CNN
TV Newser reports that CNN anchor Anderson Cooper--who once tracked The Mole!--will soon be rolling with a fatter bankroll. The rumored figure: $50 million over the next five years. As Newser comments, "That's a Katie Couric sort of salary." True. And best of all, no one's questioning whether Cooper plagiarized someone else's colonoscopy back in March of 2000.
With news of the coming ka-ching, one wonders how this will affect the cable news landscape, especially where the big network show-ponies are concerned. As recently as last February, Eat The Press related news of Keith Olbermann's salary negotiations, which earned the always-on-the-YouTube editorializer a modest $4 million over the length of a four-year deal. At the time, Olbermann was just keeping up with the Coopers: Anderson reupped at a similar $4 million in January of 2007.
The prickliness of Olbermann's negotiations were noted by various and sundry sources. Nevertheless, NBC News' Steve Capus made it sound like the network was making the firmest of commitments to Countdown, calling it "the centerpiece for the resurgence and the real growth at MSNBC" and describing the signed deal with Olbermann "a good day for MSNBC and a good day for NBC News." Ahh, but there has to be a morning after.
Related:
$50 Million Over 5 Years For Cooper? [TVNewser]
Anderson Cooper's $50 Mil Contract [Gawker]
Failing Upward [Page Six]
Previously, on Eat The Press
Four More Years: Keith Olbermann Re-Ups With MSNBC
