CNN boss Mark Thompson on Thursday revealed sweeping adjustments to the community, together with 200 layoffs in conventional TV manufacturing jobs as the corporate invests in new digital roles, in line with a report.
After slashing staffers at its cable-TV operation, CNN will probably be including about 200 new digital positions, Thomson stated in an interview on Thursday. The community may also be releasing a brand new digital subscription product and transferring round its tv lineup.
“This is a moment where the digital story feels like an existential question,” Thompson instructed the New York Occasions. “If we do not follow the audiences to the new platforms with real conviction and scale, our future prospects will not be good.”
The job cuts come as CNN, owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, seems to rearrange its linear TV lineup and construct out digital subscription merchandise, CNBC reported on Wednesday, including that it’s going to assist CNN decrease manufacturing prices and consolidate groups.
Some reveals produced in New York or Washington could transfer to Atlanta, the place manufacturing may be accomplished extra cheaply, the report stated.
NBC Information, owned by Comcast, can also be planning job cuts later this week, in line with the report. Whereas there isn’t a precise quantity, the layoffs will probably be effectively beneath 50.
Comcast and Warner Bros. Discovery didn’t instantly reply to requests for remark.
The Washington Publish, owned by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, stated earlier this month it will lay off about 4% of its workforce or lower than 100 workers in a bid to chop prices, because the storied newspaper grapples with rising losses.
In November, the Related Press stated it will reduce about 8% of its workforce because it seems to modernize its operations and merchandise.
Simply days in the past, Thompson warned high on-air expertise together with Jake Tapper and Anderson Cooper “against expressing any outrage of their own” throughout President Trump’s inauguration, in line with the Standing e-newsletter.
Throughout a digital editorial assembly on Sunday, Thompson suggested staffers to keep away from “pre-judging” the president.
The community can also be changing frequent Trump antagonist Jim Acosta’s 10 a.m. present with “The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer and Pamela Brown.” CNN is in talks with Acosta about one other function, in line with the Occasions.
Blitzer lately signed a brand new multi-year take care of CNN, whereas Brown at present leads CNN’s 11 a.m. programming throughout the week.
The choice to shift Blitzer, who was lately mocked on social media for his outdated tv setup, to mornings permits CNN to maintain one in all its most revered anchors on air whereas additionally steadily transitioning him out of the night lineup.
Thompson stated the community may also be launching a brand new morning present anchored by Audie Cornish, who at present hosts “The Assignment,” a weekly CNN podcast.
“In the end, this is about CNN being — as it has been in its history — an indispensable way in which many, many millions of people get their news,” Thompson instructed the Occasions.
The chief government stated the brand new digital subscription product would revolve round life-style content material, like meals and health tales, however didn’t give additional particulars.
So far as the brand new digital jobs go, CNN is seeking to rent about the identical variety of laid-off workers on the digital facet. The community is aiming to rent about 100 digital staffers within the first half of the yr, Thompson stated.
The push to digital will assist CNN decrease manufacturing prices and consolidate groups.
Some reveals produced in New York or Washington could transfer to Atlanta, the place manufacturing may be accomplished extra cheaply, the Standing e-newsletter beforehand reported.
