Morale sinks at CNN's DC bureau

CNN's Washington bureau is suffering from low morale and high anxiety in the wake of weeks of layoffs and buyouts — with one employee likening the place to the Redskins’ locker room.

In conversations with POLITICO, sources at the bureau spoke of tension in the office as several longtime staffers have been let go while others are being promoted and given raises. On Friday, during the most recent departures, "people were crying all over the bureau," one D.C. employee said.

"Morale at the CNN Washington Bureau is about as strong as it is inside the Redskins’ locker room — and the management is just as bad," another CNN staffer said.

The latest round of layoffs and buyouts was meant to cut roughly 300 positions from across CNN’s bureaus, or 8 percent of its total staff. In Washington, roughly 50 employees were let go — 27 through layoffs and roughly two dozen through buyouts. Meanwhile, CNN DC has created 20 new positions on the digital side. The network said that a few of the laid-off employees have reapplied for new positions at the network, and at least three have been accepted so far.

The latest exit was Michelle Jaconi, an executive producer and D.C. bureau stalwart, who declined to relocate to New York and bid adieu to her colleagues in a lengthy email on Friday. Jaconi was escorted out of the bureau immediately after sending the email.

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