Where is Brooke Baldwin going? Peabody Award-winning CNN anchor to leave network after 13 years in April
American journalist and television host Brooke Baldwin has been at CNN since 2008. The host of ‘CNN Newsroom with Brooke Baldwin’, she is practically the network’s afternoon face. But not anymore. On her show on Tuesday, February 16, Baldwin announced her departure from the network. Baldwin said she is leaving CNN after 13 years in mid-April.
A Peabody Award winner, Baldwin began her career in 2001 at WVIR-TV in Charlottesville, Virginia. Later, she became the morning anchor at WOWK-TV in the Huntington and Charleston, West Virginia area. Following that, she joined WTTG in Washington, D.C. as the lead reporter for the 10 p.m. newscast. Baldwin joined CNN in 2008 and worked from CNN's Atlanta headquarters until 2014 when she moved to New York City.
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Baldwin has reported from Europe, Africa, and the Middle East during her time at CNN. As per Variety, she gained new prominence at the network after moving to New York in 2014, when she started to lead two hours in the afternoon.
On her show, Baldwin said, “After most of my 20s working my way up in local news, I came to this network in 2008 -- in the midst of the Great Recession as a freelancer. I remember I scribbled my name on a Post-It note and stuck it outside of this temporary office, determined to fulfill my dream of becoming a full-time CNN correspondent.”
She further said that she “wanted to be part of the best of the best in cable news and journalism, and, as a native Atlantan, this would be my hometown dream,” adding that little did she know that she “would not only go one to fulfill that dream, I would flourish in this environment and land my own two-hour show in the afternoon at the age of 31”.
1. I want to start with some personal news❤️ 📺 I will be leaving @CNN in April. I came to this network as a freelancer in 2008. I scribbled my name on a post it and stuck it outside a temporary office determined to fulfill my dream of becoming a full-time correspondent at CNN. pic.twitter.com/v4zeG5XMQX
— Brooke Baldwin (@BrookeBaldwin) February 16, 2021
She said that for a decade she had never taken for granted the “enormous responsibility and privilege” she has had of working with “some of the most talented producers and photojournalists and correspondents and anchors out there”. Expressing her gratitude for her co-workers and staff, Baldwin said, “I am so grateful for your loyalty and passion for the world we cover. I am so grateful to my show team – you know who you are. You know who you are.”
What will Baldwin do next?
During her monologue, Baldwin said, “The next chapter of my life will be focused on what I love most about my work: amplifying the lives of extraordinary Americans and putting my passion for storytelling to good use. For the last two years, I’ve been working on my first book; it’s called ‘Huddle: How Women Unlock Their Collective Power’, and, you know, there’s just more I need to do – more I need to do outside of this place, outside of the walls of this place, a place I have been privileged to call home now for 13 years.”
She said that she does not have another job in line. “I’m jumping right into, and yes – yes, I’m feeling very vulnerable. But what is it Brene Brown says? ‘Vulnerability is the birthplace of innovation, creativity, and change,’ and I am so excited about what is to come,” she said.