CNN anchor Brooke Baldwin announces departure from network

Bret Gibson
Tuesday, Feb. 16, 2021 10:02 p.m. | Tuesday, Feb. 16, 2021 10:02 p.m.

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AP

CNN news anchor Brooke Baldwin at the 11th annual CNN Heroes: An All-Star Tribute at the American Museum of Natural History in New York.

News anchor Brooke Baldwin is saying see you later to CNN.

Baldwin, the face of afternoon reporting on the network, announced her decision to leave after 13 years on Tuesday.

She told viewers on her show, “CNN Newsroom” she’s leaving in April to focus on “amplifying the lives of extraordinary Americans and putting my passion for storytelling to good use.

1. I want to start with some personal news❤️ ? I will be leaving @CNN in April. I came to this network as a freelancer in 2008. I scribbled my name on a post it and stuck it outside a temporary office determined to fulfill my dream of becoming a full-time correspondent at CNN. pic.twitter.com/v4zeG5XMQX

— Brooke Baldwin (@BrookeBaldwin) February 16, 2021

“There is just more that I need to do, more that I need to do outside of this place, outside the walls of this place, a place I have been privileged to call home now for 13 years,” Baldwin added. “And yep, we are still in a pandemic. And no, I don’t have a job I’m jumping right into. And yes, I’m feeling very, very vulnerable.”

The Peabody Award finalist and News Emmy nominee has a new book, “Huddle,” set to debut in early April. It focuses on how women come together to solve problems or enact meaningful change.

The Atlanta native began her career in 2001 at WVIR-TV in Charlottesville, Va., and then became the morning anchor at WOWK-TV in the Huntington and Charleston, W.Va., market. She later joined WTTG in Washington, D.C. as lead reporter for the 10 p.m. newscast.

Here’s to one of the best in the business! Good luck @BrookeBaldwin and thanks for laughing at my dad jokes. pic.twitter.com/qQfxRJJX06

— Jim Acosta (@Acosta) February 16, 2021

Scoop

Multiple sources familiar with the negotiations tell me that @AnaCabrera and @VictorBlackwell are set to take over Brooke Baldwin's slot at CNN with their own programs.

— Yashar Ali ? (@yashar) February 16, 2021

So…Brooke Baldwin just spent several minutes on CNN getting to do what few TV news people are allowed – delivering a lengthy goodbye, saying she's leaving the newschannel in April, with no new job lined up. Then went on to anchor her regular show. Wild. pic.twitter.com/SZvSsLmvNs

— Eric Deggans at NPR (@Deggans) February 16, 2021