Christiane Amanpour to leave CNN after 43 years
Christiane Amanpour, CNN's chief international anchor, is leaving the network after 43 years. Her daily CNN and PBS shows will end this year, her CNN International programme will run weekly until May, and she will depart in June 2027, while continuing her podcast and pursuing new projects.
Christiane Amanpour, CNN's chief international anchor and one of the most recognisable figures in television journalism, is leaving the cable network after 43 years, The Washington Post reported on Monday. Amanpour, 68, confirmed in a statement that she will end her daily shows on CNN and PBS at the end of this year; AP and NBC News, citing CNN chairman Mark Thompson's note to staff, report that her CNN International programme will move to a weekly slot at the start of 2027, conclude in May, and that she will leave the network at the end of June 2027. She said she will keep making her podcast, The Ex Files, and looks forward to new projects.
Amanpour began at CNN in 1983 as a news-desk assistant in Atlanta and rose to become the network's defining foreign correspondent, reporting from the first Gulf War, Bosnia, Rwanda, Afghanistan, Ukraine and Iran, among many other assignments. "From my very first big exciting assignment covering the First Gulf War, to the horrors of the Bosnian War, Rwanda, Afghanistan, Ukraine and Iran and all the points in between, it's the teams and the camaraderie that counted so much," she said, urging colleagues to "always be truthful, not neutral". Thompson told staff the two had discussed the decision for months and that, while he was very sorry to see her go, he had come to accept this was the right time for her personally and professionally.
Her departure was announced only weeks after David Ellison's Skydance completed its takeover of CNN's parent, Warner Bros. Discovery. In a May speech at a London journalism summit, Amanpour had said she was concerned about the takeover and pointed to what she called an "ideological realignment" at CBS News under Ellison, warning about the possible destruction of "60 Minutes" — remarks also reported at the time by The Guardian and The Hill. In her departure statement she did not mention the takeover, and CNN did not answer the Post's question about whether her exit was directly linked to the new ownership, so no causal link has been established. Source: The Washington Post (with AP, NBC News)