Photo: FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP via Getty Images
Christiane Amanpour is leaving CNN. Over more than four decades at the network, she worked her way up from news-desk assistant to one of the most recognizable faces of the network. Amanpour, who currently hosts an eponymous show for CNN International, will be slowly phasing out of the network until her formal exit in June 2027. Coincidentally (or not), her departure comes just as CNN has become part of the Ellison family’s media empire.
“After many months of thought and a few sleepless nights, I have decided to separate from CNN, my partner of 43 fantastic years!” Amanpour shared in a statement, adding that she “looks forward to interesting new projects down the line, and will always be rooting for CNN and maintaining its history of independent journalism. Remember: always be truthful, not neutral.”
In a memo to staff, CNN chairman Mark Thompson said that he and Amanpour had been discussing her exit “for some months.” “Like so many CNNers who will hear the news today, I’m very sorry to see her go, but I’ve come to accept that this is the right time for her, both personally and professionally,” Thompson wrote. He later thanked Amanpour for “43 extraordinary years of remarkable journalism, loyalty and friendship.”
Amanpour did not share the exact reason for her departure, but her announcement arrives just a few weeks after David Ellison’s Skydance acquired Warner Bros. Discovery, putting CNN under the purview of the man who gave Bari Weiss her CBS News gig.
Back in May, Amanpour expressed anxieties about Ellison taking over CNN while at a journalism summit in London. “Clearly I’m concerned, and I’m not sure how much I’m allowed to say about a corporate thing that’s underway, but I am obviously, as a person [and] as a journalist with a record, concerned,” Amanpour said. “And I’m concerned based on what’s happened to the other things that he’s taken over already, like CBS News, right? I mean do I have to list what’s happening there?”
Somewhere, Rory Gilmore is lighting a candle in mourning.
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