CNN is reportedly set to deploy a series of cost-cutting measures, while simultaneously trimming the pay of network employees.
According to Status, employees will need to submit receipts along with their expense reports, beginning July 1, for things like meetings with sources and travel.
The outlet also reported that the network’s anchors and correspondents are facing salary cuts as competitors match and surpass their ratings at a fraction of the cost.
The change comes as more than half a dozen CNN staffers told the outlet that anxiety is running high at the network, which made headlines last week when it was announced that it will be spun off of Warner Bros. Discovery to an entirely different company.
CNN’s new parent company, Global Networks, will be led by Warner Bros. Discovery CFO Gunnar Wiedenfels, who has a reputation as an aggressive cost-cutter.
Employees who survived the cuts made by Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav predicted more uncertainty in the days to come.
“Everyone is wary and tired and there is so much change that we don’t understand what direction the company is going in,” one CNN employee told Status.
The “rank and file are nervous like the pre-cuts time” and have “no confidence and no trust” in leadership, another said.
“There are people who think CNN won’t exist at some point,” a third staffer said. “Hard to believe that will happen, but there are people who feel that way.”
Meanwhile, Wiedenfels sounded optimistic about the network’s future in a recent staff memo, calling himself a “deep admirer of CNN” and vowing that the network would “continue to operate with full editorial independence.”
According to Status, the email’s subject line, “Excitement for the Future,” did little to boost morale.
Adding to the unease, two senior CNN executives are reportedly leaving the network ahead of the anticipated upheaval.
Laura Bernardini, vice president of domestic news, and Jacque Smith, vice president for digital video, are both leaving the company after 28 years and 17 years, respectively.
There’s speculation that star CNN anchor Anderson Cooper could also be on his way out the door after reports emerged that he has hired a top Hollywood agent to represent him. Cooper’s $18 million-a-year salary was first reported last week.
CNN, HGTV, TBS, TNT and the Food Network are reportedly among the struggling cable channels that are set to be spun off to Global Networks.
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