Christiane Amanpour, the journalist who called for left-wing press unity in opposition to President Donald Trump after his election in 2016, announced Monday she is “separating” from the network after 43 years.
“After thinking carefully for several months and experiencing a few sleepless nights as you can imagine, I have decided to separate from CNN, my partner of 43 fantastic years, longer than many marriages,” Amanpour said in a video posted on X.
WATCH:
An update from me… https://t.co/AKLOEekEO2
— Christiane Amanpour (@amanpour) October 19, 2026
The 68-year-old journalist will scale back her daily show, “Amanpour,” on CNN International to once a week starting next year, and completely end it in May, as she officially departs the network in June.
“Now you know I’ve always been fiercely independent, and I will continue to be that for you for as long as I am here and beyond. That’s especially important today as we face unprecedented pressures from all sides: political, financial and also from the rising dangers in the field.
“I’ll always be rooting for CNN and maintaining its history of independent journalism.”
The Associated Press reports: “Amanpour did not give a reason for her departure, nor did she specifically mention changes at her network. But her exit coincides with a new era at CNN as it comes under a new owner, Skydance. After a yearlong process, Skydance-owned Paramount closed its $81 billion buyout of Warner Bros. Discovery on Oct. 6. The merger unites under one roof two giants in TV news – CBS and CNN.”
CNN chairman Mark Thompson shared Amanpour’s decision in a memo to colleagues Monday, saying: “Christiane has thought carefully about this decision, and she and I have been discussing it for some months.”
“Like so many CNNers who will hear the news today, I’m very sorry to see her go, but I’ve come to accept that this is the right time for her, both personally and professionally.”
Amanpour has a long history of left-wing activism in her reporting.
In 2025, as Israeli hostages were being freed after being taken captive on Oct. 7, 2023, she apologized for saying the Israeli hostages were “probably being treated better than the average Gazan.”
“Earlier live on air, I spoke about what a day of real joy this is, for Israeli families whose loved ones are finally being returned from two years of horrific Hamas captivity, and for civilians in Gaza, who have finally had a reprieve from two years of brutal, deadly war,” Amanpour said at the time.
“But I regret also saying that they may have been treated better than many Gazans because Hamas used these hostages as pawns and bargaining chips. It was insensitive and wrong.”
WATCH:
CNN anchor Christiane Amanpour apologizes after sparking outrage for saying the Israeli hostages were “probably being treated better than the average Gazan.”
“It was insensitive and wrong.”
https://t.co/ve7yaXNhwh
— Oli London (@OliLondonTV) October 13, 2025
As WorldNetDaily’s Aaron Klein reported in 2007, Amanpour anchored “one of the most grossly distorted programs” ever aired on mainstream American television, according to a media watchdog report.
The first part of the series, “God’s Jewish Warriors,” compared Jewish and Christian “radicals” to Muslim supporters of suicide terror, presented anti-Israel commentators with no counterbalance, falsely labeled the West Bank as Palestinian land, and minimized Jewish rights to the Temple Mount – Judaism’s holiest site, the critics said.
While discussing Islamic suicide attacks, Amanpour painted “martyrdom” as “quite noble.”
“To the West, martyrdom has a really bad connotation because of suicide bombers who call themselves martyrs,” Amanpour stated. “Really, martyrdom is actually something that historically was quite noble, because it was about standing up and rejecting tyranny, rejecting injustice and rejecting oppression and, if necessary, dying for that.”
In 2006, as WorldNetDaily reported, Amanpour injected her personal opinion about the Iraq war into the public domain, twice calling it a “disaster” on national television, saying the situation “just gets worse and worse.”
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