Jake Tapper has joined the roster of new journalists taking part in TV’s Sunday talk-show fray. Tapper, who joined CNN in January 2013 from ABC News, will be the new host of “State of the Union,” the Time Warner-owned outlet’s Sunday politics-focused talk show, Tapper confirmed on Twitter on Friday morning.
He replaces Candy Crowley, who anchored the show for years and left CNN late last year. A rotating group of hosts have filled her seat in the interim. Tapper is expected to start the new role in June, while continuing to anchor his late-afternoon weekday program, “The Lead.”
He will take the reins of the program as several new faces surface at the Sunday-morning programs, which have long been viewed as a venue for sophisticated discussion of complex issues. John Dickerson is slated this summer to take over CBS’ “Face the Nation” from Bob Schieffer this summer. Chuck Todd was named last year to anchor NBC’s “Meet the Press.” Chris Wallace has anchored “Fox News Sunday” since 2003, while George Stephanopoulos is in his second tenure of moderating “This Week” on ABC, which he first led in 2002.
Detractors have suggested the Sunday talk shows have lost some of their luster in an era when political discourse gushes forth from blogs and social media almost non-stop. The programs once provided the last word on national affairs every Sunday morning. These days, they may be seen as adding to the cacophony of opinion and debate.
“‘State of the Union’ has a rich tradition, and I hope to not only build on its history but expand the definition of what a Sunday show can be,” Tapper said in a prepared statement posted on CNN.com.
