Et tu, Anderson?

It seems even the middle-aged star at CNN has become a victim in the constant zest for ratings in the cable news business. Aaron Brown, for four years the leading man of CNN, has left the network, effective last week. He was done in by someone younger and leaner, Anderson Cooper, an anchor whose star rose so quickly it eclipsed that of Brown, whose own luster has been burnished by years of "paying his dues" in local news and learning the trade on the overnight show at ABC News. Yes, Brown has been replaced, and it was his younger competition, a former host of the news on Channel 1, a closed-cable news system for schools, who did him in.

Longtime Loganite fans will note that I am a devotee of Mr. Brown, the always courteous and appropriately humble and restrained anchor who asked the questions I wanted asked and whose firm control of a news interview evoked the likes of David Brinkley and Mike Wallace and even Walter Cronkite. I looked forward to each installment of "NewsNight" and to the substance of an hourlong national news show that could provide context and analysis -- and the occasional offbeat "brite." That damned rooster for the "Morning Papers" segment long ago uttered its last cock-a-doodle-doo.

Oh sure, I watched a few episodes of "Anderson Cooper: 360" in the afternoon -- the Eastern prime time being our pre-supper. Cooper was my sarcastic afternoon snack. But Brown was my meat and potatoes. I dropped in on Cooper, but I made an appointment with Brown.

There will be another project for Brown -- perhaps he will return to ABC and the house that his mentor, Peter Jennings, built, or maybe even replacing Bob Schieffer at CBS. Perhaps Aaron Brown will go to PBS. He is a newsman's newsman, and I just don't see him fitting in at FOX or MSNBC. Whatever is next for him, I wish Aaron Brown luck. I hope to be seeing him broadcasting soon.

-- Wenatchee, Wash.