CNN adds another O'Brien to 'Morning'

Declaring that ''we're addressing fundamentals," CNN/US president Jon Klein announced yesterday that the cable news network -- lagging well behind the front-running Fox News Channel in the ratings -- will make major changes to its morning, afternoon, and prime-time programming.

The move most likely to create media-industry buzz is the June 20 anchor switch at CNN's early show, ''American Morning," when reporter and anchor Miles O'Brien will replace 10-year CNN veteran Bill Hemmer in the chair next to co-anchor Soledad O'Brien. Commentator Jack Cafferty will also leave the morning show to become part of Wolf Blitzer's three-hour afternoon program ''The Situation Room," which replaces ''Inside Politics," ''Crossfire," and ''Wolf Blitzer Reports."

. ''We're looking to create chemistry among two of the smartest anchors on television," Klein said in a Globe interview. in reference to his new O'Brien and O'Brien team. ''We want to clear out the couch, to speak, and have two people sitting on it. . . . It is going to be a lot more no-nonsense than the stuff you can get elsewhere."

Hemmer, who according to a recent Washington Post story had been asked by CNN officials to become the senior White House correspondent, will leave the network.

The afternoon lineup will be reshaped by the mid-summer rollout of ''The Situation Room" to be hosted by CNN workhorse Blitzer from 3 to 6 p.m. daily. The program block will be broken into three basic segments with the first hour devoted to politics, the second focused more on security issues, and the third a combination of world and national news.

''I think he's perfectly suited to be the sober center of a constellation of outspoken reporters and analysts," said Klein of the new role for the 15-year CNN veteran Blitzer.

In prime-time -- where CNN has traditionally had trouble finding a successful formula -- the network announced the hiring of two new executive producers.Victor Neufeld, a veteran of the ''CBS Early Show" and ABC's ''20/20," will become senior executive producer of ''Paula Zahn Now," while David Doss, former executive producer of ABC's ''PrimeTime Thursday," takes the post of senior executive producer on ''Anderson Cooper 360°."