The head of CNN’s coverage of Washington DC and the US’s turbulent political world has been ‘demoted’ as the network grapples with how to report on Donald Trump’s second White House stint, a report said.
Philip Rucker, a former senior editor at The Washington Post, has replaced senior vice president Adam Levine in leading CNN’s Washington output – reportedly leaving the former chief fuming.
Levine previously oversaw CNN’s sprawling Washington bureau, but has now seen his role shrink to running just the network’s investigative team and a new ‘hub desk’, according to Status’ Friday newsletter from Oliver Darcy.
Rucker will now oversee teams responsible for breaking news, enterprise, the White House, Capitol Hill, Justice, and national security.
Insiders noted Levine appeared ‘caught off guard by the sudden power shift’ and was ‘uncomfortable’ as executive editor Virginia Moseley announced the changes at a Thursday night meeting.
‘There’s no question: He was demoted,’ a CNN staffer said.
The changes come as CNN attempts to alter its coverage of Trump’s presidency, with former executive editor of politics Allison Hoffman also reportedly leaving the company ‘quietly.’
CNN is far from the only major broadcaster to face major changes, with several newsrooms facing layoffs including at ABC News, where entire teams were recently ‘gutted’ in a firing spree.
The changes at CNN are reportedly fueled by CEO Mark Thompson’s long-term plans to evolve the company’s entire structure.
Thompson, who joined CNN less than two years ago, reportedly has plans to turn CNN into a subscription-based news model.
But with the model reliant on readers wanting to pay for articles, Thompson has been left unhappy with how Levine was running his Washington bureau.
‘Mark was not impressed with what Adam was doing with the bureau,’ an insider told Darcy’s Status newsletter.
‘The political coverage, he felt, lacked the ambition, distinctiveness, and editorial sharpness required to anchor a successful subscription product,’ he wrote.
Levine was poached from the Washington Post as the rival paper underwent a similar upheaval from owner Jeff Bezos, and CNN’s Washington newsroom was reportedly excited to have the veteran executive join.
As Levine takes over running the majority of CNN’s Washington output, Vice President David Chalian will also oversee the operations side of editorial, polling and election analytics for the company.
The major shakeup comes at a turbulent time for the news industry, with a number of major outlets facing layoffs while star broadcasters face the chopping block.
Jim Acosta, a former star reporter at CNN, left the company six weeks ago amid fallout of its election coverage, and he has since started his own Substack.
And while CNN faces cuts, Acosta’s move has reportedly been a success as he has amassed 282,000 subscribers, more than 10,000 of whom have paid access, which is on pace to earn him well over $1 million.
This may already be more than his CNN salary, which was never publicly available but believed to be between $700,000 and $2 million.
Many of the highest paid stars at other networks are sweating as big names continue to fall, with a high-paid executive telling DailyMail.com this month that top talents are feeling the heat.
Ratings are falling across the board and there have been repeated rounds of layoffs, described by some as a ‘five-alarm fire’.
A parade major figures like NBC News’ Lester Holt and CBS’ Norah O’Donnell suddenly stepping away from their highly prized jobs has only added fuel to the fire, while Hoda Kotb left the Today show on NBC after 17 years.
‘There is uncertainty everywhere in the industry,’ said the executive, speaking on condition of anonymity.
‘With anchor and programming changes, there are real worries at NBC News and CBS in particular.’
