Longtime CNN correspondent and host Christiane Amanpour responded to CNN's merger into Skydance by announcing she was "separating" from CNN (and by extension, PBS), following through on her commitments that wrap up next June.
She is a natural candidate to walk away now that "good old days" might be waning, and worrying that CNN could turn into CBS under new owner David Ellison. (As if CBS is "MAGA-friendly.")
Variety's report from Brian Steinberg said CBS "has come under intense scrutiny after the installation of a provocative digital enterpreneur, Bari Weiss, as its editor in chief." It's "provocative" to rock the woke boat.
“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 Monday. She added 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.”
On her CNN International show, Christiane Amanpour made her statement on video that she is "separating" from CNN, but rooting for its "independent journalism" with her little motto "Truthful, Not Neutral." https://t.co/wa4g7Y7gP0
— Tim Graham (@TimJGraham) October 19, 2026
Like many leftists, Amanpour defines "independent" as fiercely critical of conservatives and "truthful" as fully devoted to the left wing.
At an event in London in May, Amanpour worried out loud: "I’m concerned based on what’s happened to the other things that he’s taken over already, like CBS News, right?....I mean, do I have to list what’s happening there? I mean, hemorrhaging viewers, probably hemorrhaging money, this ideological realignment of CBS and the destruction, potentially, of 60 Minutes."
To translate, again: 60 Minutes is "destroyed" if it veers away from its formula of trashing conservatives and polishing apples for leftists like Barack Obama.
In a statement, CNN CEO Mark Thompson insisted “Christiane has thought carefully about this decision, and she and I have been discussing it 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.”
This timeline gives not only CNN, but PBS some time to recast her shows. Amanpour & Co. has aired late nights on PBS since 2018, after the show Charlie Rose was ended by the host's sexual harassment scandals. Hiring a show hosted by a snooty British-accented female might seem like counterprogramming, but the overall leftist tone matched the PBS tradition.
“I will end my daily shows across CNN and PBS at the end of this year, while continuing to maintain a weekly show on CNN through May and working on a smooth transition through June,” Amanpour said in her note Monday.
An enthusiastic Obama voter, Amanpour has been demoralized by Trump's reelection, as she puts on Trump-hating academics who claim that Trump is committing "superpower suicide." She's so paranoid about Trump being back in the White House that this is how she described a recent trip to America.
“I have to tell you when I went to Harvard to give this speech, and it was just a few days ago, last week. I must say I was afraid. I’m a foreigner, I don’t have a green card, I’m not an American citizen, I’m fairly prominent, and I literally prepared to go to America as if I was going to North Korea."
