Broadcast Journalist Jim Acosta Unexpectedly Leaves CNN — Was He Actually Fired?

On Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2025, Jim Acosta made a surprising announcement: He's leaving CNN after nearly 20 years with the network. He revealed his decision during the final moments of his 10 a.m. EST show, which ended up being his last broadcast for CNN.

As more details begin to emerge, several key questions still hang in the air: What led to his departure? Why did he decide to leave CNN after such a long tenure?

And perhaps the most pressing question — was Jim Acosta actually fired from CNN, or did he choose to walk away? Here's what we know so far about his exit from the network and what might have been behind it.

Despite widespread speculation, it doesn't appear that Jim Acosta was fired from CNN. According to reports, he left the network following a disagreement over a decision to move his show to the midnight hour — a time slot often considered a low-visibility period in cable news.

Jim Acosta made the unexpected announcement to viewers on Tuesday, January 28, during the final moments of his show. He urged them to "hold power to account," adding, "It is never a good time to bow down to a tyrant.”

According to the Status newsletter, Jim had made the decision to leave CNN just the night before, on January 27.

A few days earlier, on January 23, CNN had revealed a shake-up in its weekday lineup. This included replacing Jim and Pamela Brown's hours of CNN Newsroom with a rescheduled The Situation Room, now airing during the morning hours with Wolf Blitzer and Brown co-anchoring. The changes left Jim's future at CNN uncertain.

Eventually, reports emerged suggesting that Jim had turned down an offer to move to a late-night program, which was rumored to be based out of Los Angeles. Some CNN staffers speculated that this was an effort to relegate Jim to a lower-profile slot, given his history of outspoken criticism of President Donald Trump.

Just a few hours after signing off from CNN for the final time, following his refusal to accept the network's offer to move his show to the "graveyard" shift, Jim Acosta shared that he's "going independent" and launching a new show on Substack.

In a brief video posted alongside his new Substack link, the former CNN anchor took a moment to introduce his new venture: "I wanted to jump on Substack Live for a moment and welcome everyone who's thinking about subscribing to my new show," he said.

"After two decades of service, I am leaving CNN to start a new chapter, and I won't pull any punches this time around, either. I owe that to myself and to you," he said. "As I said during my sign-off at the end of my final show on CNN: Don't give in to the lies. Don't give in to fear. Hold on to the truth. Hold on to hope."

Jim then addressed President Trump and his allies, boldly stating, "You may think you’ve silenced me, but guess again."