CNN shakeup cuts Zahn

New York – Paula Zahn is leaving CNN, turning her prime-time slot over to Campbell Brown.

Zahn’s final program will be Aug. 2. Others will fill in until November, when Brown – newly hired from NBC News- will start, CNN said Tuesday.

Zahn has been at the network for nearly six years since jumping from Fox News Channel – her first day on the job Sept. 11, 2001. She said she expects to stay in television after taking some time off.

“For the first time in 30 years, I’m going to take a break here,” said Zahn, 51.

Although her ratings are up this year, Zahn has had a tough time competing in a time slot dominated by Bill O’Reilly on Fox News Channel and Keith Olbermann at MSNBC. Rumors have spread for months that CNN was looking to make a change.

Spears’ meltdown chronicled

New York – Britney Spears’ fashion shoot gone bad is the subject of a story in OK! magazine.

In a statement to celebrity news Web site TMZ, OK! Editor-in-Chief Sarah Ivens said the magazine had “spent a heartbreaking day with Britney Spears and witnessed first-hand an emotional cry for help that will leave you shocked and sad.”

“This week, on newsstands Friday, the truth will be told,” Ivens said.

The statement was posted Tuesday on TMZ’s Web site. A day earlier, TMZ said it had “learned that Britney’s self-arranged photo shoot and interview with OK! Magazine was a complete disaster” and that her behavior during the interview was “nothing less than a meltdown.”

OK! publicist Brian Strong said the magazine wouldn’t publish photos of Spears from the shoot due to legal reasons. He said OK! would deliver “a very real account” of its interview with the 25-year-old singer.