Host Brian Stelter is leaving CNN after the network canceled his Sunday talk show “Reliable Sources,” NPR reports.
New CNN chief Chris Licht told Stelter that the network will sunset Reliable Sources, its longest-running show.
The show has been on the air for more than 30 years, with Stelter hosting it for the past nine years.
The cancelation comes amid a spate of cost-cutting moves at the cash-strapped network, which earlier this year shut down its CNN+ platform despite investing hundreds of millions and luring hosts like Chris Wallace and Audie Cornish with big contracts.
Stelter departing:
Stelter told NPR that he will leave the network.
Stelter told the outlet that he’s grateful for the show and his team’s examination of the “media, truth and the stories that shape our world.”
"It was a rare privilege to lead a weekly show focused on the press at a time when it has never been more consequential," Stelter said, adding that Sunday’s show will be the final episode.
The Reliable Sources newsletter penned by Stelter will be taken over by Oliver Darcy, who also covers the media for CNN.
Why now?:
Media observers have speculated that the firing may be linked to tensions within Time Warner, which owns the network, over CNN’s increasingly liberal slant.
Powerful investors have urged a more centrist approach and Licht vowed after signing on that he would focus on reducing the partisanship at the network.
But ultimately the network is facing a massive cash crunch after sinking millions into the CNN+ cash fire.
