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Media expert reveals the huge CNN star whose job is at risk...and colleague who's likely safe
Media expert reveals the huge CNN star whose job is at risk...and colleague who's likely safe

Daily Mail​

time14 hours ago

  • Business
  • Daily Mail​

Media expert reveals the huge CNN star whose job is at risk...and colleague who's likely safe

A media insider has named the huge CNN star whose job could now be on the line, as well as who is most likely to be spared as the network barrels toward another brutal round of cost-cutting. Veteran media reporter Dylan Byers sounded the alarm in Puck that Anderson Cooper, the face of CNN for more than two decades and one of its highest-paid anchors could be on the chopping block. Byers, who has covered the network from its Jeff Zucker glory days through its Mark Thompson malaise, says Cooper's massive $18 million annual paycheck will make him a prime target as incoming CNN overseer Gunnar Wiedenfels prepares to transform the network into a lean, cheaper, less-ambitious operation. The slimmed down operation will no longer be able to support million-dollar salaries, extensive international bureaus, or flashy special-event coverage. But there is one bright spot with Byers predicting that anchor Erin Burnett, another big name but with a somewhat lower salary of $3 million, is likely safe for now. Byers' thinking is that CNN will try to keep a few familiar faces on the air while ripping up its business model. 'There will be a transitional period where CNN will hold on to a few bold-faced names through their contracts,' Byers explained. 'My guess is Erin falls into that camp.' The revelations have sent tremors through CNN's embattled ranks, where fears of more layoffs, pay cuts, and even an outright sale are now gripping staff from its New York studios to its Atlanta headquarters. Anderson Cooper , the face of CNN for more than two decades and one of its highest-paid anchors, could soon be forced out as new corporate bosses slash salaries and gut budgets according to Byers 'CNN will begin to look more like HLN: smaller salaries, smaller budgets, less ambitious programming,' Byers revealed in an insightful new analysis. Byers suggests the days of eight-figure paychecks and globe-trotting correspondents are drawing to a dramatic close. Cooper's sudden move to sign with powerhouse agency CAA has only fueled speculation that he is preparing to jump before being pushed, after more than two decades as CNN's star anchor. Byers hinted that Cooper, tired of sagging ratings, growing internal turmoil, and a shrinking audience, may be eyeing a graceful exit rather than wait for Wiedenfels to wield the axe. Inside CNN's embattled halls, the atmosphere is toxic with dread. One staffer described it to Fox News as 'grim,' while others confessed they no longer trust leadership after endless layoffs, deepening revenue declines, and an uncertain future. The brutal shake-up comes as Warner Bros. Discovery finalizes plans to spin off CNN into a new division stuffed with other cable properties including HGTV, TBS, TNT, and the Food Network. Sources inside the network have taken to calling it the 'Sh*t Co.' fearing their days of luxury expense accounts and lavish perks are gone for good. As Wiedenfels, the no-nonsense former CFO, prepares to take the helm of the spin-off, he has already signaled that no one is guaranteed safety. The revelations have sent tremors through CNN's embattled ranks from its New York studios to its Atlanta headquarters CNN's top stars, costly correspondents, and even entire bureaus are all under review as WBD's corporate bosses try to wring profitability from a dying cable ecosystem. 'Anchors raking in millions of dollars per year have targets on their backs,' one insider told Status. In a staff memo titled 'Excitement for the Future,' Wiedenfels promised to preserve CNN's editorial independence while essentially gutting its cost structure and making it clear that major cuts are non-negotiable. 'Anchors raking in millions of dollars per year have targets on their backs,' one insider told Status. 'He killed it,' one longtime staffer said about WBD CEO David Zaslav, who orchestrated the split. 'The last few years under Zas has been a disaster.' Analysts remain deeply skeptical, worried that CNN's streaming efforts, even with a $100 million infusion and some CNN+ veterans returning, are too little, too late. CNN and new boss Gunnar Wiedenfels are set to unleash a flurry of cost-cutting measures while enforcing new rules to curb staffers' lavish spending Byers, for his part, sees no miraculous comeback. 'Sure, CNN remains a powerful global brand,' he wrote, 'but t he decline of its core linear business has accelerated rapidly.' Meanwhile, nervous employees are left clinging to the only certainties they have: ever-tighter expense policies, mandatory receipts for every meal, and the knowledge that their once-mighty brand is under siege. Wiedenfels warned staffers that there was no limit to a possible sale. Any buyer with cash could snap up CNN at any moment, further ratcheting up the chaos. 'People are hoping CNN will be sold,' a staffer told Fox News bluntly, echoing a sense of resignation spreading through the network's offices.

