‘‘We want to marry that content with personality,’’ says Miller.

‘‘Anderson Cooper 360˚’’ will spend the first quarter-hour or so catching viewers up on the major events of the day, with Cooper likely to conduct interviews with farflung correspondents. The next segment could entail a legal panel reviewing the Kobe Bryant or Laci Peterson case. Guests will also be brought in to flesh out another issue in the news, with the emphasis on people directly involved rather than professional talking heads. Each night at around 7:50, there will be another segment, such as Thursday’s regular ‘‘Overkill’’ feature, which will examine media excess, and Friday’s ‘‘Weekender,’’

which will take a critical look at entertainment options.

The show will close each night with ‘‘The nth degree,’’ which Miller describes as ‘‘Anderson’s own thoughts.’’ It could be Cooper’s version of Sevareid’s ringing CBS

commentaries — with less solemnity.

Given his casual, breezy style, Cooper acknowledges having ‘‘a wry sensibility at times.’’ But he rejects the notion that he’s an acquired taste. ‘‘I think I’m a McDonald’s french fry,’’ he responds. ‘‘Great the first time, and it still gets better.’’ Asked about hosting the ‘‘The Mole’’—the kind of gig that could kill a career in the news business—Cooper responds

that he had been at ABC News for about a half-dozen years and was looking for a ‘‘change’’ when offered the chance to host the show.

‘‘I have no regrets,’’ he now says, reddening a bit and not eager to continue that line of conversation.

One piece of his past that Cooper recently opened up about was the 1988 suicide of his older brother Carter. In a moving piece in the September issue of Details, Cooper wrote about the tragedy, noting that ‘‘my brother was a sweet young man who wanted to be in control. In the end, he simply wasn’t. None of us are.’’

Citing his brother and the death of his father, writer Wyatt Cooper, when he was a young boy, Cooper connects his personal grief with the direction of his career. ‘‘I think I had experienced a certain amount of loss in my life,’’ he says. ‘‘I felt comfortable with loss . . .

and in an environment where pain and loss are very much on the surface.’’

Not surprising given his family background, Cooper grew up exposed to luminaries in the worlds of film and writing. But his interest in news stemmed from his fascination

with military history. And his love of maps and faraway places translated to a professional life of globe-trotting in the world’s hot spots. A 1989 Yale graduate, he hit upon an exotic scheme to escape his lot as a Channel One factchecker by going somewhere off the beaten path and largely free of Western journalists. So he went to

Vietnam, enrolled at the University of Hanoi, and persuaded Channel One to let him report from abroad. From there, it was a tour of 1990s battle zones, including Somalia, Bosnia, Rwanda, and Haiti, to practice what he calls ‘‘very personal, journey-esque

storytelling.

‘‘I would have done it for free,’’ he adds. ‘‘I think there is value to bearing eyewitness to these things happening.’’

From Channel One, he moved on to ABC News, where he was a correspondent and anchored the overnight program ‘‘World News Now,’’ then the detour on ‘‘The Mole,’’ and ultimately to a job at CNN just a few months after the Sept. 11 attacks.

‘‘I wanted to be reporting again,’’ says Cooper, who was in his native New York when the

towers fell. ‘‘It no longer [seemed] appropriate not to be part of the great events of our times.’’

The big question for Cooper, CNN, and his viewers is whether ‘‘Anderson Cooper 360˚’’ reflects the host’s more bedrock journalism instincts, comes off as fluffy news lite, or manages to strike a winning balance.

Pop culture is ‘‘definitely going to be part of the show,’’ he says, citing, for example, the interest in the ‘‘whole back story of Madonna kissing Britney Spears’’ at MTV’s Video Music Awards. ‘‘To me the problem would be if you lead with that,’’ Cooper continues. ‘‘It’s a mistake.’’

Spoken, for now at least, like more of a mainstream newshound than a prime-time pop star.