CNN

Amid its worst ratings in over a decade, CNN recently sought to reinvent its primetime strategy. But that gambit to boost viewership looks like it has failed. More than a year after firing its most-watched anchor Chris Cuomo over an ethics scandal involving his disgraced ex-governor brother, the cable-news pioneer has struggled to find a permanent replacement in the 9 p.m. time slot. Last month, the network decided to fill the pivotal hour with town-hall events and specials focusing on hot-button news topics, as well as interviews with prominent politicians and celebrities. Since implementing that formula late last month, however, CNN has yet to see viewers embrace the new direction.

After 30 years at CNN, 25 in special events, and the last 14 as the head of the unit, Kate Lunger is leaving the network in June. As the VP of CNN’s Special Events team, Lunger has been responsible for special event programming and breaking news television production for CNN Worldwide. She has led production planning as well as execution of CNN’s debates, town halls, major primaries and caucuses, party conventions, election night, world summits, deaths of notables, royal weddings coverage, and U.S. presidential overseas trips.

February marked CNN’s lowest-rated month in a decade, with the network’s primetime lineup dropping 42% among viewers 25-54 — the key demographic group valued by advertisers — compared to the same month one year ago. CNN drew an average primetime audience of 122,000 viewers in the key demo, compared to Fox News Channel’s 299,000 viewers (down 33%). MSNBC was third overall with 119,000 viewers (down 15%).

Otto Bell is taking over CNN’s creative unit as senior vice president and chief creative officer. Bell was the founder and chief creative officer of Courageous, CNN’s commercial brand studio, prior to his new role. In his new role, Bell will be responsible for all the on-air and off-channel brand and marketing for all CNN Worldwide businesses, including CNN, CNN International, CNN Digital, and CNN en Español.

Don Lemon returned to CNN This Morning on Wednesday and issued another apology for comments he made about women on the show last week. “I appreciate this opportunity to be back on CNN This Morning today,” Lemon wrote on Twitter shortly before the show. “To my network, my colleagues and our incredible audience — I’m sorry. I’ve heard you. I’m learning from you, and I’m committee to doing better. See you soon.”

Lemon’s assertion that the presidential candidate Nikki Haley was not “in her prime” roiled the network and put a harsh spotlight on its struggling morning show.

Don Lemon, one of the three anchors of CNN This Morning, apologized Thursday afternoon for remarks made on the morning’s broadcast about when women are in their prime, during a segment about comments from new Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley regarding the age of some of her political rivals.

CNN CEO Chris LIcht, looking to boost a low-scoring primetime lineup, is reportedly trying to get NBA Hall of Famer Charles Barkley to do a primetime show on the news network. According to Puck News, Licht is in negotiations to get Barkley to do a news-oriented primetime show. In the show, Barkley would interview newsmakers, journalists and other guests about the topics of the day.

CNN correspondent Frederik Pleitgen and his team were traveling on Thursday to the Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk to report on the search and rescue efforts underway after a residential building was leveled overnight by a Russian missile. It was “supposed to be a fairly easy shoot,” Pleitgen said, given that the crew was not heading to the frontlines of the war. “But it turned bad in an instant,” Pleitgen said, describing what transpired in the blink of an eye as one of the “closest calls” and most dangerous episodes in his lengthy career as a foreign correspondent.

A source familiar with the plan tells The Hollywood Reporter it is anticipated that Chris Russell will join the morning show anchored by Don Lemon, Poppy Harlow and Kaitlan Collins as its new EP. Russell currently works as EP of Leland Vittert’s program at NewsNation, the cable news channel owned by Nexstar.

Chris Licht is out to his pal and old colleague about hosting a primetime interview show that would still allow her to host CBS Mornings. It could be just the sort of narrative-changing move he needs. Will she take it?

Licht is adding Bill Maher on Friday nights, and that may not be the only comic coming to CNN. But newsgathering is still the priority.

The ceremony, which this year honors Adam Sandler, will be held in the Kennedy Center’s 2,465-seat Concert Hall on March 19. CNN will show an edited version of the ceremony one week later at 8 p.m. The cable giant will also stream the broadcast for “pay TV subscribers via CNN.com and CNN OTT and mobile apps, or CNN go where available,” according to a news release from the Kennedy Center.

Just months after the launch of CEO Chris Licht’s rebooted CNN This Morning, its top producer, Eric Hall, is being reassigned.

CNN is considering hiring a comedian to host one of its prime time shows. The “news entertainment” personality could fill the 9 to 11 p.m. hours with a nontraditional version of the news, five people familiar with the planning said. CNN executives have floated names including Bill Maher, Trevor Noah, Arsenio Hall and Jon Stewart, and have looked at other comedic news-focused talk shows for inspiration.

CNN says it will shuffle anchors across its weekday and weekend daytime schedules, grouping them together in new ways the network hopes will attract viewers as it attempts to work its way out of a longtime ratings shortfall. John Berman, Kate Bolduan and Sara Sidner will lead a three-hour mid-morning program from New York that lasts from 9 a.m. to noon, while Brianna Keilar, Boris Sanchez and Jim Sciutto will anchor a three-hour Washington, D.C., broadcast between 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. John King will keep his noontime show Inside Politics on weekdays.

The Warner Bros. Discovery-backed news outlet intends to roll out a new, kinetic on-air format that will take many of its personnel out of the usual position of sitting behind desks and instead aim to generate more energy on camera by having some of the network’s real-time newsgathering on full display. The new presentation will be used during many of the network’s daytime hours, says Chris Licht, CNN’s chairman and CEO, who indicated in an interview that he plans to unveil a significantly revamped daytime schedule around the end of the first quarter and the start of the second quarter this year.

The cable news channel is losing one of its longest-tenured on-air journalists, national correspondent Suzanne Malveaux, who told colleagues Friday that she will leave the cable news channel to spend more time with her family, and to pursue new endeavors, including a project with Nelson Mandela’s great-grandson.

CNN is facing a turning point in 2023, after a bruising year that brought significant change to the network’s corporate structure, editorial leadership and programming. People inside and around the network for much of 2022 have described a feeling of unease, which was punctuated by a round of layoffs rolled out in December by new president Chris Licht.

CNN employees expressed their grief and condolences Monday after the network announced that senior investigative correspondent Drew Griffin died at age 60 after a long battle with cancer.