CNN is standing behind Thompson, meanwhile, despite her embarrassing full exposure. On ABC, she just played a detective, after all. CNN still can come through impressively on occasion, with both stories and hirings. Thompson wasn't recruited in a vacuum, however. She's rejected for news not because of being unqualified but because the station's research shows she's not a favorite of viewers.
Research is the word.
The anchors you see everywhere are products of research telling their bosses that you like them or believe them, their credentials or noncredentials as journalists notwithstanding. Take Walter Cronkite, everyone's Mt. Rushmore of network news. Cronkite's omnipotence was built partially on something almost intangible, though. He had been around plenty as a reporter, covering one big story after another. You can bet that scenario is on CNN's radar too, the difference being that 21 years after its visionary inception, its stars increasingly are commentators, not reporters.