CNN president Jeff Zucker is expected to step down early next year

Vanity Fair

Vanity Fair's Joe Pompeo reports that Zucker, who became CNN president in 2013, is expected to step down early next year after the presidential inauguration with one year left on his contract. "Zucker’s departure would bring the curtain down on an exhilarating eight-year run that not only revived the network but turned CNN into one of the central characters in the Trump saga," says Pompeo. "Zucker and the outgoing president have a long history dating back to their time together at NBC, where Zucker famously greenlit The Apprentice. Zucker and CNN drew criticism for lavishing Trump with outsize attention during his 2016 campaign, but as the chaos of the Trump White House took hold, CNN became one of the administration’s most aggressive chroniclers, putting the network in the crosshairs of the MAGA faithful. Trump was seen as meddling in AT&T’s acquisition of CNN’s parent company, now called WarnerMedia, and while the network gave a platform to various administration loyalists, it also came to be seen as Trumpworld’s Enemy of the People No. 1. At the same time, the Trump news cycle has been a veritable gold rush for CNN, giving the network a huge ratings boost and elevating many of its anchors, correspondents, and contributors to new heights of prominence. During the week of November 3, CNN’s viewership topped the cable and broadcast news networks for election coverage. A lot of that air may begin to leak out of the balloon once the anticipated normalcy of the Biden White House sets in, which would make this a reasonable time for Zucker to take a bow."