CNN journalist and anchor Poppy Harlow is leaving the network after nearly two decades. “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!” Harlow wrote in a note to colleagues, shared with Vanity Fair. “I grew up here: as a journalist and as a person,” she added. “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,” Harlow continued, praising CEO and chairman Mark Thompson, executive vice president for talent, CNN Originals, and creative development Amy Entelis, and the CNN management team, who “have been wonderful and have given me the space to make this decision. I am very grateful to them.” Her last week at CNN will be the first week of May.
Harlow held various reporting and anchor roles during her time at CNN, most recently on CNN This Morning. The New York–based morning show launched in 2022 under former CEO Chris Licht and was initially hosted by Harlow, Kaitlan Collins, and Don Lemon. The trio was short-lived: Lemon, who reportedly clashed with his cohosts behind the scenes—and in at least one memorable instance on air—was fired from CNN last April, while Collins departed a few weeks later to anchor the network’s 9 p.m. hour.
In August, Phil Mattingly, CNN’s chief White House correspondent, was named Harlow’s new cohost. But even with the new setup, ratings—already a struggle for the show—continued to lag behind competitors: In January, CNN This Morning averaged 322,000 total viewers, while MSNBC’s Morning Joe drew 988,000 and Fox’s Fox and Friends drew 1.07 million. In February, CNN announced that it would move away from this iteration of CNN This Morning, replacing its hosts with anchor Kasie Hunt and moving its start time up an hour, to 5 a.m. The decision was part of a shakeup of the network’s entire morning schedule—the first major programming change under Thompson—which would focus more on straight news coverage. Thompson said the network would also find new roles for Mattingly and Harlow; a few weeks later, Mattingly was named chief domestic correspondent. Harlow, according to a source familiar with the matter, was offered a new role at the same time as Mattingly but eventually turned it down.
“Poppy is a unique talent who combines formidable reporting and interviewing prowess with a human touch that audiences have always responded to,” Thompson said in a statement to VF. “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,” Entelis said in a statement. “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.”
Harlow’s next act remains to be seen. She kept things vague in her memo, telling colleagues, “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.”
Harlow’s full note to colleagues is 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.
