After almost 20 years, CNN journalist Jim Acosta announced his departure from the network on Tuesday. Acosta gained notoriety for questioning Trump administration officials in the White House Briefing Room.
At the conclusion of his final show for CNN, which airs at 10 a.m., Mr. Acosta made the announcement. According to two people with knowledge of the talks, he is resigning after arguing with the network about a plan to start his show at midnight, a cable news backwater.
The network is relocating popular CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer and co-anchor Pamela Brown into his time slot.
Although Mr. Acosta’s show has surpassed his MSNBC rival in the important demographic for advertisers, it still ranks third in its time slot in terms of overall viewers, behind both MSNBC and Fox News.
According to the two sources, CNN CEO Mark Thompson told Mr. Acosta this month that the network planned to reschedule him for midnight as part of a lineup overhaul.
Fearing that he was being moved to the graveyard shift as part of a scheme to marginalize reporters who have been critical of President Trump, Mr. Acosta resisted the proposal.
According to the people, Mr. Thompson offered to move Mr. Acosta and assured him that it had nothing to do with Mr. Trump’s inauguration.
He also mentioned that Mr. Acosta’s position would be in prime time on the West Coast. However, they couldn’t agree.
Mr. Acosta stated on Tuesday’s broadcast that his journey to Cuba under the Obama administration, where he questioned Cuban President Raúl Castro about the country’s political prisoners, was the high point of his CNN career.
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