In the wake of the new appointment, Hair, who is a former Viacom stations group executive and was executive VP and general manager of CNN US, will now hold the newly created position of senior vice president of program and talent development for the entire CNN news group.

"We felt we needed a stronger, more urgent push toward the editorial direction and strategic direction of CNN US," CNN Group president Jim Walton was quoted as saying in a media report. An upbeat Walton also said that CNN was poised to have its strongest financial year ever, with a leadership position for CNN.com, new plans for CNN Headline News and a strong international business.

Klein is the founder and CEO of The FeedRoom Inc., a high-speed Internet news network and video streamer and has also had a stint as executive vice president of CBS News. In a statement issued by the company, Klein said, "Six years steeped in the digital information industry have helped me understand today's news consumers in ways never before available to media executives."