CNN lays off staff in audio department

In brief

CNN is laying off several employees in its audio department, according to a Tweet from now-former CNN Audio employee Alexander McCall.

According to McCall, employees were told the company plans to produce fewer audio series next year.

Some bittersweet personal news: I learned today that my position at @CNN Audio is being eliminated, along with the positions of some of my podcasting colleagues.

Why? I don’t know, exactly. We were told the company plans to produce fewer audio series next year. https://t.co/5SupKeNUTV

— alexander w. mccall (he/him) (@awmccall) September 27, 2022

The move would go against the grain; streaming and podcast advertising spend has increased over the past few years.

The layoffs come amid a broad restructuring at CNN. The news organization’s then parent company, Warner Media, recently merged with Discovery, which has led to redundancies, a debt problem, and the cancellation of fleeting streaming service CNN+.

CNN also cancelled Reliable Sources last month, and has recently changed up its morning and primetime lineups as new boss Chris Licht has signalled he intends to return the service to down-the-middle reportage.