CNN media reporter and critic Oliver Darcy, has left the struggling cable news network to start his own newsletter.
Darcy, 33, said Thursday that he has left his perch at the Warner Bros. Discovery-owned network where he penned the widely-read media newsletter “Reliable Sources,” to start “Status,” a subscription based newsletter covering the same topic.
The move comes as CNN is in the throes of a massive restructuring under CNN CEO Mark Thompson, who recently announced 100 job cuts.
A rep for CNN said “Reliable Sources” will go on summer break but return in the fall with a new writer.
Darcy told The Post that “Status” is a singular endeavor for the moment.
“There are no backers. Just me,” he said. “The paid readers will empower my independent voice .”
A subscription to “Status” will begin at $15 a month or $150 a year with an elite membership, with perks like private Zoom calls, will be available for $595 annually, The New York Times reported Thursday.
The first issue is set to appear on Monday, and it will have a launch sponsor, which Darcy declined to name.
Darcy told the outlet that “Status” will cover topics ranging from Silicon Valley to presidential politics to the effects of artificial intelligence technology on news consumption.
“We are trying to connect all these dots on a nightly basis,” he said.
“My pitch to readers is this is a 100 percent independent voice,” he said. “I don’t think there’s one product out there that does exactly what we do.”
The newsletter will also have an ad sales partnership with The Ankler, a start-up that covers Hollywood, founded by Janice Min, the ambitious media veteran, who once helmed “The Hollywood Reporter” and “US Weekly” in its glory days.
Darcy’s “Status” joins a slew of newsletters from outlets like Politico, Axios, Puck and Bloomberg. Unlike the competition, CNN did not expand did not expand its “Reliable Sources” newsletter in to live events. Instead it canceled its long-running, poorly-rated television show of the same name in 2022.
That show was hosted by Brian Stelter, who founded the newsletter in 2015. Stelter was let go when the show was canceled, but Darcy took over the newsletter.
Darcy, who joined CNN in 2017, quickly became a leading media voice when he took over “Reliable Sources.” Notably in June 2023, he spoke out against his own network under then-CEO Chris Licht, who had sparked an upheaval among network correspondents that were rubbed the wrong way by the exec’s judgment and leadership.
Licht, who was the subject of a scathing profile in “The Atlantic”, was ousted shortly after.
Darcy also had his fair share of scoops, most recently exposing MSNBC’s decision to yank “Morning Joe” off the air after an assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump.
“Oliver has established himself as a tough but scrupulously fair leading voice in media reporting and commentary – never afraid to call it as he sees it,” CNN boss Thompson said. He has been a great shepherd of CNN’s Reliable Sources newsletter, and we wish him every success in his new entrepreneurial adventure.”
