CNN has laid off Chris Cillizza and a number of reporters and also ended all live programming on CNN Headline News.
CNN’s mass layoffs have claimed one cornerstone of its Washington coverage: Political analyst CHRIS CILLIZZA is among those who have been laid off from the network this week. People familiar with the decision confirmed the move, first reported by Variety, with Eugene and Chris Cadelago.
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No word yet on precisely how many members of staff were laid off this morning. Variety reports others affected include correspondents ALEX FIELD, MARY ANN FOX, ALISON KOSIK and MARTIN SAVIDGE.
Puck’s Dylan Byers reports that as a part of the cost cuts, HLN — the sister network formerly known as CNN Headline News — will “cease all live programming.”
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Cillizza has been the king of DC conventional wisdom and white guy bad takes for decades. Cillizza has managed to fail upward so often that his last name became shorthand on social media for a bad take. Cillizza will likely end up back at The Washington Post or some other big corporate outlet that finds itself in dire need of more hot conventional wisdom takes and bad punditry.
The more damaging aspect of the CNN move is the cutting of reporters. Even during its ratings struggles, CNN has maintained a better presence around the world for reporting breaking news than Fox News and MSNBC.
CNN was still the best in cable news at reporting breaking news, but these layoffs could impact the one thing that the network has always done well.
The basic shuttering of Headline News is a bit surprising, but in the digital age when everyone can get news on their devices on demand, the premise of the network feels a little outdated. Headline News had been moving more into true crime territory, so the network had been trying to adapt, but it likely wasn’t enough for the new ownership.
CNN is going to look vastly different, and it is unknown right now whether that will be a good thing when Americans are looking for sources of truth in their news.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
