CNN Cuts Jobs and Shuffles TV Lineup as It Enters New Trump Era

Give people news when and where they want it.

That, says Mark Thompson, CNN’s chief executive, was one of the brilliant insights Ted Turner had when he started the network at the dawn of cable TV. And if CNN doesn’t follow that advice for the digital age, Mr. Thompson says, the company may no longer exist.

“This is a moment where the digital story feels like an existential question,” Mr. Thompson said in an interview. “If we do not follow the audiences to the new platforms with real conviction and scale, our future prospects will not be good.”

Mr. Thompson has been spreading this message inside CNN during his first 15 months in the job. But now, he is taking the biggest steps yet to overhaul the company, steering it away from its reliance on traditional television and attempting to cash in on digital audiences wherever they are, as the same time that President Trump has sent the news cycle into hyperdrive.

On Thursday, the company announced that it would eliminate about 200 jobs focused on CNN’s traditional TV operations, and add about the same number for new digital roles like data scientists and product engineers. CNN is aiming to hire 100 of those people in the first half of the year, Mr. Thompson said.

CNN also previewed a new streaming service, similar to its TV product, that it will charge for. Mr. Thompson said that CNN would also release a new subscription product this year around “lifestyle” content — examples include food and fitness — though he didn’t specify what the product would be. The digital efforts, Mr. Thompson said, were financed by a $70 million investment for this year from CNN’s parent company, Warner Bros. Discovery.

Mr. Thompson also announced a slew of changes to CNN’s TV schedule, replacing Jim Acosta’s 10 a.m. show with “The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer and Pamela Brown,” and introducing a new morning show anchored by Audie Cornish. The network is in talks with Mr. Acosta about another role.