CNN Business launches investigation into how female staffers are treated

CNN Business has started an internal investigation into its culture and the treatment of female employees, reports Steven Perlberg of Business Insider.

Perlberg reports, “The investigation was prompted by the February departure of Annalyn Kurtz, a senior editor in the roughly 60-person newsroom, two of the people said. CNN Business houses the cable network’s digital coverage of markets, technology, and media.

“The ‘work environment assessment,’ as the inquiry is being called internally, is being conducted by HR employees at CNN’s parent company, AT&T’s WarnerMedia, a $34 billion business including the Warner Bros. film studio, Turner Sports, and HBO. CNN’s HR and communications departments folded into WarnerMedia as part of a reorganization last year.

“A CNN spokesperson declined to comment. Kurtz declined to comment.

“The assessment appears to be focused on workplace culture, not the behavior of an individual, according to two of the sources.”

Read more here.

Chris Roush

Chris Roush was the dean of the School of Communications at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut. He was previously Walter E. Hussman Sr. Distinguished Professor in business journalism at UNC-Chapel Hill. He is a former business journalist for Bloomberg News, Businessweek, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Tampa Tribune and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. He is the author of the leading business reporting textbook "Show me the Money: Writing Business and Economics Stories for Mass Communication" and "Thinking Things Over," a biography of former Wall Street Journal editor Vermont Royster.