Joy Reid makes humiliating admission about her firing from MSNBC
Joy Reid makes humiliating admission about her firing from MSNBC

Daily Mail​

time6 days ago

  • Entertainment
  • Daily Mail​

Joy Reid makes humiliating admission about her firing from MSNBC

Joy Reid has revealed that the only heads up she got that she was being fired from MSNBC was a news article published days before she was axed. Reid made the startling admission during a Tuesday appearance on The Breakfast Club radio show, where she also talked about how disillusioned she is with the Democratic party. Reid claimed that her shock firing had nothing to do with ratings and speculated her outspoken views on Donald Trump and the situation in Gaza may have played a role. She explained that executives reassured her two weeks before her firing that her numbers were acceptable. 'They were like, "You guys lost less than your competitors, and you're actually doing fine,"' Reid said. 'So ratings were fine. We were doing fine. And you know, the ratings have not gotten better since I left.' Instead, Reid speculated that a February 22 story in Puck News was what sealed the fate of The Reid Out, the show she had been hosting since July 2020. 'We had seen that there was this Puck story that Friday,' she said. 'My executive producer called me and said, "Look, all of our producers are freaking out over this Puck story, so you should see it."' The story, written by Dylan Byers, claimed that Reid's show was, 'vulnerable in light of recent ratings struggles'. 'Then I get a text message early the next morning [on Saturday] saying, "Can you talk at noon?" And I was fired immediately. There was no warning. So, I asked, "Well, what's the issue?"' Reid said. She added that she was told management wanted to, 'make some changes', claiming that was all the specificity she was given at the time. A representative for Puck declined to comment on the outlet's reporting on Reid's firing. Reid went on to say that 'two topics' she frequently talked about on her show made MSNBC higher-ups uncomfortable. One of them was President Donald Trump, she said, largely because he has sued multiple media outlets for negative coverage of him. 'He's literally threatening people to the point where '60 Minutes' is shook, where ABC News is shook. He's verbally threatened Comcast by name, named [Comcast CEO] Brian Roberts by name, and all of these are businesses that if want to do business they need the FCC's approval,' Reid said. MSNBC President Rebecca Kutler has previously said that Reid's coverage of Trump was not a factor in her being fired. The other topic she thought made her toxic to management was her discussing Gaza, a small strip of land that Israel has been bombing since the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023. 'You just can't get away from the fact that talking about Gaza in a way that humanizes Palestinians is not the usual way that cable news operates, or that any news in this country operates for whatever reason, that topic makes people uncomfortable,' Reid said. Reid first addressed what happened a day after her firing on February 24, with a tearful appearance on the Win With Black Women podcast. 'I've been through every emotion... anger, rage, disappointment, hurt... guilt. You know, [ a feeling] that I let my team lose their jobs,' she said at the time. 'But in the end, where I really land... is just gratitude. Just pure gratitude and gratitude. Not just because people would take the time to get on a call like this or to take care of me. But also that my show had value.' Reid broke down as she explained that she's not sorry for having gone, 'hard on so many' progressive issues like Black Lives Matter or immigrant rights on her primetime slot. 'Whether it's talking about any of these issues and, yes, whether it's talking about Gaza and the fact that we as the American people have a right to object, to have a right to object to little babies being bombed,' Reid went on. 'And and where I come down on that is I'm not sorry. I am not sorry that I stood up for those those things because those things are of God.' Reid was fired in a brutal round of cuts at the network which also included anchors Jonathan Capehart, Katie Phang, and Ayman Mohyeldin. She has since launched her own podcast, The Joy Reid Show which debuted on June 9 and places her in direct competition with her former employer. Daily Mail approached MSNBC for comment.

