CNN favorite Clarissa Ward stuns bosses by shunning new multiyear contract
Daily Mail··3 min read
CNN favorite Clarissa Ward stuns bosses by shunning new multiyear deal
Clarissa Ward, CNN's chief international correspondent, reportedly passed on the deal earlier this year after disagreements with execs. She has worked for CNN since 2015.
Contract talks designed to keep CNN's top international reporter on-staff for another few years reportedly collapsed after disagreements between the two parties.
The award-winning journalist instead signed a one-year contract that is set to expire this April, sources told the outlet.
Her hesitance to take the lengthier deal was reportedly stoked by executives' refusal to afford her a podcast.
Ward was under the impression the platform could better 'showcase' her 'personality,' sources said.
The chief international correspondent also had some 'ideas' that would have seen her take an increased role in the company's digital strategy 'dismissed by those executives,' according to the report.
Ward was also said to be 'frustrated' with execs currently overseeing CNN's online editorial outfit.
CNN Chief International Correspondent Clarissa Ward, 46, passed on a plum deal that would have kept her at the network for several years this past spring, according to a new report
Ward has also won Peabody, DuPont and Edward R. Murrow awards for her reporting on Syria’s civil war while at CBS News, which she left for CNN in 2015.
'CNN is, simply put, the most important name in news,' Ward said in a statement at the time. 'No other organization has the same scope and depth and recognition across the world.'
The Tuesday report from Status suggested the star has since become disillusioned.
Sources said she 'faced friction' from some of the CNN executives overseeing her 2025 report on Tice, which 'did not sit well with her.' The nature of the purported pushback was not specified.
The freedoms a podcast would have provided were Ward's solution, according to Status.
After it became clear executives were not 'enthusiastically engaged' by such pitches, Ward went in a different direction.
The one-year deal was reached despite CNN being 'eager to renew her with a new multiyear agreement,' according to Status, which is run by CNN's former media reporter Oliver Darcy.
Sources told the publication that Ward was also turned off by CBS News Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss's recent changes at the network. CNN's parent company, Warner Bros. Discovery, is currently being sold to Paramount, meaning CNN could soon come under Weiss's control.
The network's parent company is currently in the process of being sold to rival media company Paramount. The CNN center is seen here in Atlanta, GeorgiaThe award-winning journalist signed a one-year contract that's set to expire this April after disagreements with higher-ups about the nature of her role and concern about potentially coming under control of CBS News' parent company, Paramount
Other CNN journalists have balked at the prospect of coming under the purview of Paramount’s Trump-friendly CEO, David Ellison, as well, according to reports from The New York Times and Variety released in recent weeks.
CNN's former chief legal affairs correspondent, Paula Reid, declined to renew her contract last month over concerns about the network's future under Ellison and potentially Weiss.
Cooper, 59, has privately told colleagues 'he does not want to work for' the Free Press Founder if the merger goes through, according to a Times report released late last month.
Early Start's Rahel Solomon also announced she was leaving CNN in April, days after Ellison's $111 billion bid for Warner was approved.
Ellison, 43, hired 42-year-old Weiss with a network-wide overhaul in mind back in October.
Ellison has since maintained that CNN's 'editorial independence' will be 'maintained' if and when the merger is approved.
Other CNN journalists have balked at the prospect of coming under the purview of Paramount’s Trump-friendly CEO as well. Anderson Cooper, seen here with Ward and former correspondent Sam Kiley during the US's pullout from Afghanistan, left 60 Minutes this year. He remains at CNN but has reportedly told staffers he does not want to work for Paramount
CNN’s Clarissa Ward gains extraordinary access to the epicenter of a deadly outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where doctors work around the clock and grief, fear and fragile hope collide inside a hospital struggling to contain the virus. 0:00 What CNN found inside an Ebola treatment hospital 1:58 Inside the hospital’s ‘red zone’ 5:53 The toll Ebola takes on doctors Watch more CNN here: https://cnn.it/4kh5RPe #Ebola #Health #News
YouTube • CNN
Paramount's looming takeover likely means cuts on both sides.
CNN declined to comment on the negotiations surrounding Ward's contract.
A number of former CNN journalists have started independent ventures over the years, including Jim Acosta, Don Lemon, and former Chief White House Correspondent Jessica Yellin.
SerpApi.Org
