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When Mark Met Alex

The newish CNN C.E.O. has his eye on Alex MacCallum, the Washington Post C.R.O. and his former Times disciple, to help him enact his drastic digital transformation effort.

CNN C.E.O. Mark Thompson has been in extensive talks with Alex MacCallum, the well-regarded digital product guru who served with him for eight years at the Times.
CNN C.E.O. Mark Thompson has been in extensive talks with Alex MacCallum, the well-regarded digital product guru who served with him for eight years at the Times. Photo: Mat Hayward/Getty Images
Dylan Byers
January 3, 2024

On Wednesday morning, not-quite-new CNN chairman and C.E.O. Mark Thompson tried to patch into his network’s 9 a.m. all-hands call from an offsite location to share some news. But, alas, he failed to establish a strong connection and only came into spotty service about 20 minutes later, while driving through a mountain range. From there, in garbled transmission, Thompson informed the staff what I had reported last night: that CNN’s chief digital officer, Athan Stephanopoulos, would be stepping down. Thompson had recently conveyed the news to the network’s digital leadership team ahead of the all-hands.