Veteran news anchor Chris Wallace quits CNN for streaming world

Veteran CNN news anchor Chris Wallace has announced he is leaving the network to venture into the streaming world.

Wallace, 77, told the Daily beast On Monday, he decided to give up his seven-figure contract, about a week after hosting the network’s election night coverage.

The career journalist described his decision as ‘quite liberating’. His time with the network will be over by the end of this year.

‘This is the first time in 55 years that I have been between jobs. I’m actually excited and liberated about that,” Wallace told the outlet.

While Wallace described the streaming and podcasting space as “where the action seems to be,” he’s not sure where that will take him.

‘Not knowing is part of the challenge. I wait to see what comes across the mirror. It might be something I haven’t thought about at all,” he said.

Despite not being sure what lies ahead, Wallace said: “I’m clearly not going to be a supporter of the far right or the far left. It’s just missing from my DNA.’

Wallace revealed that he plans to embark on his new adventure by adding touches of his own brand and style.

“I have interviewed presidents, princes, kings and one saint, Mother Teresa,” he said.

Another part of his decision was his family, according to Wallace, who said he and his wife Lorraine discussed his future in the spring of 2024.

The couple of 26 years agreed that Wallace would “stick around” for the 2024 election before leaving the station.

‘My family just wants me to be happy and to keep working. They don’t want to have to worry about entertaining me,” Wallace said.

He has six children and nine grandchildren. Wallace shares four children with his first wife Elizabeth Farrel, while his current wife has two children with her former husband Dick Smothers.

Prior to his time at CNN, Wallace was at Fox News Sunday for 18 years until 2021.

He originally joined the channel to be one of the faces on CNN+, a failed streaming network that was shut down by former CEO Chris Licht just a month after its launch in March 2022.

The journalist currently anchors The Chris Wallace Show on Saturday mornings on the station, and Who’s Talking to Chris Wallace?, which streams on Max.

Wallace made it clear that his decision has nothing to do with his experience at CNN, saying, “I have nothing but positive things to say.

“CNN has been very good to me,” he added.

Mark Thompson, CNN’s current CEO and chairman, said Wallace is “one of the most respected political journalists in the news business with a unique track record across radio, print, broadcast television, cable television and streaming.”

“We would like to thank him for the dedication and wisdom he has brought to all of his work at CNN and wish him all the best for the future.”

Wallace started at a local TV station in Chicago in 1973 before moving on to other major networks, including Meet the Press, The Today Show and ABC’s PrimeTime Live.

Over the years, he has won major awards for his hard work in the industry, including three Emmys.

He is currently working on a new edition of his book series ‘Countdown’, in which he previously described the 1960 presidential elections, the atomic bombings on Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the hunt for Osama bin Laden.

Throughout his career, Wallace has interviewed a range of high-profile political figures, including President-elect Donald Trump, Ronald and Nancy Reagan, Vladimir Putin and Barack Obama, among others.

He followed in the footsteps of his late father, Mike Wallace, a renowned 60 Minutes reporter who worked into his eighties.

His parents divorced when he was just one year old, and he grew up with his mother Norma Kaphan and his stepfather Bill Leonard, the former president of CBS News.

Wallace is certain that while his time at CNN is coming to an end, he is not done with his career.

“I know I want to do something because Wallace keeps working,” he said.

CNN’s ratings lag far behind those of rival FOX and MSNBC, part of what is said to be a winter of layoffs that many at the network fear will be a “bloodbath,” with one source saying that “things are his head needs to be shut down.’

Jake Tapper and Wolf Blitzer – who earned $7 million and $3 million respectively – signed new deals for the same price, with one agent joking that ‘flat is the new up’.

News of his departure comes at a time when many networks are facing hardships as anchors’ salaries are cut or they embark on their own media journeys.

In late September, Today Show legend Hoda Kotb announced that she will be leaving the show early next year after nearly seven years at the helm.

Hoda, who has been part of NBC News for 26 years, was immediately moved to tears as she explained to her co-hosts that turning 60 had been a “monumental moment” that made her decide it was time to “try something new ‘.

The TV icon – who reportedly earns around $8 million a year – also wrote a letter explaining her ‘painful’ decision to her colleagues, further explaining that celebrating her 60th birthday will be a seismic ‘ brought about change in her life.