CNN has eliminated its nine-member Atlanta-based ‘ticker team’ that provided real-time ticker updates which scroll on the bottom of the cable network screen.
Their last day was Friday as part of a series of cuts announced a month ago that would reduce staff by 100 or just under 3% of CNN’s worldwide staff. CNN has been shrinking its Atlanta footprint for several years and now has fewer than 1,000 employees working out of its Midtown studios.
According to CNN chief Mark Thompson’s memo to staff about layoffs last month, the company is “using technology to reduce expense” such as “streamlining the way we produce the news ticker that appears on the bottom of the CNN screen.”
The team ― five producers, two writers, a senior producer and managing editor ― was created in 2013 by then CNN boss Jeff Zucker. At the time, Zucker wrote a memo to staff explaining that the ticker would be curated by actual humans and provide accurate, up-to-date stories and allow CNN to offer up more stories.
Members of the team wrote tight story summaries with context for on-air, audio and digital consumption. They included not only top stories of the day but also stories that wouldn’t otherwise get discussed by the anchors.
Instead, CNN is now using more automated ways to glean summaries of stories from existing digital sources. It’s also placing more responsibility on each show’s producers to ensure the ticker remains up to date and accurate.
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