According to a report, CNN president Mark Thompson told over 100 journalists and top on-air talent, including Jake Tapper and Anderson Cooper, to avoid “pre-judging” President-elect Donald Trump while cautioning them “against expressing any outrage of their own” during his inauguration.
According to the Status newsletter, Thompson convened a virtual editorial meeting on Sunday with Tapper, Cooper, and scores of other senior news personalities to discuss CNN’s coverage of the inaugural ceremonies in Washington, DC the following day.
During the meeting, Thompson “made it clear that he did not want the coverage to relitigate the past,” according to Status reporter Oliver Darcy, alluding to CNN’s historically hostile relationship with Trump.
Thompson requested that his charges refrain from editorializing and steer coverage away from Trump’s legal problems, which include convictions for falsifying business documents related to the alleged Stormy Daniels “hush money” payment, according to the report.
Instead, he urged CNN staffers to concentrate on Trump’s second term and to remain “open-minded” about the next four years, according to Status.
CNN’s spokesperson declined to comment. The network is reportedly planning to lay off hundreds of employees on Thursday.
Thompson reportedly opened the floor at the end of the call for staff members to ask questions, but no one spoke up, according to the report.
“What Thompson and other top brass had communicated was clear and none of the meeting participants apparently had the desire to question the guidance,” Darcy reported.
Thompson held another virtual editorial call on Tuesday to reiterate his message.
Thompson told CNN staff to be “tough-minded” in their coverage while also being “fair-minded,” according to Status.
During the call, CNN’s executive editor, Virginia Moseley, joked that the network was “out of practice” dealing with Trump’s never-ending news cycle, a challenge that will only grow in the coming years.
Thompson’s strategy marks a departure from the network’s coverage of Trump under former CNN president Jeff Zucker.
CNN has struggled to compete with MSNBC and Fox News in terms of ratings, as evidenced by the numbers for the inauguration.
Fox News, which owns The Post, dominated television viewership during Trump’s inauguration, drawing 10.3 million viewers between 11:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. ET, more than any other network.
In comparison, CNN’s coverage of Trump’s second inauguration drew 1.135 million total viewers, surpassing MSNBC and peaking at 1.802 million during his Oath of Office and inaugural address.
The network has promoted its digital and streaming platforms, including the CNN.com website and the Max service.
CNN Max experienced record engagement on Inauguration Day 2025, ranking among its top ten days since its launch in the fall of 2023.
CNN Digital also saw an increase, reaching 21 million unique visitors and peaking at 541,000 concurrent streams across its platforms, the best performance since election week, according to internal data obtained by The Post.
Overall television viewership for the event fell significantly compared to Trump’s 2017 inauguration, reflecting a broader decline in cable audiences over time.
Trump’s first inauguration in 2017 drew around 30.6 million viewers, while Joe Biden’s inauguration in 2021 drew nearly 33.8 million.
In contrast, viewership for Trump’s second inauguration in 2025 fell to approximately 24.6 million, the lowest since Barack Obama’s second inauguration in 2013.
CNN’s corporate parent, Warner Bros. Discovery, has made it clear that it wants the network to take a more neutral stance toward Trump.
From 2017 to 2021, CNN reporters and anchors published editorials on a regular basis while covering the first Trump administration.
Jim Acosta, the White House senior correspondent, frequently clashed with the Trump White House.
