CNN star Jim Acosta appeared to share a cryptic post about not retiring as his future at the network remains up in the air.
Reports have claimed the anchor is on the verge of leaving after being demoted.
Acosta currently airs at 10am Eastern Time, but this time slot is expected to be taken over by The Situation Room, a politics show hosted by Wolf Blitzer.
The schedule shakeup is part of a raft of changes that Mark Thompson, the network’s CEO, announced last week in a memo to all workers.
Acosta wasn’t given a replacement slot, but reports claimed he could be bumped down the TV listings to a show airing at midnight.
But, Oliver Darcy, a former CNN media correspondent, claimed in his Status newsletter that Acosta could soon depart CNN.
And, another insider told Fox News Digital that the journalist might be considering cutting his contract.
As rumors about his future continue to swirl, Acosta shared a post on X that featured the Washington Commanders tight end Zach Ertz.
Ertz told journalists he doesn’t plan to retire after his team lost the NFC Championship game against the Philadelphia Eagles.
“I don’t know what the future holds,” Ertz said.
“I still want to play football next year. I just want to make that clear that I’m not retiring.”
Last week, a defiant Acosta told viewers that he was still reporting from Washington.
While on the air, Acosta has tried to hold Republican lawmakers to account and previously clashed with Donald Trump in 2018.
Following the midterm elections where the Republicans lost control of the House of Representatives, Trump and Acosta had a confrontation during a tense press conference.
Acosta even had his White House press pass revoked for around two weeks after the public confrontation.
Trump was quizzed on an anti-immigration campaign advert before things escalated.
CNN changes
CNN CEO Mark Thompson has announced there will be around 200 job cuts in TV as the network shifts its strategy to focus on digital services.
The company is to hire data scientists and product engineers.
Journalist Jim Acosta has reportedly been bumped down the schedule to a midnight eastern slot.
Renowned journalist Wolf Blitzer’s show The Situation Room is set to fill the mid-morning slot left by Acosta.
Blitzer and Pamela Brown will host the mid-morning show.
Chiefs are also aiming to publish between 50 and 100 vertical videos per day as part of their digital strategy.
Bosses are also creating a new streaming platform.
“Certain announcements made today will create new job openings at CNN, while others will unfortunately result in the departure of some respected coworkers,” Thompson informed staff in a message reviewed by The U.S. Sun.
“That too is an unwelcome but inevitable part of the change process. We will aim to contact every colleague who will be impacted by these changes as soon as we possibly can – and will of course help and support them in any way we can thereafter. In the year and a quarter since I arrived at CNN, we’ve had an incredible period of news and have already made significant progress on our transition to the future.
“I am grateful to every one of these colleagues for everything they’ve done for this company in my time and the years before.”
It prompted the president to say: “Honestly, I think you should let me run the country. You run CNN.”
After hurling a jibe at CNN, Acosta continued to press Trump and tried to ask him another question.
A White House aide darted over to Acosta as Trump opened the floor to other reporters.
Acosta remained hold of the microphone while the president repeatedly told him: “That’s enough.”
“Excuse me, that’s enough,” Trump told the journalist.
Acosta managed to fit in the question he tried to ask about so-called Russian collusion before Trump, again, told him to put down the microphone.
The microphone was eventually handed over to another journalist before Trump lashed out at CNN.
“CNN should be ashamed of itself having you working for them,” Trump said as he pointed at Acosta.
New CNN schedule
CNN has announced its new schedule in tandem with the job cuts.
It includes six “refreshed” shows, according to the network, and Jim Acosta is notably missing from the lineup.
The six “refreshed” shows are highlighted in bold.
- 5-6a ET: 5 Things with Rahel Solomon
- 6-7a ET: CNN This Morning with Audie Cornish
- 7-10a ET: CNN News Central
- 10a-12p ET: The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer and Pamela Brown
- 12-1p ET: Inside Politics with Dana Bash
- 1-4p ET: CNN News Central
- 4-5p ET: CNN’s The Arena with Kasie Hunt
- 5-7p ET: The Lead with Jake Tapper
- 7-8p ET: Erin Burnett OutFront
- 8-9p ET: Anderson Cooper 360
- 9-10p ET: The Source with Kaitlan Collins
- 10-11p ET: CNN NewsNight with Abby Phillip
- 11p-12a ET: Laura Coates Live
Acosta’s demotion is not the only change impacting CNN.
The network is cutting around 200 jobs as it invests in its digital strategy.
This is around 6% of the company’s workforce.
In a memo, Thompson told colleagues that the company’s headcount shouldn’t drop by too much this year.
Chiefs want to bring in around $1 billion worth of digital revenue by 2030.
They want to transform the website and are looking for ways how viewers can access a TV-style of CNN on any device.
Acosta is not the only reporter impacted by the schedule shakeup.
Jake Tapper will present his show The Lead, which will air between 5 and 7pm ET.
And, Kaitlan Collins’ The Source will air between 9pm and 10pm ET.
