CNN to cut jobs after tech upgrade
Headline News will lose 70 staffers
CNN Headline News said late Thursday it will pinkslip some 70 staffers before the end of the year, in the name of technological advancement.
One insider said the cuts will likely affect every department of the cabler -- even one or two on-air personalities -- and that the employees will be notified later this month.
CNN/U.S. spokesman Steve Haworth said the equipment at Atlanta-based Headline News is basically 16 years old, from the days when the network launched in 1982.
"It is being upgraded. The good news is that the technology will make a more seamless, error-free product," Haworth said. "The bad news is it will result in 70 fewer jobs here.
He added that none of CNN's other staffers would be included in the layoff, and that the net is offering severance packages in the hope that those affected will stay until the launch of the new technology.
The new tech-enhanced CNN Headline News will relaunch with "a little more than 200 people," Haworth said.
