CNN Is Bailing on Morning Talk Show Strategy

CNN is getting out of the morning talk-show business, reports the New York Times. In the first big move by new CEO Mark Thompson, the network will stop trying to compete with Fox and Friends and MSNBC's Morning Joe and return to more of a hard-news format. Details of the changes that take effect later this month:

• CNN This Morning, at least in its current iteration, is kaput. It's not clear yet what happens to hosts Poppy Harlow and Phil Mattingly, but the Times reports they are in talks to remain at CNN in different roles.

• The show currently runs from 6 to 9am. It will instead run from 5 to 7am with anchor Kasie Hunt, whose Early Start show is expanding by an hour and taking on the CNN This Morning title, per USA Today.
• CNN News Central will run from 7 to 10am with anchors John Berman, Kate Bolduan, and Sara Sidner.
• Jim Acosta will host CNN Newsroom from 10 to 11am, followed by The Bulletin with Pamela Brown, from 11am until noon, when Brown returns from maternity leave.

The Los Angeles Times reports that CNN This Morning "has been a troubled project since its debut in December 2022," most notably in the firing of Don Lemon over comments he made on the air about Nikki Haley. (More CNN stories.)