Jonathan Klein, the president of the beleaguered CNN/U.S. cable channel, is being replaced by Ken Jautz, the head of the tabloid-oriented sister channel HLN, the company said Friday.

Ramin Talaie/Bloomberg

The change is effective immediately. Mr. Klein was fired earlier this week by his boss, Jim Walton, the president of CNN Worldwide. In a telephone interview, Mr. Klein said Mr. Walton “told me they wanted to restructure things this way, and thank you very much, and good luck.”

Mr. Klein was in charge of CNN for nearly six years. During that time, he has marketed the channel as the lone nonpartisan source of cable news, positioning Fox News to the right and MSNBC to the left. But CNN’s ratings have languished, while Fox’s and MSNBC’s have improved, leading some media critics to publicly wonder how he managed to keep his job.

Despite the public speculation about Mr. Klein’s job security, the timing of the shake-up shocked CNN employees because the channel — which ranks third in the prime time ratings behind Fox News and MSNBC — is about to undergo a reinvention that he organized. The commentators Eliot Spitzer and Kathleen Parker are scheduled to replace a news program at 8 p.m. next month, and the talent show judge and journalist Piers Morgan will replace Larry King three months after that.



Like many media industry observers, Mr. Klein said he thought that his bosses would wait to judge him until the new 8 p.m. and 9 p.m. programs were on the air.

“I’m disappointed that I’m not going to get to see these new shows through to completion and to see them soar,” Mr. Klein said. But he added: “The good thing about TV is that you can still watch the product, even if you’re not in charge of it anymore. So I’m looking forward to watching.”

On a conference call with reporters, Mr. Walton explained why he made the move now, before the new programs started. “We didn’t want to have any disruption once the programs were on the air,” he said.

There were no indications Friday morning that the plans for prime time would be adjusted in light of Mr. Klein’s departure. “Ken is bullish on Kathleen and Eliot as well as Piers,” Mr. Walton told reporters.

He also said, “CNN will continue to try to deliver on the promise as the world’s news leader and we’ll work very very hard to do journalism that we can be proud of.”

Mr. Walton praised the new CNN/U.S. boss, Mr. Jautz, as an “accomplished television programmer.”

Mr. Jautz’s title will be executive vice president of CNN/U.S. He has been an executive for CNN for many years, having overseen the business channel CNN/fn before taking over HLN, formerly known as Headline News.

As the head of HLN, Mr. Jautz orchestrated a sharp shift away from the channel’s Headline News roots and added opinionated hosts like Nancy Grace, Joy Behar and, for a time, Glenn Beck. Under his leadership, the prime time ratings surged as the lineup skewed heavily toward crime and celebrity coverage.

CNN employees say he is viewed internally as a capital-J journalist, having served as a bureau chief and an operations manager over the years. “This is the least disruptive thing for the business,” one senior employee said of Mr. Jautz’s move from HLN to CNN/U.S.

Another senior employee said Mr. Walton had been contemplating the leadership change for some time. The employees insisted on anonymity because they were not authorized by the channel to speak.

In an internal memorandum, Mr. Walton said, “Jon has made important contributions to the CNN story, and he leaves with our respect and friendship, and with my sincere thanks.”

In a separate message, Mr. Klein said, “the CNN I’m leaving today is demonstrably stronger than the one I inherited almost six years ago — both editorially and financially.” He said some reporters, like Anderson Cooper, Soledad O’Brien and Dr. Sanjay Gupta, had been transformed “into global news superstars during my time here.”

Mr. Klein’s imminent exit was first reported by FTVLive Friday morning.

Scot Safon, who is currently the chief marketing officer for CNN’s channels, will take over HLN. CNN and HLN are owned by Time Warner.

Mr. Walton’s memo to CNN staffers is reprinted in full below: