The rapid collapse of CNN+ was the worst possible start to the $43billion merger between its parent company WarnerMedia and Discovery.
But it could also spell doom for the estimated 400 journalists now clamoring for a 100 jobs going at the broadcasting behemoth.
CEO Chris Licht, who does not officially take over until May 2, tried to assure them they will get opportunities to apply for roles at Warner Bros Discovery.
Yet a stream of them have already been posting on social media hinting they are looking for jobs elsewhere or taking redundancy.
Meanwhile speculation is already mounting over what will happen to the titanic figures CNN+ lured on huge contracts to face the app.
Chris Wallace, Sara Sidner, Audie Cornish, Kasie Hunt and Brian Stelter are among the stellar cast to have been left in the lurch.
Wallace is hotly tipped for a new role at the cable news mothership, with his longform interviews proving a hit with the streaming service’s limited viewership.
Sidner also appeared to be a success during her brief time hosting Big Picture and could be an eye-in for another role at the broadcaster.
Cornish was another tipped to be transitioned after the Seasoned former NPR anchor continued to impress at CNN+.
And former MSNBC journalist Kasie Hunt has already signaled she will stick around, tweeting: ‘I am proud to be on team CNN. I will be fine.’
But questions remain over what could happen to Stelter as his Reliable Sources’ show has raised eyebrows among some for its obsession with Fox News.
Chris Wallace: Veteran whose reputation remains in tact
Chris Wallace proved he still had it when he dramatically switched to CNN+ from Fox News earlier this year.
The veteran presenter, 74, was hyped as the streaming service’s biggest scalp and rewarded them with a series of gripping interviews.
He clashed with White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki when the veteran news anchor grilled her over Joe Biden’s lack of sit-down press interviews.
He also got her to open up about some of her most notable moments in the briefing room and discuss her tears over Florida’s ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill.
Chris Wallace proved he still had it when he dramatically switched to CNN+ from Fox News earlier this year
Meanwhile Wallace was at the helm of a heated interview with author of the 1619 Project Nikole Hannah-Jones.
He took her to task when she claimed Americans who fought in the Second World War were guilty of ‘brutally suppressing democracy’ for black Americans.
Wallace asked her: ‘Again, I am in no way minimizing our terrible racial legacy. But in some of these things, aren’t you overstating?’
Hannah-Jones said: ‘If you have half of the country, where it’s in some states majorities, in many other states pluralities, 25 percent of the population, 40 percent of the population cannot vote, have their vote violently suppressed, where they’re a single one-party, one-race rule in a region where about 30 percent of the population is black. Would you consider that democracy?’
Despite his success, it is not clear where the journalist stands now, with him unavailable for comment today and yesterday.
But there is mounting expectation he will be offered a plumb gig at the TV news mothership – potentially filling in the 9pm weeknight slot.
Meanwhile Wallace was at the helm of a heated interview with author of the 1619 Project Nikole Hannah-Jones
He is unlikely to return as a Sunday morning host as fellow heavyweight Jake Tapper has already cemented himself.
And he is even less likely to bag a place back over at Fox News, with former colleagues such as Greg Gutfeld slamming him last night.
He said: ‘The democratic badge is thinner than Chris Wallace’s demo reel from CNN+.’
He went on: ‘BLM has done to black people what Chris Wallace did to CNN+. Entice them with a promise and then ditch them on the side of the road.’
Insider insides also cast doubts on any reunion with his former team, with one telling DailyMail.com: ‘Chris Wallace has total egg on his face.
Leaving his plum gig at FOX News to front the biggest media failure of the century. At least Quibi lasted eight months – CNN+ couldn’t even make it 30 days.
‘If I worked at CNN I’d be p***ed – $300million to launch a streaming service that can’t even make it a month.
‘Chris Wallace interviewing Judy Collins should have been the first signal this was doomed – who was going to watch that?
‘What a waste of $8m, CNN should have left him at FOX. CNN had three years to plan this out – and they couldn’t even last 30 days, what an embarrassment.’
Audie Cornish: NPR hotshot ‘expected to stick with CNN’
Audie Cornish had been due to host a weekly show called 20 Questions with Audie Cornish as well as front podcasts and work on live programming.
She joined CNN and CNN+ in January from NPR, where she worked for its All Things Considered program.
She joined NPR’s National Desk in 2005, reporting from Nashville, covering the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in Louisiana.
Audie Cornish had been due to host a weekly show called 20 Questions with Audie Cornish as well as front podcasts and work on live programming
Cornish later joined the NPR politics team in Washington to cover the 2008 presidential race and Barack Obama’s election.
Her brief spell at CNN+ appears not to have dented her reputation and some are expecting her to be made an offer to stay in the company.
One speculated the channel could make room for her to bring a similar show to All Things Considered to CNN on Sundays.
Cornish does not make her opinion known on social media often, but early Friday she posted a meme of Daniel Craig saying: ‘Ladies and gentlemen, the weekend.’
Kasie Hunt: Political journalist who hinted she ‘will be fine’
Kasie Hunt joined CNN and CNN+ as a political correspondent from MSNBC where she hosted Way Too Early with Kasie Hunt.
The 36-year-old hotshot had earlier spent time cutting her teeth on Capitol Hill for NBC before fronting her own show.
She appeared to hint yesterday at staying at the network, tweeting: ‘I will be fine. It’s not about me right now.’
Pictured: Ken Jautz, Andrew Morse, Kasie Hunt, Chris Wallace, Rex Chapman, Anderson Cooper, Amy Entelis, and Michael Bass at the launch event in New York last month
She said: ‘The journalists I have been privileged to work with on CNN Plus are world class I am so incredibly proud to be able to call them colleagues.
‘If your organization would like a chance to benefit from their talents, my DMs are open. This is *my* job for the foreseeable future.
‘(Some of you are asking about me. I am proud to be on team CNN. I will be fine. It’s not about me right now.)’
She later added: ‘The news is the news is the news is the news no matter how or where it airs or comes from. Loved breaking some today of all days.’
Sara Sidner: CNN correspondent finally given own show
Sara Sidner has been a journalist with CNN for years, having covered wide-ranging topics from the Libyan civil war to the Mumbai terrorist attacks.
She hit the headlines herself last year when she was confronted by a Minnesota demonstrator who accused her of ‘twisting up the story’.
She and a camera crew had been covering a crowd that gathered to protest the killing of black man Daunte Wright by a white police officer.
Sidner joined the team at CNN+ earlier this year to anchor a show called Big Picture, taking a deeper dive into the big story of the day.
Sara Sidner (right, at the CNN+ launch party last month) has been a journalist with CNN for years, having covered wide-ranging topics from the Libyan civil war to the Mumbai terrorist attacks
Viewers appeared to welcome her first major solo gig and reviews praised the Florida-raised reporter.
It is not clear how she could fit into the structure at CNN at her current level, but some suggested she could host a weekly newsmagazine.
She tweeted yesterday afternoon: ‘It’s over. It’s been the shortest most amazing ride #CNNPlus team.’
Brian Stelter: CNN’s media ‘analyst’ obsessed with Fox
Brian Stelter’s future at CNN remains uncertain, with the Reliable Sources host proving controversial among viewers and colleagues.
He found himself in hot water earlier this year when DailyMail.com spoke to insiders calling on him to be fired.
They slammed him for failing to report the ‘open secret’ affair between top boss Jeff Zucker and staffer Allison Gollust.
‘The network needs to step up and fire Brian Stelter,’ a CNN insider told DailyMail.com in January.
‘He is allegedly our top media reporter – yet he failed to report on the scoop that everyone in the office knew.
‘And if he wants to say he didn’t know, he is truly terrible at his job.’ Stelter is the chief media correspondent for CNN and host of the CNN program Reliable Sources.
Rex Chapman and Brian Stelter are pictured at the CNN+ Launch Event at PEAK NYC Hudson Yards last month
A cable news veteran, who wishes not to be named, spoke of the close relationship between Stelter and Zucker.
‘Brian Stelter should be calling his agent to start looking for another job,’ they said.
‘He’s been Jeff Zucker’s water boy for years and no one believes he didn’t know about all of this.’
The source added that Stelter often criticizes competing networks, like Fox News.
‘He’s been sitting on his moral high horse doing Jeff’s bidding and ripping Fox and every other media outlet that Jeff tells him to while his ratings crash and burn.
‘Where was he on the biggest story at his own network after chastising everyone else?’
Stelter published CNN’s own report on the CNN+ catastrophe yesterday under the headline: ‘Clashing strategies doomed CNN+ amid corporate merger.’
He wrote: ‘Few really anticipated that the entire service would be shuttered less than a month after it had debuted.’
It is unclear whether he will stay or leave the station, but he shared a thread by a colleague showing jobs in journalism last night.
‘Biggest flop in US broadcasting history’: CNN+’s talent and fallen hopes of $3m streaming service:
Chris Wallace: Veteran Fox News anchor who was ‘ready for a new adventure’
Veteran Fox News anchor Chris Wallace said he had left the network after 18 years because he was ‘ready for a new adventure’.
He said in a statement he was ‘thrilled’ to be joining the longtime Fox competitor.
He said: ‘I am thrilled to join CNN+. After decades in broadcast and cable news, I am excited to explore the world of streaming.
‘I look forward to the new freedom and flexibility streaming affords in interviewing major figures across the news landscape—and finding new ways to tell stories.
‘As I embark on this adventure, I am honored and delighted to join Jeff Zucker and his great team. I can’t wait to get started.’
Since joining CNN+ – and in the three weeks it lasted – he produced some of the few stand out moments.
He clashed with White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki when the veteran news anchor grilled her over Joe Biden’s lack of sit-down press interviews.
She also opened up about some of her most notable moments in the briefing room and discussed her tears over Florida’s ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill.
He also had a heated exchange with author of the 1619 Project Nikole Hannah-Jones, where she claimed Americans who fought in the Second World War were guilty of ‘brutally suppressing democracy’ for black Americans.
CNN+ host Chris Wallace has debated 1619 Project author Nikole Hannah-Jones over her assertion that the Greatest Generation were brutal oppressors
Eva Longoria: The actress turned travel journalist who was ‘so excited’ to go Searching For Mexico
Eva Longoria said she was ‘so excited’ to start at CNN+ before she was left in the lurch by the company when it shut down.
She was set to celebrate her heritage by executive producing and starring in six-episodes of Searching for Mexico.
The 47-year-old actress – who boasts 22.4M social media followers – said in December: ‘Secret’s out!
‘So excited for this to launch next year! Big thank you to Stanley Tucci for setting the bar.’
She was referring to Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy starring the 61-year-old Oscar nominee, who’s also executive producing Searching for Mexico.
‘Partnering with CNN on a culinary-driven expedition throughout Mexico is a dream come true,’ Longoria said in a statement.
‘I am so proud of my Mexican-American roots and can’t wait to bring the hidden gems of Mexico to the world through Searching for Mexico.’
On the show, the Casa Del Sol co-founder looked at how blue agave is harvested for tequila and how traditional mole sauce is cooked in Oaxaca.
The 46-year-old actress tweeted: ‘Secret’s out! So excited for this to launch next year! Big thank you to Stanley Tucci for setting the bar’
Audie Cornish: Seasoned NPR anchor who was just ‘thrilled to be a part of it’
Audie Cornish joined CNN and CNN+ in January from NPR, where she worked for its All Things Considered program.
She joined NPR’s National Desk in 2005, reporting from Nashville, covering the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in Louisiana.
Cornish later joined the NPR politics team in Washington to cover the 2008 presidential race and Barack Obama’s election.
She said in January: ‘I am very excited to join CNN and the CNN+ team. There are fresh stories to be told and new ways to tell them.
‘CNN has a dynamic system of reporters and storytelling channels. I am thrilled to be a part of it.’
It was not immediately clear what her position at the firm was after CNN+ was shut down.
Alison Roman: Ex-New York Times food writer who had VERY public spat with Chrissy Teigen and joined new CNN venture
Food writer Alison Roman joined CNN+ to work on cookery programs and was seen as a ‘a perfect addition’ to the line-up.
Executives had invested in food-related shows to try to draw a younger audience.
Roman said at the time: ‘I could not be more thrilled to be partnering with CNN Plus on this project.
‘I’ve been dreaming about bringing a new sort of cooking and food show to life for years and I can’t think of any place better to make it a reality.’
Food writer Alison Roman joined CNN+ to work on cookery programs and was seen as a ‘a perfect addition’ to the line-up
Amy Entelis, CNN Worldwide’s executive vice president for talent, added: ‘Alison’s unique style and tone make her a perfect addition to our CNN Plus line-up.
‘From vinegar chicken to shallot pasta – we are thrilled that Alison will share the stories behind her signature recipes with the subscribers of CNN Plus.’
Roman was food writer at the New York Times but left in December 2020 after her huge spat with Chrissy Teigen.
In May of that year she apolgized to the model for saying she was ‘horrified’ by her food-based ‘content farm’.
After Teigen took to Twitter to defend her Cravings brand, Roman tried to backtrack.
She said: ‘I shouldn’t have used you /your business (or Marie’s!) as an example to show what I wanted for my own career- it was flippant, careless and I’m so sorry.’
She added: ‘I sent an email but also wanted to say here that I’m genuinely sorry I caused you pain with what I said.’
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