EMPLOYMENT NEWS – AT 9:48 A.M. ET:  As if ABC News wasn't left-wing enough, the tilt will be further strengthened by Christiane Amanpour:

Christiane Amanpour will be leaving CNN to join ABC News.

“I’m thrilled to be joining the incredible team at ABC News. Being asked to anchor “This Week” and the superb tradition started by David Brinkley, is a tremendous and rare honor and I look forward to discussing the great domestic and international issues of the day,"Amanpour said in a statement. I leave CNN with the UTMOST respect, love and admiration for the company and everyone who works here. This has been my family and shared endeavor for the past 27 years and I am forever grateful and proud of all that we have accomplished.”

Amanpour was CNN's chief international correspondent and anchored Amanpour, a 30-minute, daily interview program that premiered on CNN International in September 2009.

Amanpour worked for 18 years as an international correspondent, covering major crises including Iraq, Afghanistan, the Palestinian territories, Iran, Israel, Pakistan, Somalia, Rwanda, the Balkans and the United States during Hurricane Katrina.

COMMENT:  Maybe it was too much to hope that ABC News, after the death of Peter Jennings, would try to balance its reporting, and indeed it has some fine reporters.  But Amanpour will bring it back to the bad old days.  We well remember her reports on election day, 2008, when she biked around New York and told us she sensed the beginning of a new and nobler age.  So much for fair and balanced.

CNN is a ratings train wreck, in part because it's so reliably liberal.  If the organization were smart – and there are doubts – they'd replace Amanpour with someone more to the center.  But they won't.

March 19, 2010