Former CNN This Morning co-host Poppy Harlow has decided to leave the network two months after the flagship morning show was cancelled. Harlow informed her colleagues in a heartfelt note, writing: “This place has shaped me as a leader, taught me resilience, shown me the value of perspective and how to make hard decisions. It is for those reasons that I take this leap and leave CNN with a full heart and deep gratitude.”
The news was first reported by Vanity Fair and later confirmed by CNN.
In her note, Harlow also thanked CNN’s executive leadership, including Mark Thompson and Amy Entelis. “Mark, Amy and the CNN management team have been wonderful and have given me the space to make this decision,” she writes. “I am very grateful to them.” Harlow will be with CNN until the first week of May.
Thompson and Entelis addressed Harlow’s departure in statements obtained by TVNewser. “Poppy is a unique talent who combines formidable reporting and interviewing prowess with a human touch that audiences have always responded to,” said Thompson. “She’s been a wonderful colleague at CNN, and we know she will have much success in her future endeavors.”
“Poppy leaves CNN after more than 16 memorable years, thousands of hours in the anchor chair and hundreds of reports from the field,” added Entelis. “She made a mark on numerous major stories, including financial crises, the Paris terror attacks and the Boston bombing, but most notably enlightening interviews with the world’s top business leaders, who trusted her because she was tough, fair and well-prepared. Poppy is a brilliant journalist who sets the standard for reporting with compassion and humanity, and we will miss her.”
Loved every moment @cnn ❤️ https://t.co/x24nLB4b90
— Poppy Harlow (@PoppyHarlowCNN) April 26, 2024
Harlow has been with CNN since 2008, first joining as a CNNMoney reporter and later working as a New York-based correspondent. She became an anchor in 2015, first on the weekend evening edition of CNN Newsroom and then for the weekday version of CNN Newsroom in 2017. She held that position until 2022, when she was named one of three co-hosts of CNN This Morning alongside Don Lemon and Poppy Harlow.
The brainchild of former head of CNN, Chris Licht, CNN This Morning was an attempt at revitalizing CNN’s morning programming, but the show struggled to find its groove. Lemon was let go from the network on April 24, 2023, after falling out of favor with Licht.
Collins was subsequently elevated to primetime, while Harlow remained on the morning show and paired with Phil Mattingly. Those changes led to some stability, but the ratings continued to lag. The New York version of CNN This Morning was canceled in early 2024 (though the name still lives as CNN’s early morning news program inherited the name) and replaced with CNN News Central. According to Vanity Fair, Harlow discussed a new role with the network, but ultimately decided to depart.
“CNN gave me the opportunity to travel across this country and around the world — often at the worst of times, but when humanity also shows the best of itself,” Harlow wrote in her note, concluding: “I’m excited for what is ahead—and I will be rooting for CNN always.”
Read Harlow’s full note to staff below:
When I walked in the door at CNN in 2008, I was 25 years old and had never been on live TV.
Green is an understatement! I passed those three iconic red letters in the hall on day one and thought how lucky I was to be here.
The nearly two decades since have been a gift. I have been inspired by you and learned so much from you – who are (and will remain) dear friends. I grew up here: as a journalist and as a person. I was allowed to stumble, to falter, and then to try again with the support and care of this CNN family. This place has shaped me as a leader, taught me resilience, shown me the value of perspective and how to make hard decisions.
It is for those reasons that I take this leap and leave CNN with a full heart and deep gratitude.
Mark, Amy and the CNN management team have been wonderful and have given me the space to make this decision. I am very grateful to them.
CNN gave me the opportunity to travel across this country and around the world — often at the worst of times, but when humanity also shows the best of itself.
I got to experience what makes this country great. I sat with people in their best moments and in their hardest. They taught me about the human condition and what binds us. Whether it was covering the impact of the financial crisis from Wall Street to Detroit, or spending time with young women in jail in East Tennessee or on Rikers Island, or listening to grieving parents who lost their children to the opioid crisis in Ohio, or the repeated heartbreak of mass shootings, it is the human side of the story that has always moved me, motivated me, and made me appreciate this work so much.
Above all, it is the teams of journalists behind each of these stories – producing at all levels – that make it all possible.
They are everything.
They are the heart of CNN.
There’s been plenty written about what’s wrong with journalism, and the challenges our industry faces. And it does. But there is also so much right with it. At the heart of everything we do is the pursuit of truth – it is the core of CNN. I remain CNN’s biggest fan and I’ll be watching and cheering you on every day.
For now, my plan is to walk our children to school and pick them up (hopefully they won’t get sick of me!), and to support the evolution of journalism in every way I can, while preserving the human(ity) in it.
I’m excited for what is ahead—and I will be rooting for CNN always.
With gratitude and love.
Poppy
“The future is now. Roll up your sleeves and let your passion flow. The country we carry in our hearts is waiting.” — Bruce Springsteen