Journalists at CNN, including some of the network’s biggest personalities, are living in fear of “inevitable” layoffs and pay cuts as its new CEO looks to shore up finances amid declining ratings.
That’s according to The Ankler, which reported Wednesday that 77-year-old Chris Wallace—whose already been relegated to a weekend program—is among the network’s most well-known names whose future is in limbo.
Wallace’s $8.5 million contract, signed by the ex-CNN boss Jeff Zucker to recruit him away from Fox News three years ago, is reportedly up and he was spotted in CEO Mark Thompson’s office on Tuesday.
Chris Wallace’s future at CNN is said to be in limbo. The 77-year-old joined CNN in Jan. 2022 after 18 years at Fox News.
Reuters/Mike Blake
Sources told The Ankler that “flat is the new up” at CNN, with Thompson—who was hired late last summer—poised to overhaul the network by adding reporter responsibilities, denying raises, trimming positions, and even moving some operations from New York back to much-cheaper Atlanta.
“If you are not getting an offer several months out, you are in a precarious place,” a CNN staffer told The Ankler of contract negotiations. “That anxiety has trickled down and out and across the place.” The Ankler reported that more than 15 CNN insiders echoed that sentiment.
Sources added to The Ankler that the network’s dozens of national correspondents—said to make in the mid-to-high six figures—are especially at risk of having their pay or entire position axed. CNN’s website lists 92 people as on-air “reporters and correspondents.”
“Mark has made it known he doesn’t like the conventional style of TV packages we are doing,” one staffer told the newsletter. “He wants people who are edgy. He doesn’t want people who look like your traditional anchorman, and it turns out those [edgy] people are cheaper.”
Nielsen data shows that, last month, CNN drew 853,000 total viewers—a third less than competitor Fox News, who had 2.5 million, and much less than fellow left-leaning network MSNBC, which drew 1.4 million viewers.
In addition to less viewers, also reportedly plaguing CNN’s bottom line is a redundancy between its digital operation and on-air programming, which were previously treated as “two different worlds” but are inching closer to becoming one.
“The place needs to be turned upside down,” one staffed told Antler. “It’s not working because no one is watching. It needs a radical overhaul.”
That means managerial cuts may be significant, sources told The Ankler, and that on-air correspondents may be soon tasked with duties previously not required of them. That reportedly includes reporters being asked to write their own scripts, do their own producing, shoot footage vertically for TikTok videos, and write their own digital articles.
Another area that could be hit hard is CNN’s robust politics team in its Washington bureau. The Ankler reported that Thompson thinks CNN “is over-indexed on politics” and needs more travel and entertainment news.
Other cost-cutting measures reportedly includes the denying of raises in contract negotiations—no matter how big the name.
Jake Tapper, 55, struck a new three-year deal with Thompson this year, but was unable to score an increase in pay from the $7 million he was making annually. The same is reportedly true of Wolf Blitzer, 76, who had his contract renewed at his old salary of $3 million a year.
“Mark has made it clear the cable business is important to revenue for years to come,” a veteran at CNN reportedly said, “but it’s not the thing that is going to save us in the long term.”
