{"id":598055,"date":"2026-04-10T14:43:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-10T14:43:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/598055\/"},"modified":"2026-04-10T14:43:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-10T14:43:11","slug":"alex-maccallum-elevated-to-cnns-chief-operating-officer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/598055\/","title":{"rendered":"Alex MacCallum Elevated to CNN’s Chief Operating Officer"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tAlex MacCallum<\/a> returned to CNN<\/a> to oversee an effort to make the storied news outlet more relevant to digital audiences. Now she may be poised to do a lot more.<\/p>\n

\n\tMacCallum, a media-industry veteran who has helped The Washington Post and The New York Times manage their own digital transitions, was named chief operating officer of Warner Bros. Discovery<\/a>\u2018s CNN in a memo issued Thursday by Mark Thompson<\/a>, the news division\u2019s CEO. <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cAlex MacCallum\u00a0is already playing a crucial role in turning our vision of the future CNN into a reality,\u201d Thompson said in a note to staffers, adding: \u201cIn a remarkable two year run back at CNN,\u00a0Alex has\u00a0already achieved an impressive set of critical accomplishments in record time. On top of building a world-class digital operation and transforming our core products, she\u2019s\u00a0led and launched a direct-to-consumer sub business<\/a>,\u00a0assembled a set of outstanding leaders in audience, data, product and tech, engagement and monetization, and has built excellent collaborative working relationships with all of CNN\u2019s other top leaders.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tMacCallum\u2019s new role was previously reported by the media-industry newsletter Status.<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\tThe new assignment appears to put MacCallum over many of her colleagues who specialize in CNN\u2019s more traditional journalism \u2014 the kind that fills the company\u2019s linear cable networks, which continue to generate the bulk of the revenue and operating profit that fuels its finances. But those business flows are in trouble. CNN is expected to finish 2026 with 62 million cable subscribers, according to Kagan, a market-research firm that is part of S&P Global Intelligence, compared with 67.1 million subscribers in 2024. Still, fees from advertising and distribution are seen rising this year, perhaps due in part to the 2026 midterm election, a news cycle that typically draws broader audiences to the network.<\/p>\n

\n\tMacCallum was given no oversight over CNN\u2019s newsgathering. Senior CNN news executives, which include Amy Entelis,<\/a> Virginia Moseley and Eric Sherling, continue to report to Thompson. That trio has helped CNN keep on track despite a succession of management transitions at CNN in recent years. MacCallum\u2019s new duties include overseeing consumer strategy; business operations; strategic partnerships and business development; and special \u201cmission-driven\u201d project work.<\/p>\n

\n\tCNN has had a chief operating officer in the past. In 2023, David Leavy, a longtime lieutenant of Warner CEO David Zaslav, was given the role, and assigned to oversee many of CNN\u2019s business operations<\/a>. He was put in place as Chris Licht, the former CNN chief, met with a series of public challenges as well as staff pushback. Leavy left CNN two years later <\/a>and, soon thereafter, Warner Bros. Discovery.<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\tMacCallum is on her second stint at CNN. During the first, she helped launch CNN+, a subscription streaming hub that was launched with great fanfare, but scuttled quickly after CNN\u2019s parent WarnerMedia, merged with Discovery Communications. Some observers think killing the service was a massive error, as it slowed CNN\u2019s move to cultivate broadband audiences while rivals like NBC News and Fox News moved forward. Now, MacCallum may have the standing to keep critical initiatives in place.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Alex MacCallum returned to CNN to oversee an effort to make the storied news outlet more relevant to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":598056,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[146322,64,63,59449,134,2082,427,6142],"class_list":{"0":"post-598055","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-alex-maccallum","9":"tag-au","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-cnn","12":"tag-entertainment","13":"tag-mark-thompson","14":"tag-tv","15":"tag-warner-bros-discovery"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/598055","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=598055"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/598055\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/598056"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=598055"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=598055"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=598055"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}