Victory for old guard as actress quits TV news

When she took over the anchor slot on CNN's Headline News, Andrea Thompson modestly started her first report with the words: "Hello, I'm Andrea Thompson – and unless you've been living in a cave you probably already know that."

For cavedwellers and other viewers alike, Ms Thompson, 42, was only slightly more self-effacing last week when she ended her brief, seven-month career as a CNN newsreader.

"I have enjoyed anchoring at Headline News, but have decided that it is time for me to make a change in my professional life," she said. "[I made the decision] after several weeks of careful consideration."

Headline News is broadcast only in the US, where it is seen as CNN's slightly lower rent channel – presumably designed for those viewers who find its main broadcast somewhat too erudite. But British television viewers would know Ms Thompson as the no-nonsense detective Jill Kirkendall in the police drama, NYPD Blue – which is what the fuss has been about. She also appeared as a blonde vixen in the once prime-time soap, Falcon Crest, and as a thrusting alien in the sci-fi series Babylon 5.

But if there was some harrumphing when the actress was hired by CNN last year, what sent the US media into raptures was the revelation that when she was younger she had disrobed for an Australian magazine and for an Italian-made erotic thriller. Internet news sites helpfully added easy-click links that purported to reveal Ms Thompson in her naked glory. Those critics who scoffed at her appointment – arguing that the deeply serious world of US television news was no place for a mere actress – now claim to have been proved right.

Lisa Moraes, television writer for The Washington Post, said last week: "One knowledgable source says Thompson felt that the network was not promoting her sufficiently. That could have been a blessing, given how badly she could sometimes mangle a report."

No one at CNN was available yesterday to answer specific questions about the departure of Ms Thompson, who had just one year's journalistic experience as a reporter and fill-in anchor at a local CBS station before being hired.

But the network was quick to scotch rumours that the high school drop-out was being forced out. It said Headline News' ratings had been up substantially since she joined, and executive vice president, Teya Ry stated: "Andrea has worked extremely hard... and I'm confident she'll succeed in whatever path she chooses next."

While the appointment of an actress to read the news might seem just what Brits would expect from US networks, the tradition that newsreaders should have a journalistic background is much younger in Britain.

Former thespians such as Kenneth Kendall and Richard Baker were still the face of BBC television news in the 1970s. In the US, meanwhile, news programmes were dominated by veterans of Second World War reporting such as Ed Murrow and Walter Cronkite. Clearly, that's just how some media diehards would like it to stay.