Rick Kaplan
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Rick Kaplan, who served as President of CNN (1997-2000) and Senior Vice-President of ABC News (2003), was named President of MSNBC in February 2004. He was a long-time executive producer for World News Tonight with Peter Jennings before leaving for CNN. In June of 2006 Kaplan resigned as president of MSNBC. Over his extensive career, he has garnered 34 Emmys. In 2007, he replaced Rome Hartman as the executive producer of the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric.
[edit] Controversies
Kaplan was at the helm of ABC's Prime Time Live in 1991, when they aired an expose against the Food Lion supermarket chain using undercover producers who falsified their resumes and staged events. Food Lion was awarded USD $5.5 million by a jury in 1997. The award was later reduced by a judge to $316,000. The verdict was then overturned by the U.S. Court of Appeals in Richmond, Virginia. According to the court, even though ABC was wrong to do what they had done, they felt that Food Lion was unable to show that they had been directly injured by ABC's actions.
After Kaplan moved to CNN, U.S. News & World Report found that Kaplan had ordered CNN reporters to "limit the use of the word 'scandal'’ in reporting on Clinton's campaign fundraising." Critics claim this an example bias, given Kaplan's long time and close friendship with President Clinton.
In 1998, CNN President Kaplan oversaw production of the first documentary for the new show NewsStand. The documentary called "Tailwind," narrated by journalist Peter Arnett, alleged that during the Vietnam War the United States had used poison gas against women and children in Laos. This report was later discredited.
At a tribute held to honor former CBS news anchor Dan Rather following his exodus from CBS after the scandal concerning the Killian Documents, Rick Kaplan stated "As was the practice in all he did, Dan was meticulously careful to be fair and balanced and accurate."
