CNN quietly disbanded its “race and equity” reporting team this week as part of a major restructuring that included the layoffs of 100 staff members, according to reports.
The unit was created by former CNN president Jeff Zucker in the wake of the 2020 police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis and was made up of three reporters.
One of the reporters was fired and the other two were transferred to other departments. According to a newsletter written by black journalist Phil Lewis.
A network spokesperson initially insisted that the race and equity team had not been disbanded, but later confirmed to Lewis that the team would no longer exist as a mission-oriented unit.
“In effect, the team is no longer a team,” the spokesman said.
“They are assigned to different areas, [their] Perspectives and work are being incorporated into all our types of programming. It’s not in units as it was before. [race and equality] Their focus is still there.”
The Washington Post has reached out to CNN for comment.
CNN’s new head, Mark Thompson, announced Wednesday that the news outlet would cut about 100 jobs, or about 3% of its workforce.
Among the prominent journalists fired were media critic Brian Lawley and senior technology writer Samantha Murphy Kelly.
As part of the restructuring, CNN will also roll out its first subscription product for its CNN.com site.
Thompson said the subscription service will be “want-to-consume” content created by the network’s lifestyle journalists.
CNN created the race and equity section in 2020 amid nationwide unrest and protests over the death of Floyd in police custody in Minneapolis.
“The recent conversations in our newsroom have been fruitful and constructive. We value them, and we have listened and will continue to listen,” Zucker wrote in the 2020 memo.
“We can and will make structural changes and investments to better report on what’s going on in society, and we are committed to doing just that.”
