CNN cuts jobs, shuffles TV lineup as it enters new Trump era

Give people news when and where they want it.

According to Mark Thompson, CNN’s chief executive, this was one of Ted Turner’s brilliant ideas when he started the network at the dawn of cable television. And if CNN doesn’t follow that advice in the digital age, Mr. Thompson says, the company might no longer exist.

“This is a moment where digital history feels like an existential question,” Mr. Thompson said in an interview. “If we don’t follow the audience of new platforms with real conviction and at scale, our future prospects will not be good. »

Mr. Thompson broadcast this message on CNN during his first 15 months in office. But now he’s taking the biggest steps yet to restructure the company, moving it away from its reliance on traditional television and trying to capitalize on digital audiences wherever they are, just as President Trump has put the news cycle into hyperdrive. .

On Thursday, the company announced it would cut about 200 jobs focused on CNN’s traditional television operations and add about the same number for new digital positions such as data scientists and product engineers. CNN aims to hire 100 of those people in the first half of the year, Mr. Thompson said.

CNN also previewed a new streaming service, similar to its TV product, that it will charge for. Mr. Thompson said CNN would also launch a new subscription product this year around “lifestyle” content – ​​examples include food and fitness – although he did not specify what the product would be. The digital efforts, Mr. Thompson said, were funded this year by a $70 million investment from CNN’s parent company, Warner Bros. Discovery.

Mr. Thompson also announced a series of changes to CNN’s television schedule, replacing Jim Acosta’s 10 o’clock show with “The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer and Pamela Brown” and introducing a new morning show hosted by Audie Cornish. The network is in talks with Mr. Acosta for another role.