CNN correspondent Paula Reid is reportedly exiting the struggling cable network for a new role at MS NOW amid mounting unease over the looming Paramount-Skydance takeover and the direction of CNNs future leadership.
According to Fox News, Reid declined to renew her contract with CNN, a decision first detailed in a report from Variety that underscored the growing sense of instability inside the network. "Reid turned down a chance to renew her current contract at CNN, according to two people familiar with the situation, in part because CNNs next era appears chaotic," Variety reported.
The outlet indicated that Reids move was driven in part by concerns over Paramount CEO David Ellisons expected control of CNN and the possibility that CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss could be installed to run the network. "Paramount has made some indications that it sees Bari Weiss, the editor in chief of CBS News who has generated several public controversies, as the next steward of CNN," Variety reported.
Reid, who joined CNN in 2021 after serving as a White House correspondent for CBS News, has not publicly commented on the reported move. Neither MS NOW nor CNN confirmed the departure when contacted by Fox News Digital.
"As a general matter of practice, we dont comment on personnel matters," an MS NOW spokesperson said in a statement. "As everyone in Washington knows, Paula Reid is an exceptional reporter, and any news organization would be fortunate to showcase her journalism." CNN declined to comment.
The reported exit comes as staff anxiety at CNN has intensified, with a Fox News Digital report in February describing the internal mood as "horrific" as parent company Warner Bros. Discovery prepared to sell its assets to Paramount. In that report, one CNN insider warned that on-air talent could bolt ahead of an Ellison-led overhaul if they had the financial means to do so.
A second insider cited "job loss" and "editorial indifference" as the primary fears, stressing that the threat of layoffs "greatly outranks" concerns over content direction. Employees have also fretted about a potential "bloodbath" if CBS News and CNN were to be merged under a single corporate umbrella.
Some of CNNs own high-profile figures have already gone public with their opposition to the deal, signaling a newsroom increasingly at odds with its prospective owners. CNN journalist Kara Swisher vowed in March to leave the network if Ellison took charge, while veteran anchor Christiane Amanpour voiced alarm over what she sees at CBS.
"Im concerned based on whats happened to the other things that hes taken over already, like CBS News, right?" Amanpour said. "I mean, do I have to list whats happening there? I mean, hemorrhaging viewers, probably hemorrhaging money, this ideological realignment of CBS and the destruction, potentially, of 60 Minutes." For conservatives long critical of CNNs partisan tilt and corporate liberalism, the spectacle of internal revolt and talent flight underscores a broader crisis of credibility and leadership in legacy media that no ownership shuffle seems poised to fix.
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