Brooke Baldwin Leaving CNN, Ending 13-Year Run in April

CNN news anchor Brooke Baldwin is leaving the network after 13 years, she announced. Baldwin climbed the ranks of the news outlet, coming in as a freelancer in 2008 before making herself a household name after earning her afternoon slot with the show CNN Newsroom with Brooke Baldwin. “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,” she began in her announcement.

“For a decade, I’ve never taken for granted the enormous responsibility and privilege I’ve had to work with some of the most talented producers and photojournalists out there as we covered our era’s most urgent and important stories,” the anchor continued. “Conflicts, terrorism, environmental and natural disasters, the wrath of gun violence, human interest stories and royal weddings, my American Woman series, social justice movements that define our culture and a pandemic that changed the world … and politics. Lots of politics.”

In Baldwin’s career with CNN, she earned two Emmy award nominations, participated in the network’s New Year’s Eve coverage, and reported from a number of locations across the globe. She most recently covered the coronavirus pandemic –– and also managed to catch COVID-19 in 2020. She thanked her fans for their support while she recuperated. “You have been here with me every step of the way — never more so than when I was incredibly sick with COVID last year. I am grateful for your loyalty and passion for the world we cover. And so grateful to my show team, to Jeff Zucker, to my very large CNN family and to you,” she said.

As for her future plans, Baldwin admits that she feels “vulnerable” given that she’s quitting her job without an immediate replacement. However, she says she plans to continue doing what she loves as she goes into this new phase. “This next life chapter will focus on what I love the most about my work: amplifying the lives of extraordinary Americans and putting my passion for storytelling to good use. For the last two years I’ve been working on my book Huddle: How Women Unlock Their Collective Power.” Baldwin will stay in the anchor spot for the next month, leaving in mid-April.

CNN’s White House Correspondent Abby D. Phillips responded to her soon-to-be former co-worker’s announcement saying, “Brooke, my friend, you are just the best. The heart of CNN—an amazing colleague and an even better journalist. Can’t wait to see what you’ll do next!”