CNN shocker: Paula Reid exiting network amid looming Paramount takeover
CNN shocker: Paula Reid exiting network amid looming Paramount takeover
Joey NolfiWed, July 1, 2026 at 6:30 PM UTC
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Paula Reid exiting CNN amid looming Paramount takeoverCredit: Gail Schulman/CBS via Getty; CNNKey Points -
CNN legal correspondent Paula Reid will leave the news network.
Entertainment Weekly has learned Reid won't renew her contract with the channel.
Paramount is set to take over CNN after it acquires parent company Warner Bros. Discovery.
A looming shakeup at CNN has led to the exit of one of the network's top stars, Entertainment Weekly has learned.
Legal correspondent Paula Reid will not renew her contract with the network and will exit the channel amid Paramount Skydance's looming takeover of CNN parent company Warner Bros. Discovery.
Reid first joined CNN in 2021, after previously working as a White House correspondent for CBS. Reid will reportedly move to CNN rival network MS NOW (formerly MSNBC), though representatives for the channel did not immediately respond to EW's request for confirmation.
EW has also reached out to representatives for CNN for comment on Reid's exit.
CNN legal correspondent Paula ReidCredit: Kristina Bumphrey/Getty
News of Reid's planned exit comes after it was reported that another CNN star, Anderson Cooper, allegedly told colleagues that he didn't want to work for controversial CBS News head Bari Weiss after Paramount Skydance takes over. (A representative for CNN declined to comment on the initial New York Times report.)
Cooper previously walked away from his post on 60 Minutes, the embattled newsmagazine program that has lost numerous staff in recent months due to high-profile firings under Weiss' leadership.
“We have to acknowledge that 60 Minutes needed a bit of a facelift, and there were potentially positive ways to improve the program, but it’s the way they have gone about it," an anonymous ex-60 Minutes staffer told Variety in a new report outlining the CBS News controversy. "You don’t give a facelift with a f---ing machete."
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Steve Kroft, a 30-year on-camera veteran who left 60 Minutes in 2019, added that he has "a feeling that Bari will not be overseeing 60 Minutes for very much longer. I think once the deal gets done with Warner Bros., people will demand that she be let go or move into another position,” finishing by expressing, “Everything she’s touched has turned to s---. Everything she’s touched has gone colossally wrong. And I don’t think she’s showed any talent for this position. She’s only fulfilling other people’s agendas." (Representatives for CBS did not provide comment when EW reached out.)
Paramount Skydance also told EW in a recent statement that there are no current pledges to make CNN — often seen as a left-leaning news organization — go softer on coverage of President Donald Trump.
"No commitments from either David or Larry Ellison have been made to any government body, State AG or federal agency regarding the future of CNN or any other news property, other than the goal to deliver truth-based journalism," a spokesman for the company said.
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Elsewhere, Reid recently opened up about the birth of her second baby in 2025, telling EW's sister publication, PEOPLE, that she was "rushed out the door back to the hospital" days after she returned home, as she was diagnosed with postpartum preeclampsia.
"You hear a lot about the risks associated with being pregnant after 40, but you never think you will experience them," Reid added. "Thankfully, our baby is doing great."
on Entertainment Weekly
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