CNN's biggest star makes eye-catching decision that hints at news channel's huge troubles
CNN's biggest star makes eye-catching decision that hints at news channel's huge troubles

Daily Mail​

time17-06-2025

  • Business
  • Daily Mail​

CNN's biggest star makes eye-catching decision that hints at news channel's huge troubles

Anderson Cooper has suddenly switched talent agencies in a sign he may soon be seeking other opportunities. The CNN star had been with United Talent Agency (UTA) for more than a decade before jumping ship to Creative Artists Agency (CAA), sources told Semafor, The Wrap, and Variety this week. It comes as CNN's parent, Warner Bros Discovery, announced plans to split into two separate companies just a few days earlier. The move will see CNN lead one of the new ventures centered around languishing linear TV. Cooper, 58, has been with CNN since 2001 and collects $18million-a-year, a Puck piece published last week pointed out. The same piece saw CNN alum Dylan Byers predict such salaries would be scrubbed, as cable markets wane and the boss of the new firm - former WBD CFO Gunnar Wiedenfels - seems content to commence cost-cutting. Reports surrounding Cooper's representation shakeup came shortly thereafter. Four people familiar with the matter told Variety the switch to CAA is being treated as 'a possible sign' Cooper is 'looking to explore other opportunities'. He will be represented by CAA CEO Bryan Lourd directly, the publications reported. has reached out to CAA for comment. The CNN mainstay previously was with N.S. Bienstock before it was bought out by UTA in 2014. The move saw figures like Robin Roberts, Bill O'Reilly and Cooper move to UTA, which represents on-air talent like MSNBC's Norah O'Donnell and ABC News' David Muir Ryan Seacrest and Cooper's CNN colleague Jake Tapper also call themselves UTA clients. The firm writes on its website that its news division 'sets the standard for journalist representation' in the field. CAA, by contrast, is more rooted in Hollywood. Lourd - one of the most well-known agents in the industry - has represented the likes of Scarlett Johansson, Brad Pitt, and George Clooney. Cooper recently sat down with Clooney to promote the CNN-televised play Good Night and Good Luck. The appointment of WBD's old chief financial officer to oversee the new debt-laden company is also telling, Puck's Byers reported. 'Of course, by the time Gunnar gets around to it, Anderson will likely have determined that he no longer wants to read the day's news to less than a million people every night, either,' he wrote last week. Tapper, 56, remains locked in a 'low-eight-figure multiyear deal', the report further revealed. He is set to stay on the air as a result, said Byers - without offering a timeline. As for Cooper - who for more than 20 years has hosted Anderson Cooper 360 - the case is less cut-and-dry. His last publicly-disclosed contract extension came and went in 2016, when CNN signed him to an unspecified long-term deal that was said to last for as long as five years. Since then, ratings at CNN have fallen to an all-time low, and the economics of TV news has become much more shaky. Under Thompson's two-year tenure, CNN 's ratings have dropped more than 20 percent - now behind even MSNBC. The network, for years, was the top dog in terms of cable news - a distinction is now held by Fox, which in contrast to news-gathering CNN, runs on a relatively inexpensive model fueled by studio programs. CNN also has several foreign bureaus and employs costly correspondents spends large amounts on newsgathering alone - leaving execs to cut costs in other ways. Prior to announcing the split, CEO David Zaslav and Wiedenfels hadmanaged to reduce Warner Bros Discovery's $55billion debt by some $21 billion in that same timeframe. Zaslav and Wiedenfels' cost-cutting campaign has done little to help the conglomerate's share price, however, which is down 7 percent year to date. '[O]nce seem[ing] only slightly ridiculous... Now they seem appalling,' Byers wrote of Cooper and Tapper's 'eight-figure' salaries. In addition to '360', Cooper also hosts New Year's Eve on CNN alongside Bravo host Andy Cohen, and is a senior correspondent for CBS's 60 Minutes. He also guest-hosted the game show 'Jeopardy', and was considered as a potential co-host for Kelly Ripa on ABC's 'Live.'

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