CNN morale 'really grim' as network faces uncertain future with corporate split, staffers warn

CNN staffers are bracing for impact as the network faces yet another corporate restructuring by its parent company Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD), fueling an unsettling morale in the newsroom.
"I'd say the mood remains really grim," one CNN staffer told Fox News Digital. "People are uncertain."
Last week, WBD announced that it was splitting into two companies, separating the studios and streaming business from its cable networks, CNN among them. The latter company, tentatively dubbed Global Networks, will be led by WBD CFO Gunnar Wiedenfels. The split is expected to be completed next year.
"We knew this was happening," the CNN staffer said. "And it was required to be able to sell the company. People are hoping CNN will be sold - and as Gunnar said, there is no limit, any sale can be made at any time - to a buyer who will invest in it. That's the bottom line."
While Global Networks will retain a 20% stake in the studio and streaming business, CNN's new parent company will have a heavy burden taking on most of Warner Bros. Discovery's massive debt. And Wiedenfels is expected to tighten the purse strings.
"I think they've telegraphed clearly that more cuts are coming. Gunnar 'efficiency,'" the CNN staffer said. "And we don't have streaming yet so - it's hard to imagine it doesn't get worse [CNN is set to launch a new streaming service this fall]."
"His remit is not to grow stuff. This company is a cash-flow giant with shrinking revenue. Like that's the deal. It's merely a matter of how fast it shrinks. That's why the assets were split," they continued.
CNN has repeatedly been orphaned by corporate parents for years, from Time Warner in the 90s, to AOL in the early 2000s, to AT&T in 2018, leading to its 2022 spinoff of Warner Bros. Discovery led by CEO David Zaslav.
In 2023, Zaslav tapped Mark Thompson, a veteran executive of BBC and The New York Times, to become CNN's CEO. Thompson has been vocal about his efforts to transform the news organization in the digital era in the nearly two years he's been on the job. But newsroom ire, at least for now, is being aimed at the WBD chief.
"Zaslav killed this place. He killed it," a second CNN staffer told Fox News Digital. "The amount of debt the new thing that CNN is part of isn't ideal, but at least it can be a new beginning. The last few years under Zas has been a disaster in terms of what he has done."
Industry critics like Puck correspondent Dylan Byers have predicted doom and gloom for the future of CNN, suggesting it will meet the fate of HLN, which he has noted "no longer exists." However, a third CNN staffer says critics projecting CNN's demise are simply "reading the same tea leafs as everybody else" regarding systemic problems in cable.
"I'm trying to figure out what I'll do next when the whole thing collapses, but I don't even know when that will be," the third CNN staffer told Fox News Digital. "If we go under, I'll get a new job. Maybe making more money, maybe making less money, who cares? At the end of the day, it's just a job, right?"
Despite all the current woes, not all hope is lost within the CNN newsroom.
"I think it is possible for CNN to be invested in and be a relevant, powerful brand," the first staffer said. "To me - and I'm biased - CNN is a brand like Nike. If we throw it away, that is a choice and a management-driven thing, not a macro fait accompli."
A spokesperson for CNN declined to comment. Warner Bros. Discovery did not respond to a request for comment.
CNN's corporate saga comes at a rough patch for the network, which suffered its second-worst month ever in viewership the advertiser-coveted demographic of adults ages 25-54 across both total day and primetime viewers in May and is on pace to have its lowest-rated year ever in the demo.

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