On Sunday, former CNN+ newscaster Chris Wallace spoke on a panel hosted by the Common Ground Committee… and he revealed his uncertainty about the future of his career after the streaming service’s historic collapse.
Wallace was suffering “daily breakdowns” even before the public failure of the CNN+, an anonymous insider told reporter Jon Nicosia this month.
Fittingly, moderator Jacqueline Adams asked Wallace about any personal news.
“My gosh, Jackie, it just happened on Thursday,” Wallace joked, according to USA Today. “Give me a couple of days.”
Wallace reportedly said that he would “be fine.”
CNN+ recruited Wallace to host Who’s Talking to Chris Wallace?, an interview series. Last month The New York Times compared the setup to the work of Wallace’s father, the late 60 Minutes correspondent Mike Wallace.
The network also poached big-name newscasters like Audie Cornish of NPR and Allison Roman of The New York Times Cooking.
Wallace worried more about the underlings than about the star hosts.
“I’m in good shape, whether it’s CNN or someplace else,” the Emmy-winning Wallace told the panel, according to USA Today. “Frankly, what I’m mostly concerned about right now, and very, is my team and hundreds of other people because there were 300 people, I think, that had jobs at CNN+.”
He continued, according to USA Today, “Some of them had left CNN to go to streaming. Some of them had left other places, moved across the country. And so, I think you’re seeing a lot of the anchors at CNN+ doing everything they can to protect the people that were working on their team and to make sure they either get a safe landing at CNN or someplace else.”
Wallace reportedly voiced concerns not only about his colleagues, but about the entire streaming industry.
“Two weeks ago, streaming was king,” Wallace said, according to USA Today. “Now suddenly streaming is in an ICU on life support.”
Speaking to uncertainty in the streaming industry, he also cited Netflix’s recent loss in subscribers, USA Today reported.
Indeed, Netflix saw its stock price plunge earlier this month, according to the Associated Press. Meanwhile, other streaming giants like Amazon and iHeartMedia are still seeing their stock rise, Bloomberg reported Wednesday.
For once, Wallace is right. The streaming industry has become unpredictable after years of trending up.
The Horn editorial team