CNN Dismantles Race And Equality Team Amid National Mass DEI Disbandments

CNN has moved to dismantle its acclaimed Race and Equality team as DEI programs across the country have been eliminated.

According to journalist Phil Lewis, the network disbanded the team of three reporters on Wednesday (July 10), as Mark Thompson, CNN’s chief executive, announced that the channel is laying off 100 employees. Thompson stated that the layoff would be a move to restrategize and rethink the company’s newsgathering procedures, detailed as a “one newsroom” concept. Deadline reports that CNN’s “one newsroom” strategy would merge both linear and digital newsgathering into one.

A CNN spokesperson speaking to Lewis denied that the Race and Equality team would be “disbanded” amid layoffs and instead would be “fully and completely” incorporated into CNN’s future vision. The spokesperson insisted that “the investment is still 100 percent there.” But the unnamed person did confirm that the team no longer existed as it initially began, adding, “For all intents and purposes, the team is not a team anymore. They’re assigned to different areas so that [their] perspective and work is brought into all of our types of programming. It’s not a unit in the way it was before, but [Race and Equality] is very much still their focus.”

One reporter from the Race and Equality team was laid off as part of the disbanding. The other two reporters will now be reworked into different roles throughout the CNN newsroom.

CNN’s award-winning team was first created in 2020 in the aftermath of police officers murdering George Floyd. Companies across various industries ramped up their DEI efforts as a response, with CNN using their Race and Equality team to cover America’s “racial reckoning,” as detailed by the outlet. Jeff Zucker released a company memo in 2020 announcing the team’s creation.

“The recent conversations we’ve had in our newsrooms have been informative and constructive. We have valued them, we heard you, and we will continue listening,” Zucker noted, per The Hill. “There are structural changes and investments we can and will make to better cover what is happening in our society. We are committed to doing that.”

CNN’s decision arrives as race and equality efforts, and DEI programs have been slashed around the nation. Don’t know what DEI is? We’ve got you covered if you’re wondering what this not-so-new acronym stands for.

DEI, or diversity, equity, and inclusion, refers to policies or procedures created to support workers from historically marginalized communities with resources needed to succeed in the workplace. At its core, DEI was intended to consider these employee’s race, sexual orientation, and gender with the hopes of implementing best practices that would ensure their success.  

DEI has now found itself at the center of debates as the 2024 election ramps up. Many politicians and pundits have slammed the practice as discriminatory, specifically against white Americans. Ron DeSantis famously signed a bill in 2023 that would effectively ban DEI initiatives across universities, mockingly referring to the program as “discrimination, exclusion, and indoctrination,” per NPR. Since then, many companies and organizations have moved to distance themselves from the acronym.

Here’s a look at a couple of DEI eliminations from around the country for context.