Chris Wallace exits CNN as post-election cost-cutting begins

Veteran journalist Chris Wallace is exiting CNN three years after joining from Fox News.

“Chris Wallace is one of the most respected political journalists in the news business with a unique track record across radio, print, broadcast television, cable television and streaming,” CNN Chairman and Chief Executive Mark Thompson said in a statement Monday. “We want to thank him for the dedication and wisdom he’s brought to all his work at CNN and to wish him the very best for future.”

Wallace, 77, is the first and likely not last big-name TV news talent to leave in the coming months. Major cost-cutting is expected across media organizations following the 2024 presidential election.

Wallace was expected to be a cost-cutting target. He was poached from Fox News in late 2021 at a salary said to be in the range of $8 million a year. His two weekend programs, “Who’s Talking to Chris Wallace?” and “The Chris Wallace Show,” are modest performers in the ratings for the network.

Former CNN President Jeff Zucker originally hired Wallace to work at CNN+, the company’s initial attempt at a streaming service to supplement its cable business. Zucker was fired two weeks after Wallace arrived and the streaming venture was shut down shortly after CNN became part of Warner Bros. Discovery.

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Zucker’s successor Chris Licht moved “Who’s Talking to Chris Wallace?” — where the host did lengthy interviews with celebrities — to the cable network. Wallace added a live Saturday morning discussion show in 2023 and appeared on CNN during special event coverage.

The final episode of “Who’s Talking to Chris Wallace?” will air Friday and his Saturday program is expected to air through the end of the year.

Wallace came to CNN after becoming disenchanted with Fox News, where he spent 18 years and was the highest-profile figure to come to the conservative-leaning channel from one of the broadcast networks. He moderated presidential debates in 2016 and 2020.

Wallace, who moderated “Fox News Sunday,” left the program not long after he expressed his dismay to Fox News management in 2021 over a documentary on the Fox Nation streaming service with former host Tucker Carlson. The program, which never aired on Fox News Channel, pushed the false theory that the insurrection in the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 was instigated by government agents.

The son of the “60 Minutes” correspondent Mike Wallace, the younger Wallace established himself as a correspondent on NBC, where he was a Washington anchor of “Today” and a moderator of “Meet the Press.” Wallace was at ABC News from 1989 to 2003 where was often seen on “Primetime Thursday” and “Nightline.”

The Daily Beast was the first to report that Wallace’s departure. Wallace told the online publication that he plans to stay active in journalism on a streaming platform or as a podcaster.