Jim Acosta to Exit CNN to Pursue New Ventures

Jim Acosta, the aggressive CNN correspondent who has gained notice for holding interview subjects to account from perches in the White House press room and on newsroom sets, is poised to leave the Warner Bros. Discovery-backed outlet after a shake-up in its schedule that left him without anchoring duties during daytime hours.

Acosta informed viewers of the decision at the end of his program Tuesday, telling them to “hold power to account” and that “It is never a good time to bow down to a tyrant.” The Status newsletter reported on Monday night that Acosta had made a decision to exit.

“Jim has had a long, distinguished nearly 20-year career at CNN, with a track record of standing up to authority, for the first amendment and for our journalistic freedoms,” the network said in a statement. “We want to thank him for the dedication and commitment he’s brought to his reporting and wish him the very best in the future.”

CNN stood ready to keep Acosta employed, according to people familiar with the situation, but wanted to move him to non-traditional hours: between midnight and 2 a.m., a slot CNN has used in the past to show repeats of its primetime schedule for viewers on the west coast. The show was described as an opportunity to open a new front that would deliver breaking news to viewers in California and overseas, but was also seen as a potential means of taking a veteran correspondent who has not been shy about pressing officials in the Trump administration out of the network’s main rotation.

In a social-media post Tuesday, President Trump called Acosta’s decision “good news” and one of the “worst and most dishonest reporters in journalistic history.”

Acosta is expected to seek out new ventures that he might build himself, according to the person with knowledge of the situation. As part of such a project, Acosta might launch his own digital subscription product, one that could feature his interviews and accountability reporting. In an era when many media owners appear to be looking for ways to placate President Trump, who has shown a predilection for dragging companies such as Paramount Global and Disney into court to answer for reporting by CBS New and ABC News, Acosta could offer subscribers something they might perceive as being less available on traditional outlets.

Acosta recently posted a link to a new Substack-backed outlet via Threads, the Meta social-media platform.

He will seek a new future in an era when many other journalists are testing similar methods. Jennifer Rubin, the veteran Washington Post columnist, recently left that news organization to launch a startup publication, The Contrarian, that has the slogan “Not owned by anybody.” The Post, owned by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, has had to weather the defections of prominent staffers after the outlet has appeared to kowtow to Trump. Rubin is partnering with former White House ethics official Norm Eisen.

Other journalists pursuing such businesses include Mehdi Hasan, the former MSNBC opinion host, who launched Zeteo, and Don Lemon, the former primetime CNN anchor, who hosts an interview show available via digital platforms. Megyn Kelly, the former Fox News and NBC News anchor, has thrived with a video podcast and SiriusXM program. Tucker Carlson, the former Fox News primetime host, has also launched a digital-media venture.

Speaking on his show, Acosta said he considered journalism to be “a public service.”