CNN presenter ANDERSON COOPER

CNN US airs a programme called Anderson Cooper 360. Has anyone seen this show? Its pretty cool and quite different from the current programming that is seen on CNN US. Its very fast paced and youthful. Without being dumb and stupid. Its extremely smart and the presenter is the best part of the programme.
CNN's 360 Mini Site
I also found a nice clean fansite.

Anderson Cooper fansite
Apparently this guy has a hugh following in the US. Check out this site. His "Nth Degree" editorials are very funny and critical of things. But they are sometimes poignant.

He presented the US Mole series 1 and 2

He used to be the main anchor of ABC's world news now , and a regular contributor on ABC NEWS.

I think he also presented CNN' "Rock the Vote" - bad name for quite an interesting show...

He's not a remarkable person on his own (in fact, he's quite non-descript as people go...almost looks like an accountant).

But you have to consider who he's being compared to: Jennings, Brokaw, Rather, Dobbs, Brown, Zahn, et al.

All those polished, almost elitist newsreaders and presenters seem a bit stuffy and old hat. Cooper isn't really innovative, but he seems like everyone's next door neighbour when presenting the news.

His demeanour seems to appeal to young people.

Did any one read his Nth Degree editorial from last night? Top stuff.
Anderson Cooper site

Well one thing most of us over here forget is that US Cable news and broadcast network news is two different entities. Tom, Dan, and Peter and the upper eschelon of new anchors. They are the newscasts of record as in comparison to the cable networks. The 30 million viewers of networks significantly dwarfs that seen on the cable news channels. The presenters on cable news just dont compare. So I dont think its fare to compare Anderson Cooper to those guys. I would put Anderson lightyears ahead of that dreadful Shepard Smith at Faux News Channel. His style is new refreshing and but not sloppy and stupid. He is a extremely smart and learned presenter. Not like that missippii idiot on Fox.

Is this Anderson guy your latest thing then? Seeing as there's also a link to his website in Forum 3. Somehow I think I'd be able to say he's an American based on the name.

Anderson is an American. Born and raised in NYC.

Well, as I say, he's got one of those American names. Mackenzie Swisscheese-ish.

Being that he is American, it would make sense that he has an American name. I actually found out that he is a Vanderbilt and is heir to the family fortune. His mother is Gloria Vanderbilt the heiress and designer/writer. And his father was Wyatt Cooper the Southern Writer. Their family (The Vanderbilts) own The Biltmore Estate. The largest private home in North America.
The Biltmore Estate

Anderson's been at CNN for the past year and a half or so. He's a former anchor of ABC's overnight news program, "World News Now" (as is CNN primetime anchor, Aaron Brown - who was one of the original two anchors of WNN in 1992).

He did fill-in anchor duties on World News Tonight Weekend, and on Good Morning America's newsdesk. He shifted into the entertainment side of the house after a while, and hosted the first and second editions of "The Mole" for ABC.

After finishing the second edition of "The Mole," he left ABC for CNN, first as a field reporter, then anchoring in Paula Zahn's old slot once she moved to "American Morning" (and eventually leaving CNN altogether).

"360" came into existance sometime early this fall in that same early evening slot.

Most folk see Cooper as the "rising star" at CNN, possibly even being looked at to eclipse Aaron Brown as their number one anchor. Brown's star has tarnished significantly over the course of 2003, ever since Brown opted to playing a Saturday round of golf instead of hitting the anchor desk to cover the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster last February.

The other lead anchors, Brit Hume at Fox, Dan Rather at CBS, Peter Jennings at ABC, Brian Williams at MSNBC/CNBC, Peter Mansbridge at CBC/NWI, all ended up on the air within an hour or two of the disaster - most in a matter of minutes. NBC's Tom Brokaw cut short a Caribbean vacation to rush back to New York and ended up on air within four or five hours. NPR's Scott Simon was on the air with Weekend Edition when the disaster took place, and went into marathon coverage.

But not Brown. He got a cell phone call on the golf course, telling him of the disaster, and opted to stay on the links. His loss looks to be Anderson Cooper's gain.