CNN journalist and host Poppy Harlow exits after 16-year run

Poppy Harlow, the journalist who co-hosted CNN’s ill-fated morning program, has decided to leave the news network.

Harlow announced her departure Friday in a note to colleagues. She has been off the air since February, when the Warner Bros. Discovery-owned network scrapped the format of her program, “CNN This Morning”

Harlow, who turns 42 next week, has about 18 months left on her contract but was unable to reach an agreement with management on a new role. Nonetheless, the parting is considered amicable, according to people familiar with the discussions.

“Poppy is a unique talent who combines formidable reporting and interviewing prowess with a human touch that the audiences always responded to,” said CNN Chairman Mark Thompson in a note to staff that was shared with The Times. “She’s been a wonderful colleague at CNN, and we know she will have much success in future endeavors.”

In her note, Harlow told colleagues she is “excited for what is ahead — and I will be rooting for CNN always.”

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Harlow is a 16-year veteran of the network. She was tapped to join Don Lemon and Kaitlan Collins for “CNN This Morning” in 2022. None of the trio had experience in morning television, which has long been challenging territory for CNN.

The show, conceived under the short-lived leadership of former Chairman Chris Licht, was reportedly fraught with on-set tension. The program experienced major turmoil after Lemon remarked on the air that Republican Nikki Haley, who was running for president at the time, was “past her prime” as a woman. The comment caused an uproar among women employees at CNN.

Lemon was eventually fired and Collins was moved into a prime-time anchor role. Harlow continued on the program with CNN Washington-based correspondent Phil Mattingly, who joined in August.

But “CNN This Morning” never gained ratings traction against cable competitors “Morning Joe” on MSNBC and “Fox & Friends” on Fox News. On many days, It was the least watched program on the network.

Thompson, who joined CNN last fall, pulled the plug on the format as a cost-cutting measure.

CNN currently has Kasie Hunt anchoring two hours out of Washington under the “CNN This Morning” name. The network also moved up the start time of “CNN News Central” to 7 a.m. Eastern.

Harlow leaves CNN without another TV opportunity on the horizon. In 2021, when she was a daytime anchor on “CNN Newsroom,” she took a leave from the network to attend Yale University and earn a masters of studies in law.

She had been co-anchor of “CNN Newsroom” with Jim Sciutto from 2017 until her move to “CNN This Morning” in 2022.

“For now, my plan is to walk our children to school and pick them up (hopefully they won’t get sick of me!), and to support the evolution of journalism in every way I can, while preserving the human(ity) in it,” Harlow said in her farewell note.