CNN has announced a pair of promotions for new executives Abigail Crutchfield and Pallavi Reddy.

Crutchfield has been elevated to Vice President of D.C. Programming and Special Events Programming. Previously, she had worked as the network’s executive producer for State of the Union with both Jake Tapper and Dana Bash. She has also managed the network’s coverage of the January 6th hearings, arrests and arraignments of former President Donald Trump, and the coronation of King Charles III.

Pallavi Reddy has been promoted to Vice President of New Media at CNN. The new media team at the network oversees data visualization, extended reality, and technological advancements in storytelling. The group created the “Magic Wall” used in various election coverages that won a Technology and Engineering Emmy in 2020. Reddy began her tenure at the network as a Production Assistant for Reliable Sources before being elevated to field producer during the 2016 presidential race.

“Please join me in congratulating Abigail and Pallavi,” CNN U.S. Programming executive Eric Sherling told staffers in a memo. “Their roles will be crucial in supporting CNN’s best-in-class political and election coverage of the 2024 race and beyond.”

It’s been a couple of months since Jesse Watters took over the 8:00 p.m. ET slot at Fox News. The network announced in April that Tucker Carlson was leaving the media company; it took a while to find his replacement, which eventually became Watters.

Former CNN media reporter Brian Stelter recently appeared on an episode of Pod Save America and assessed how Watters is filling that time slot Carlson left behind.

While Stelter might not like what is said on Watters’ show, he states that the Fox News host doesn’t steer away from reality. 

“You look at what Jesse Watters does now in Tucker Carlson’s old time slot,” Stelter told host Jon Favreau. “A lot of it is repulsive, in my view, but it is not quite as far off, as far into the fringe land, as far into the wilderness as Tucker was. I think you know what I mean. I mean, Tucker in 2023, was not the character that he was in 2017. He became unglued.”

Carlson’s exit and Watters’ appointment to the primetime slot might have been the prelude to the changes coming toward Fox News’ way. Last month, Rupert Murdoch announced that he was stepping down from his role leading Fox Corp. and News Corp. and will hand the reins to his son, Lachlan.

“I have decided to transition to the role of Chairman Emeritus at Fox and News,” Murdoch said. “The time is right for me to take on different roles, knowing that we have truly talented teams and a passionate, principled leader.”

The banning of books in various schools is a major talking point across the country. Much like Student-led banned book clubs and anti-censorship groups have been popping up in states, MSNBC host Ali Velshi is doing the same. 

Velshi has been working to raise awareness about the absurdity of book bans. One of the ways is through his podcast, Velshi Banned Book Club, which launched this summer and invites the author of a banned book. 

“So, the impetus was all these books that were starting to get challenged or banned or removed from libraries; I wanted to highlight those for my audience in places where they weren’t being banned,” Velshi told The Advocate as part of an in-depth interview. “But just to let them know why. And I wanted to speak to the authors of those books themselves.”

Furthermore, Velshi revealed his reaction to offering some of these books a platform, whether it’s through MSNBC television or audio airwaves. He notes that these books do save kids’ lives. 

“I have authors who have told me that they’ve received emails from kids who said they were thinking about taking their own lives,” Velshi added. 

“They felt so outside, and then they read this book, and it sounded exactly like their experience, and they felt accepted. And they felt whole, and they felt heard. And they felt like there was a future.”