Following news that more people in America are likely to keep chicken and poultry birds as pets than there are likely to watch CNN primetime shows, the company has announced “buyouts” to more than 100 workers.
According to Deadline, WarnerMedia parent AT&T is looking to restructure and reduce what was $170 billion in net debt as of the end of 2018 with “ voluntary buyouts being taken by more than 100 seasoned workers at the cable news network.”
CNN spokespeople are adamant that “the exits are purely related to the buyouts and do not involve any layoffs.” While the differences between “layoffs” and “buyouts” can be debated (Breitbart notes that buyouts are simply layoffs with compensation), the fact is over 100 workers will be departing the network that many associate with “Fake News” as a cost-saving measure.
The cutbacks at CNN come after the latest ratings were brutally low for the network, showing CNN's total audience in prime time was well under a million viewers at 767,000. Fox News led all cable channels with a total audience of 2.395 million. MSNBC was in second place overall with 1.66 million total viewers. April ranks as CNN's lowest-rated month among total viewers in nearly four years, since October 2015.