Lands On His Feet Fast: Rick Kaplan, Out At CBS News, Hired At ABC’s This Week

Mark JoyellaMay 12th, 2011, 3:08 pm

He was out of work a matter of hours? Rick Kaplan, who announced his exit as executive producer of the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric on Tuesday, has been hired as executive producer of ABC’s This Week with Christiane Amanpour.

ABC News president Ben Sherwood announced the hire today, describing Kaplan’s mission as a bold one: “to lead This Week to #1 and to guide ABC News to dominance in the 2012 elections and beyond.”

Here’s Sherwood’s memo to staff at ABC:

I’m delighted to report that Rick Kaplan is returning to ABC News as Executive Producer of This Week with Christiane Amanpour. Rick will also oversee our political coverage. His mission: to lead This Week to #1 and to guide ABC News to dominance in the 2012 elections and beyond.

As many of you know, ABC News is home base for Rick. He spent some 20 years here as executive producer of Good Morning America, Nightline, PrimeTime Live, and World News Tonight with Peter Jennings. Over the course of 40 years in news, Rick has worked at four major networks and served as president of two cable news operations. Most recently, he served as executive producer of The CBS Evening News with Katie Couric.

Rick is a towering figure in broadcast news, winning 44 Emmys, 8 Murrows, 4 DuPonts, 2 RFK’s and 2 George Foster Peabody Awards.

His first charge will be to build on the extraordinary work of Christiane and her talented team. From Tuscon to Egypt to Libya to Japan, Christiane has had a remarkable run with exclusive reporting and interviewing around the globe. In tumultuous times ABC News viewers can count on Christiane and Rick to help explain the world.

On a personal note, I met Rick in August 1989 when I joined ABC News as an associate producer at PrimeTime Live. Screening pieces with Rick still evokes the most vivid, visceral memories. We all learned so much from Rick about storytelling, showmanship, and the fighting spirit. I am thrilled that he’s returning at this exciting moment for our news division.