CNN is cutting jobs and restructuring its news operations as part of ongoing efforts by the company to boost its digital offerings and be less dependent on its cable news channel.
The changes, as reported by The Hollywood Reporter from a memo sent to staff on Wednesday by CNN CEO Mark Thompson, include layoffs of “around a hundred” staffers, representing less than 3 percent of the company’s workforce of more than 3,500 employees. The cuts follow layoffs in 2022, including jobs lost when the network’s streaming service, CNN Plus, was shut down less than a month after launching.
Today’s memo also outlined Thompson’s plans to merge CNN’s TV news and digital news teams into a single “Global News organization” that will reduce duplicated efforts and allow “domestic and international news desks” to work together for “big breaking stories.”
As news delivered through social media and other digital sources continues to reduce the viewership of cable news channels, Thompson has been pushing to improve CNN’s digital news offerings since taking over the CEO role last October.
“This effort will include a strategic push into AI.”
Thompson also emphasized a stronger dependence on video, including the launch of two additional ad-supported streaming channels coming later this year and the creation of a new TV Futures Lab that will be responsible for creating streaming programming for CNN Max and developing new ways to bring the company’s news to other digital platforms.
CNN.com will also launch its first direct-to-consumer subscription product before the end of the year. Specific details about the new subscription product weren’t revealed, but it will be part of a wider collection of paid offerings CNN has planned, including news, analysis, and lifestyle content.
The memo also addresses how artificial intelligence will potentially factor in to the future of CNN’s expanded digital offerings. “This effort will include a strategic push into AI to determine how best to safely harness this emerging new technology to serve our audiences and deliver our journalistic goals more effectively and responsively.”