CNN is cutting hundreds of TV jobs amid digital pivot

• CNN will cut about 200 roles focused on its TV operations.
• The news organization will also hire about the same number in digital-focused positions.
• CEO Mark Thompson said last year he wanted to "future-proof" CNN.

CNN, the cable news giant owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, will cut about 200 TV-focused roles as part of a digital pivot.

The company will also hire about the same number of staff in digital-focused roles, and aims to fill the first 100 in the coming months.

The New York Times first reported the moves in an interview with Mark Thompson, the CEO of CNN.

He said: "If we do not follow the audiences to the new platforms with real conviction and scale, our future prospects will not be good."

CNN also plans to introduce a TV-style version of CNN accessible on any device both in the US and elsewhere.

The moves come about three months after CNN brought in a paywall, charging some of its most loyal readers $3.99 a month for digital content access.

At the time, Alex MacCallum, CNN's executive vice president of digital products and services, said the "small recurring fee" was part of a long-term strategy to "invest in ways to better meet our users' needs and expand our aperture to engage and serve new audiences."

Thompson, a former CEO of The New York Times Company and director-general of the BBC, took over at CNN in 2023.

He cut about 100 jobs in July 2024 as part of a drive to to "future-proof" the company against cable news's terminal decline.

CNN did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.