Jim Acosta, a CNN anchor who earned notice for grilling Trump administration officials in the White House Briefing Room, said Tuesday that he was leaving the network after nearly 20 years.
Mr. Acosta announced the decision at the end of his 10 a.m. show, which will be his last for CNN. He is stepping down after clashing with the network over a decision to move his show to start at the midnight hour, a cable news backwater, according to two people with knowledge of the discussions.
The network is moving Wolf Blitzer, a well-known CNN anchor, into his time slot, along with a co-anchor, Pamela Brown. Mr. Acosta’s show is third place in his time slot for total viewers, behind both MSNBC and Fox News, though he has outperformed his MSNBC competitor in the key demographic for advertisers.
In a statement, CNN said it was grateful for Mr. Acosta’s track record of “dedication and commitment.”
“Jim has had a long, distinguished nearly 20-year career at CNN, with a track record of standing up to authority, for the First Amendment and for our journalistic freedoms,” the statement said.
Mark Thompson, CNN’s chief executive, informed Mr. Acosta this month that the network wanted to move him to midnight as part of a reorganization of the network’s lineup, the two people said. Mr. Acosta was resistant to the idea, wary that he was being shuffled to the graveyard shift as part of a plan to sideline journalists who have been critical of President Trump.
Mr. Thompson told Mr. Acosta that it had nothing to do with Mr. Trump’s inauguration, adding that Mr. Acosta’s slot would be in prime time on the West Coast, and offered to relocate him, the people said. But they were at an impasse.
Status, an email newsletter, earlier reported on the tension between Mr. Acosta and CNN.
Mr. Acosta’s exit is part of a broader remaking of CNN, which last week announced it was laying off roughly 200 people as part of a pivot to digital. CNN said last week it was working on a new streaming service and planned to hire roughly 100 people in new roles during the first half of the year.
Mr. Acosta was one of the most prominent journalists at CNN during the first Trump administration, where he became known for his strident interrogatories in the White House Briefing Room. When White House officials tried to bar Mr. Acosta from the room, CNN sued the government and the administration restored his credentials.
During the show on Tuesday, Mr. Acosta said that the highlight of his career at CNN came during a trip to Cuba during the Obama administration, when he asked Cuban President Raúl Castro about that country’s political prisoners.
“As the son of a Cuban refugee, I took home the lesson … it is never a good time to bow down to a tyrant,” Mr. Acosta said. “I have always believed it’s the job of the press to hold power to account. I’ve always tried to do that at CNN and plan to go on doing it in the future.”
