CNN to Axe 400 JobsCNN, the pioneering 24-hour cable news channel that rose to prominence during the Gulf War, said on Wednesday that it was planning to cut 400 jobs, nearly 10% of its work force.One third of the job cuts will come from its interactive unit, including CNN.com and CNNfn.com. Another third of the cuts will come from the programming division, and the remainder from other parts of the company. In addition Shelby Coffey III, the president of CNN's business and financial news network (CNNfn) has resigned. Last week, Bob Furnad, president of CNN Headline News, also left his post. Both departures follow the merger between Time Warner, CNN's parent company, and America Online, which was completed on 11 January. Despite the announcement staff at CNN.com Europe, in London, are not concerned. CNN plans to roll the operations of its news web sites into the television channels, a strategy used by other media companies recently to cut costs. The long-rumoured cutbacks come at a troubled time for many media companies, which are grappling with the prospect of slower advertising growth this year. In 2000, advertising was boosted by the aggressive campaign of dot.com companies, many of which have failed in the last year. The prospect of a slower overall economy has put pressure on advertising budgets of established companies as well. |
| People's Daily Online --- http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/ |