CNN Bombshell: Wolf Blitzer ‘Considering’ Retirement As New Boss Chris Licht Takes Major Swing At On-Air Lineup
Aug. 23 2022, Published 6:00 a.m. ET
UPDATE: 5:01 PM ET - A rep for Wolf denied he plans to leave his job. They told RadarOnline.com, "CNN has expressed their desire for Wolf to be at the network for the foreseeable future. He is an iconic broadcast news journalist and has NO plans to retire. NONE!"
Wolf Blitzer has been on CNN’s air since 1990 — and in The Situation Room for more than 17 years — but the most trusted name at the network is currently weighing up whether to finally call it quits.
Amid all the drama engulfing the cable giant under new owners Warner Bros. Discovery, the 74-year-old veteran newsman is said to be at a career crossroads and wondering if the time is right to end his amazing 32-year run.
“Television is a young person’s game,” a source told RadarOnline.com, adding, “and no one knows that better than Wolf.”
"He realizes the changes under Chris (Licht, CNN’s new chairman and chief executive office) are about positioning the network for the future and promoting new talent,” the insider added.
“While Wolf believes he still has a lot of value to offer, he’s such a professional that he’s privately questioning whether now might be the right time to retire. He’s considering it.”
But a source close to CNN said Licht has no intent of knifing the legendary silver fox anchor. He considers Blitzer to be an “enormous figure” and the “fabric of CNN’s credibility,” a network insider said.
“Chris would like Wolf to continue with the network at least through the 2024 election.
“He is all about harnessing the power of CNN’s reporting and the breadth of their resources all around the world to land big scoops and interviews.
“While Chris is seeking to restore CNN as a powerful news organization, he also doesn’t believe in throwing the baby out with the bathwater.”
Blitzer is the anchor of The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer, which airs on weekdays at 6 PM ET on CNN.
The legendary journalist also hosted the short-lived The Newscast, which aired on the ill-fated CNN+ streaming service.
In January last year, CNN dramatically shortened Blitzer’s daily on-air time from two hours to one and expanded Jake Tapper’s weekday show The Lead with Jake Tapper to two hours.
The boss at the time, Jeff Zucker (who was forced to resign over a RadarOnline.com report detailing his decades-long romance with a co-worker), insisted Blitzer would serve as a principal anchor for all major breaking news and a host for CNN special reports.
But it was widely viewed as a face-saving move by Zucker, who ultimately parachuted Tapper to anchor most of the network’s major primetime events.
Though Blitzer’s on-air time has dwindled in recent years, he isn’t bitter or angry, RadarOnline.com has been told.
“Wolf is grateful for an amazing run,” the source said.
“Few can say they’ve had the career like he has. In terms of CNN icons, he’ll go down in the history books alongside Bernard Shaw, Larry King, and the likes of Christiane Amanpour whenever it is that Wolf decides to throw in the towel.”
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“As long as I love what I am doing I am going to continue to do it,” Blitzer told the New York Post in 2019.
“I still get up every morning, and I love what I am doing. I look forward to going to work, I have a great job. I learn something every day.”
Blitzer joined CNN in 1990 as the network’s military-affairs correspondent at the Pentagon.
He then served as CNN’s senior White House correspondent, covering President Bill Clinton from the November 1992 election until 1999, when he became the anchor of CNN’s Sunday public affairs program Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer and remained there for more than a decade.
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