Report: CNN Shuts Down Opinion Section

Photo by Mike D from Washington, DC, CC BY-SA 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

In the midst of a brand/identity crisis, sagging ratings, and a parent company looking to plug financial losses, CNN has reportedly axed its opinion section contributors and staff, with a “pivot to video” cameo as a chaser.

Clair Atkinson from The Media Mix:

The CNN team working on the news network’s Opinion output was let go today. The contributors and editors were gathered and informed that they would be terminated with an end date of August 9, according to people there.

The move is part of a wider cost cutting measure announced this morning by CEO Mark Thompson who unveiled a broad global restructure of CNN’s content output across digital, video and TV. The restructure comes almost a year after Thompson took charge of the network after the disastrous term of his predecessor Chris Licht. Thompson is reviving subscription products launching later this year, after Licht executed a plan to shutter an earlier CNN streaming product conceived under former leader Jeff Zucker.

Thompson let go of 100 staff today as owner Warner Bros. Discovery goes about further cost reductions in order to pay off its $43 billion debt load and figure out a new approach as declines in linear viewing hit ad revenue. CNN is pivoting towards using more video and less text based content.