In a statement announcing her departure, which will take full effect next year, Amanpour did not mention the corporate takeover but urged her colleagues at CNN to keep up their work.
“From my very first big exciting assignment covering the First Gulf War, to the horrors of the Bosnian War, Rwanda, Afghanistan, Ukraine and Iran and all the points in between, it’s the teams and the camaraderie that counted so much, as we together battled to seek the facts, the evidence and the humanity, so that CNN could always broadcast the truth about the world and to the world, without fear nor favour,” she said.
“I will be continuing my successful podcast the Ex-Files with Global and look 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.”
Amanpour said that she is ending her daily shows on CNN and PBS at the end of the year and will maintain a weekly show on CNN until June.
In an email to staff obtained by The Washington Post, CNN chairman and editor-in-chief Mark Thompson said he was “very sorry to see her go, but I’ve come to accept that this is the right time for her, both personally and professionally”.
“Christiane has been a household name around the world for decades. Yet she began more than 40 years ago not as one of the biggest stars in CNN’s history, but as a news desk assistant in our Atlanta newsroom. Famously, one of her bosses told her back then that she didn’t have what it took to become a foreign correspondent – or to hold any on-air role at all. Boy, did she prove him wrong!” Thompson wrote.
CNN did not respond to a question about whether Amanpour’s exit was directly linked to the new ownership.
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