Amanpour announces CNN departure after 43 years

Journalist Christiane Amanpour, CNN’s chief international anchor who has spent 43 years at the network, said Monday she will leave CNN in June 2027.

“After many months of thought and a few sleepless nights, I have decided to separate from CNN, my partner of 43 fantastic years!” Amanpour said in a statement to her employer, adding that she “looks forward to interesting new projects down the line, and will always be rooting for CNN and maintaining its history of independent journalism. Remember: always be truthful, not neutral.”

Amanpour thanked the network and the teams she has worked with since her “very first big exciting assignment covering the First Gulf War, to the horrors of the Bosnian War, Rwanda, Afghanistan, Ukraine and Iran and all points in between.”

CNN Chair Mark Thompson said he and Amanpour have discussed her decision to depart the outlet “for some months.”

“Like so many CNNers who will hear the news today, I’m very sorry to see her go, but I’ve come to accept that this is the right time for her, both personally and professionally,” Thompson said in a statement shared by CNN’s chief media analyst Brian Stelter on the social platform X.

Thompson called Amanpour “one of the most trusted and beloved journalists anywhere” and said the network will celebrate her career at CNN before she leaves. He thanked her for “43 extraordinary years of remarkable journalism, loyalty and friendship.”

Amanpour has been outspoken in her concern over CNN’s future after Paramount Skydance’s bid to take over Warner Bros. Discovery, the network’s parent company. Paramount Skydance officially closed its multibillion-dollar deal to acquire Warner Bros. earlier this month, renaming the new media empire Skydance.

The CNN reporter said in May that she was “concerned based on what’s happened to the other things that he’s [Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison] taken over already, like CBS News, right? I mean do I have to list what’s happening there?”

“This ideological realignment of CBS and the destruction, potentially, of ’60 Minutes,'” Amanpour continued. “So, clearly, obviously, I’m concerned.”

Amanpour contributed to “60 Minutes” from 1996 to 2005. CNN first hired her to be part of its foreign desk in 1983, later becoming the outlet’s chief international correspondent from 1992 to 2010 and then the host of “Amanpour” beginning in 2009 on CNN International.

She had a short stint at ABC News as the anchor of “This Week” from 2010 to 2011. However, a “unique arrangement” with ABC News allowed her to return to CNN in 2012 while continuing to work as a global affairs anchor at ABC News.

Amanpour has received several awards and honors over her career, including two George Polk Awards for Television Reporting, the Edward R. Murrow Award for Distinguished Achievement in Journalism, and the Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Journalism.