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Christiane Amanpour to leave CNN after 43 years
CNN's chief international anchor will end her nightly programme in May and depart the network at the end of June, closing a four-decade career that began on the international assignment desk in 1983.
By Eleanor Ellington · 3 min read
Christiane Amanpour, CNN's chief international anchor and one of the network's most decorated journalists, is to leave the broadcaster after 43 years. In a statement issued on Monday, she confirmed that her nightly interview programme, Amanpour, will end in May and that she will depart the network at the end of June.
Amanpour joined CNN in 1983 as an assistant on the international assignment desk, when the channel was still in its infancy. Over the following four decades she became the face of its foreign reporting, covering conflicts and crises across the world and building a reputation as one of the most recognised interviewers in international broadcasting.
Her departure is not thought to be connected to the company's recent acquisition by David Ellison's Skydance Media, which has ushered in a new era of ownership at the network. The timing of her announcement places her exit shortly after the change of control, but there is no indication that the corporate transition prompted the decision.
Alongside her CNN duties, Amanpour hosts a separate programme for PBS, Amanpour and Company, which will also conclude at the end of this year. The two departures together mark the end of a long period in which she has been a fixture of both British and American current affairs broadcasting.
Her career at CNN has spanned reporting from major international flashpoints and a long run as an interviewer of heads of state, ministers and public figures. The nightly programme that carries her name has served as the network's principal vehicle for long-form international conversation, and its closure in May will remove a prominent slot for foreign affairs from the schedule.
The announcement drew attention quickly, with the CNN name among the most searched terms in the UK as audiences sought details of the change. For a British audience accustomed to seeing her across both CNN and PBS, the news closes a chapter in a career that has been closely associated with the network's international identity.
Amanpour's statement did not set out her plans beyond the conclusion of her current commitments. Her departure leaves CNN without its chief international anchor at a moment when the broadcaster is adjusting to new ownership, and it ends one of the longest continuous tenures of any figure in global television news.
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