CNN Worldwide president Jeff Zucker held another of his town hall meetings Wednesday, this time with employees at CNN’s headquarters in Atlanta.
An insider tells us Zucker laid out the top strategic priorities for CNN, the highest being covering breaking news. Developing and acquiring CNN original series programming and the growth of digital are the other two top priorities.
Zucker said he hopes the Turner 2020 plan will be resolved in the next 4-6 weeks, saying there will be layoffs, but where the cuts will come from is still being determined.
Zucker pushed back when someone pointed out that CNN’s New York operations seem to be becoming the “creative nucleus” of the company. Zucker said while two CNN anchors — Brooke Baldwin and Carol Costello – were moved two New York over the summer, their shows are still produced in Atlanta. He also pointed out that CNN en Espanol, CNN International and HLN are all based in Atlanta.
As for CNN en Espanol, Zucker said he’s see growth potential at the Spanish-language network and complimented their ability to get great journalism on the air, “sometimes with two paper cups and a string.”
On the digital front, Zucker said that, because the audience experience is different, the digital content strategy needs to be different. The digital content strategy should not include “repurposing TV for the web,” he says. So look for more original productions, like this one announced yesterday.