David Bohrman obit

David Bohrman, Former CNN, ABC News and Current TV Executive, Dies at 69

A famed innovator, Bohrman pioneered the use of the 'Magic Wall' during CNN's election night coverage.

 

He was not on the list.

David Bohrman, the veteran news producer and executive who worked for ABC News, CBS News, NBC News, Current TV, and most notably CNN, has died. He was 69.

Bohrman died Sunday after complications with hip surgery, his family told CNN.

Famed as a news innovator, Bohrman created dozens of programs over a career that spanned six decades and was widely credited with introducing cutting-edge technology into news broadcasts including interactive video walls, 3D holograms and real-time visualizations. Among the many news programs he created for CNN included State of the Union, Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer, MoneyLine News Hour with Lou Dobbs and NewsNight with Aaron Brown.

Born in 1954 in Los Angeles, Bohrman was the son of Delle, a television writer and Stan, a TV news anchor on CBS KPIX in San Francisco. Stan Bohrman made his mark in television news through KPIX’s use of “Instant Eye” feature, the at-the-time groundbreaking introduction of live camera remotes. “The Instant Eyes, which were live remote cams, it opened up a whole new world of news coverage for the city,” Bohrman said in an interview in 2018. “He was just great on the air, a great broadcaster,” Bohrman said of his father.

Bohrman studied at Stanford University and then at Columbia University. While at Stanford, he interned at his father’s station. His first job out of college was at CBS News, working as a producer on the local station KNXT (now KCBS) from 1978 to 1980. He then went to work at ABC News, staying with the company until 1993. During Bohrman’s time at ABC News, he was an original staffer on the Ted Koppel-fronted Nightline and rose to become an executive producer at the network, going on to create World News Now. His reputation as an innovator was forged at ABC News during the 1988 presidential election when he created ABC News Interactive product that for the first time linked election information electronically.

In 1993, Bohrman moved to NBC News, where he worked as an executive producer on special events. Bohrman worked closely with the network’s star anchors Tom Brokaw and Brian Williams and his purview included live and breaking news coverage.

Bohrman joined CNN in 1998, his first stint at the cable news network lasting two years. He was a producer on CNNfn, the now-defunct financial channel, and helped create MoneyLine News Hour with Lou Dobbs. In 2000, he left CNN to become CEO of Pseudo Programs, dubbed the world’s first interactive streaming TV network, but the venture failed as the tech industry was on swan dive due to the dotcom bubble bursting. He returned to CNN in 2001, creating NewsNight with Aaron Brown.

During the 9/11 terrorist attack, Bohrman produced Aaron Brown’s live coverage from New York, including the live images of the towers falling behind the anchor which is among the most viewed news clips in history. He also produced the network’s coverage of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. In 2004, Bohrman moved to Washington D.C. to become CNN’s bureau chief in the capital. During this period he produced shows for Wolf Blitzer, John King, Anderson Cooper and Candy Crowley and also introduced the idea of having the network’s anchors present election coverage from the floor of party conventions.

During the 2008 presidential election, Bohrman’s innovative streak continued when he introduced the ‘Magic Wall’ into CNN’s election coverage. Now a staple of election nights in TV news studios around the world, CNN’s Magic Wall was an interactive real-time display that updated with election information. “His decision to take then just emerging touch-screen technology and integrate [it] into our 2008 election coverage was nothing short of revolutionary. And it wasn’t just cutting-edge technology. David turned an old bus into a rolling television studio, bringing our political coverage into every corner of America. He made us better,” said John King in a statement to CNN.

Now firmly established as a daring news innovator, Bohrman was elevated to chief innovation officer at CNN and Turner Broadcasting in 2011. Although his stint in this position was brief, Bohrman instituted a number of firsts, most notably the use of a real-time hologram where correspondents and Black Eyed Pea’s Will.i.am were beamed onto the set to talk with Anderson Cooper.

In a shock move, Bohrman left CNN to become president of Al Gore’s news startup Current TV in 2011. At Current TV, Bohrman created the shows The Young Turks with Cenk Uygur, Talking Liberally with Stephanie Miller, The War Room with Jennifer Granholm, Full Court Press with Bill Press, The Gavin Newsom Show and Viewpoint with Eliot Spitzer. The network was sold to Al Jazeera in 2013.

After leaving Current TV, Bohrman spent the last decade working as a freelance producer, helping NBC News and MSNBC with their 2016 election coverage and CBS News with their 2020 election coverage.

Bohrman is survived by his wife Catherine, children Amber and Harrison and his beloved granddaughters Sloan and Paige.