Fake news doesn’t pay.
CNN employees are reportedly preparing for a round of layoffs to hit the company, spurred by the commercial failure of the company’s subscription streaming service.
CNN+ has failed to draw interest for subscriptions from a broad audience.
Fox Business reporter Charles Gasparino broke news of the potential layoffs on Wednesday.
Breaking: @CNNplus employees bracing for layoffs possibly as soon as May amid projections of lackluster sales of new streaming channel; CNN employees say new streaming channel could be merged into larger @discoveryplus as early as May unless subscriptions pick up 130 @FoxBusiness
— Charles Gasparino (@CGasparino) March 30, 2022
The reports of layoffs come only two days after CNN+ officially launched.
CNN+ day 2 status report:
CNN+ employees reportedly bracing for layoffs https://t.co/tPkouF5MKg
— Andrew Kerr (@AndrewKerrNC) March 30, 2022
The influence of CNN’s new parent company, Discovery, may have boded poorly on the liberal network’s plans for the streaming service.
Discovery executive John Malone is already nudging CNN personalities who traffic in misinformation and political partisanship out of the door, according to reporting from John Nicosia.
The downfall of disgraced CEO Jeff Zucker could jeopardize the jobs of CNN personalities close to him.
?SOURCE: John Malone, Discovery’s board member will “play a huge role in the new organization’s plans to return @CNN to its news channel roots and dismantle the partisan organization Zucker shifted it into” They continue: “This will mean a large realignment of staff”
— Jon Nicosia (@NewsPolitics) February 23, 2022
Poorly performing anchors, such as Brian Stelter and Don Lemon, could be among the personalities cut loose in plans to reform the network.
At least one partisan host linked to Zucker will be out by the end of spring, according to Nicosia.
SOURCE: This ‘realignment’ will start with @CNN Anchors. One (who was very close with Zucker) and will have a hard time transitioning away from opinion will “be out by the end of Spring” https://t.co/yu1jWeuvPw
— Jon Nicosia (@NewsPolitics) March 8, 2022
Who this host is remains to be seen.
CNN ratings sunk to an embarrassing new low in October, with network personalities continuing to focus on political controversies from the Trump era.
In the meantime, scrutiny of President Joe Biden’s administration and policies is unheard of on the network.
Malone is reportedly eyeing the network’s Ukraine coverage as a model for reform, eschewing political partisanship and dramatic color commentary in favor of hard facts and news.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.