Over the past couple years, CNN has seemed largely indomitable. Since taking over in 2013, President Jeff Zucker has excelled at original documentary programming, enhanced the brand’s journalistic efforts and moved away from some of the more promiscuous tactics of cable news, like breathless coverage of a marooned cruise ship, writes Vanity Fair. He has also leveraged the daily interest in the Trump White House into the network’s highest revenues and ratings in history. He’s moved into the digital space with start-ups like Beme and Great Big Story and the expansion of verticals like CNN Politics and CNN media. But they seem to be re-thinking some elements of their digital strategy. CNN, a key property in AT&T’s planned takeover of CNN’s parent company, Time Warner, is targeting big savings on the digital side. As many as 50 jobs around the world are scheduled to be cut this week. This cut will affect employees who work in premium businesses such as CNN Money, video, product, tech and social publishing, according to sources who spoke to Vanity Fair. Also, several high profile digital initiatives are being scaled back, and their business-oriented MoneySteams app is also getting cut. A team that works on the digital extensions of documentary-style TV shows is being reorganized.
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