Change doesn’t always happen overnight…sometimes it takes a whole year. And you don’t have to be an expert reader of tea leaves to recognize that 2024 was a turning point for television news.
The steady accumulation of resignations, promotions, job changes and company reorganizations – as well as some notable deaths of famous journalists – over the past 12 months confirm that a very different landscape awaits the industry au- beyond this proverbial revolving door of 2025.
To kick off the final full week of 2024, TVNewser looks back at some of the biggest departures, career revivals and shakeups of this calendar year and how they contributed to the broader climate of change around television news.
Don Lemon’s show on X, formerly Twitter, was canceled before it even started.
January-March
Medhi Hassan was the first prominent journalist to leave his media outlet at the end of 2024. In January, the former MSNBC anchor announced that he would be leaving the network following the cancellation of The Medhi Hasan Show last November. Hasan later became independent by launching the Substack-based media organization Zeteo, a move that other journalists would follow as the year progressed. Former CBS Sunday Morning host Charles Osgood died at the age of 91 on January 23eight years after retiring from the program. Osgood’s soothing voice defined Sunday mornings for many viewers during his 22-year tenure at CBS and evoked a bygone era of broadcasting. “He was one of the best broadcast stylists and one of the last,” his friend said. and current host of CBS Sunday Morning Jane Pauley observed in a press release. CNN began its year of transformation under CEO leadership Marc Thompson in February by revise your weekday morning schedule. Early Start was renamed CNN This Morning, with Phil Mattingly And Poppy Harlow from the previous version of this last show (Harlow left CNN completely in April) – while CNN News Central moved earlier in the morning. Thompson he will later present his major projects for the network, including a renewed focus on digital products. Elon Musk telegraphed his shift to the right at the start of the year, abruptly terminate former CNN anchor Don LemonThe much-heralded partnership of X, formerly Twitter. Lemon interviewed Musk before the Don Lemon Show launched and asked questions that his new employer clearly didn’t want to answer. “We had a good conversation,” Lemon wrote after Musk canceled his yet-to-debut series. “Obviously he felt differently.” Lemon deactivated his X account in November following the presidential election. During another short term, former RNC chairman and singer Donald Trump support Ronna McDaniel was hired And then fired by NBC News in the span of five days in March. His imminent arrival created an uproar among MSNBC’s top hosts:notably Rachel Maddow– and quickly headed NBCUniversal Group Chairman Cesar Conde cut ties with McDaniel. The incident reflects the opinion of MSNBC attention to its largely progressive audience as the electoral cycle began. 
Kim Godwin left ABC News in May
April—June
Hoda Kotb left Today in September
July—September
CBS News President Ingrid Ciprián-Matthews Joins Kim Godwin leaving his information post. The announcement of her departure in early July – although Ciprián-Matthews remained in an advisory role until the November election – came against the backdrop of larger changes at CBS News, which will see its parent company, Paramount Global, merge with Skydance Media in 2025. A new the management team has been announced in August with Adrienne Roark stepping into the role of Ciprián-Matthews. July ended with another big change for Eye Network: CBS Evening News anchor Norah O’Donnell announced that she would leave the presenter’s chair and move to a role that would allow for longer interviews and special projects. O’Donnell’s farewells are planned for January 24, when the perpetual third-place evening newscast will undergo a major overhaul and come back with new co-presenters John Dickerson And Maurice DuBois. In early August, CNN media analyst Olivier Darcy joined the ranks of solo journalists, leaving the network to launch your Status newsletter. Since then, he has revealed a number of major media stories, including a former New York Magazine journalist Olivia Nuzzithe alleged affair with Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. Darcy’s departure also paved the way for the return of the founder of Reliable Sources—and creator of TVNewser—Brian Stelter to the host of a groundbreaking CNN talk show Phil Donahue died on August 19 at the age of 88inspiring a wave of tributes from his friends and contemporaries. Among his many achievementsDonahue was the first host to welcome an openly gay guest on his daytime show, humanizing a community still vilified by society at large. If you stayed up until the clock struck midnight on August 25, you would have heard the last moments from WCBS 880, New York’s popular news radio station. After the affectionate farewells of Wayne Cabotthe station’s feed moved to an all-sports format powered by ESPN. It was one of the biggest losses of 2024 for local news and the end of an institution that New Yorkers had known and loved for 60 years. Speaking of institutions, Jorge Ramos announced in September that it would end his four-decade journey at Noticias Univision. The Noticiero Univision co-anchor emphasized that it was a mutual decision to part ways. Ramos plans to announce his next move after signing permanently later this month. The morning show landscape is shaken by Hoda Kotbthe announcement that she is going leave the couch of today’s show early next year, with Craig Melvin take his place. While Kotb says she wanted to spend more time with her young children, other reports suggest that a proposed pay cut may have led to its release. The news precedes rumors that ABC News seeks to cut costs on GMA as it begins contract negotiations with Robin Roberts, Michael Strahan And Georges Stephanopoulos. Before the election, Scripps News announced that this would mean getting out of the 24/7 information gameleading to more than 200 layoffs, including the president of information, Kate O’Brian. Chairman and CEO of Scripps Adam Symson cited a lack of revenue growth as one of the reasons for these cuts, highlighting the increasingly difficult economic situation for media outlets that are not backed by large companies or a strong subscriber base. 
Brian Williams hosted Amazon’s first newscast.
October—December
After 16 years on MSNBC’s weekday lineup Andrea Mitchell announced his departure from its eponymous television news program – but especially not from the network – at the end of October. Instead, like O’Donnell at CBS, the veteran reporter will take on a new role at NBC News and MSNBC, covering stories “from a different point of view,” as she said on air. Three years after leaving 30 Rock, Brian Williams I’m back in the news game with a special Election Night broadcast on Amazon Prime Video, which also presented a certain number former correspondents familiar with traditional media. Broadcast live from 5 p.m. until late at night, the event was the first taste of Amazon’s news programming and other networks, not to mention other journalists, will certainly be watching closely if they return during a few seconds. Triggering a wave of post-election departures, CNN bids farewell to Chris Wallacewho told The Daily Beast that he would pursue opportunities in streaming and podcasts. Wallace left CNN ahead of planned layoffs in early 2025. Fox News talent remained largely in place for much of the year, but that changed after Trump returned to the White House. Co-host of Fox & Friends Weekend Pete Hegseth was the first to be called into the ranks of government when the president-elect appointed him Secretary of Defense. Trump has since sought to hire 12 Fox personalities, including Sean Duffy And Monica Crowley. The longtime anchor was also outgoing — but not headed to the White House Neil Cavuto, who decided to move away after a 28-year career at Fox News Media. The industry’s biggest shakeup came in the final weeks of 2024 when NBCUniversal News Group announced that MSNBC and CNBC would be derived in the aptly named new cable company, SpinCo. A few weeks later, Warner Bros. Discovery reassigned CNN to its newly created global linear networks division that houses the company’s declining cable assets. Both moves were interpreted as signals that CNN and MSNBC…who experienced difficulties in audiences after the elections– could be very different this time next year.
