CNN Fires Hack Reporter Chris Cillizza

Chris Cillizza has been announced as one of many big names who will no longer be employed with CNN, Fox News reports.

The cable news network announced on Wednesday that layoffs would be imminent, sending out a memo to all employees outlining his plans for the company.

“Today we will notify a limited number of individuals, largely some of our paid contributors, as part of a recalibrated reporting strategy,” CNN head Chris Licht wrote in his memo, dated November 30, 2022. “Tomorrow, we will notify impacted employees, and tomorrow afternoon I will follow up with more details on these changes.”

“I know these changes affect both our departing colleagues and those who remain and we have resources to support you,” he added. “Lets take care of each other this week.”

As promised, Licht followed up on Thursday with a memo addressed “To my CNN colleagues” dated December 1, 2022, in which he outlines his goals for the company.

“Our goal throughout the strategic review process has been to better align our people, processes and resources with our future priorities, strengthen our ability to deliver on CNN’s core journalistic mission and enable us to innovate in the years ahead. At the highest level, the goal is to direct our resources to best serve and grow audiences for our core news programming and products,” he says.

“To achieve these goals, we will be reducing open job positions, reimagining our workflows and aligning our staffing, investments and focus around three key strategic priorities: programming, newsgathering and digital. All decisions are designed to strengthen the core of our business,” the memo further states.

He goes on to try and explain the various changes being made in different departments, explaining how they “are necessary and will make us stronger and better positioned to place big bets going forward without fear of failure.”

Cillizza, a CNN politics reporter and editor-at-large, often went viral with his political hot takes, capable of eliciting strong reactions from both sides of the political spectrum.

“My time at CNN was an absolute blast,” Cillizza tweeted. “I got to work with smart and dedicated journalists every day. I’m sad it’s at an end but also excited about what the future holds for me. Stay turned!”

Among the other CNN layoff casualties are Robin Meade, the longtime host of HLN’s “Morning Express,” correspondents Alison Kosik, Alex Field, Martin Savidge, and vice president of news in the Northeast, Mary Ann Fox.

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